Expertise

Case Study: Transformation

• Our client: a company in the commercial property, warehouses and logistics industry.

• Our challenge: to assist our client in tackling the technical aspects and logistics of remote working along with the wide array of HR and people related questions due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Our solution: to work together with our client to draw up a policy and framework that would facilitate working from home (and from abroad) and that would provide the employer and the employees with all the information and guidelines to work effectively and efficiently from anywhere. 

• The result: we helped the company to draft and implement a new policy in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, and Italy, all while ensuring compliance with relevant employment, payroll and social security tax legislation. By working with one international framework our client was able to have its corporate culture trickle down from HQ to the local entities involved.

Case Study: Compliance

• Our client: a multinational Belgian company.

• Our challenge: to help our client prepare for an unexpected visit from the tax authorities while mitigating data breaches and safeguarding its rights and interests.
  

• Our solution: (1) to provide close support to our client including comprehensive workshops explaining the main principles, (2) to set expectations and offer suggestions, (3) to provide a drybook for the audit team and (4) to set the client up with our crisis app to appropriately coordinate on the client’s response as well as on any requests for on‑demand and multidisciplinary assistance.

• The result: we provided effective and pragmatic all-round support and helped coordinate the visit, leveraging on tax, social, data and IT expertise. We also coordinated the employees’ defence and took part in the relevant negotiations with the tax authorities.

Case Study: ESG

• Our client: a leading European specialist investor in convenience retail estate.

• Our challenge: to advise our client on the development of a net zero retail park ‘Malinas’ in the city of Mechelen with a gross floor area of 27,500m2 as well as accompanying parking spaces and road infrastructure.

• Our solution: (1) to advise and assist the client from the beginning of this project on all the environmental and public law aspects (e.g. land use and urban planning, the environmental impact and safety reports – including advice regarding nitrogen depositions and particulate matter – the permit strategy for the building, the environmental and all the operational aspects of the project from request to execution (including modifications along the way to adapt to new sustainable solutions and techniques)), (2) to assist and represent the client during permit procedures to obtain building and exploitation permits and authorizations for categorised installations (deforestation and forest compensation, water storage and water reuse), (3) to assist the client with the application of the municipal building regulation and road legislation, (4) to assist with the transfer of land, and (5) to represent our client during the administrative proceedings (e.g. co-operation agreements with the city of Mechelen and the Flemish Agency for Road Infrastructure and Traffic).

• The result: this retail park, which opened in November 2021, is the most sustainable retail park in Belgium. It features 19 retail units and 900 parking spaces (of which 350 underground) and 400 covered bicycle stands. It also possesses a 1.2 hectare reed field, a 13,000m² green roof, 6,300 solar panels, 18 electric charging stations and an onsite battery for electrical storage. It has been designed to be CO2 neutral and to achieve a score of ‘Excellent' on the BREEAM scale.