This will lead to a move of all the staff, magistrates, employees, registry, council of the bar association, a move which, at first glance, should take place in the direction of the new palace on rue Clarisse where Expansion work should begin next year.
Joint press release from the court of first instance and the public prosecutor’s office of Walloon Brabant
This Tuesday, December 17, 2024, Bernard DE RO, mayor of Nivelles, issued a police order no longer allowing the occupation of the courthouse located on the town’s main square from Friday, December 20, 2024 at 5 p.m.
This decision follows findings made by the Walloon Brabant emergency zone.
At the request of the previous mayor, Pierre Huart, the emergency zone carried out a visit to the building and noted a series of disorders such that it could no longer be used.
In particular, the excessive heat load resulting from the masses of archives scattered throughout the building, a lack of compartmentalization to limit the spread of the fire and the need to have the electrical installation checked were highlighted.
The Buildings Authority has proposed an action plan but its implementation does not immediately make it possible to respond to the risks highlighted.
This conclusion emerged during a meeting held last week at the Palace of Justice in the presence of the governor of the province, the mayor, the president of the court of first instance, the King’s prosecutor, a representative of the emergency zone, representatives of the Buildings Authority and representatives of the FPS Justice.
The court of first instance, the public prosecutor’s office and the bar of Walloon Brabant are therefore forced to leave the palace in the city center and transfer their activities to other judicial sites located rue de Soignies, rue Clarisse (palace 2) and in the zoning North (Gates of Europe). Teleworking will also be used more intensively because the capacity of the other sites is insufficient to absorb all the occupants of Palace 1.
In order to ensure the continuity of the Justice service, very limited access to Palace 1 has been provided to allow the services of the registry, the public prosecutor’s office and the Bar Association to retrieve files to be processed. 24/7 monitoring is also maintained.
The judicial authorities insisted on the very significant impact of this closure on the functioning of the court of first instance and the prosecution, particularly in terms of case processing times. Measures are being studied internally with a view to relocating most hearings to other judicial sites in Nivelles so as to limit the impact for litigants.
A task force has been created to supervise the progress of the work which will allow the court of first instance and the public prosecutor’s office to return to the premises as soon as possible. All parties involved have renewed their common desire to find solutions for the benefit of staff and litigants alike. The judicial authorities strongly hope that, in the coming weeks, a first phase of work will allow certain services, at the very least, to return to the historic palace and to hold hearings there.
Since the end of June 2024, certain archive rooms have been prohibited from access by well-being control following the discovery of fungi linked to very high humidity in the basements of the building.
Ultimately, only the rapid completion of the extension work on Palace 2, the planning permit for which was issued on October 29, 2024, constitutes the only prospect of improving the working conditions of the court of first instance and the public prosecutor’s office. On the Buildings Authority website, the end of the work and the availability of the extension are planned for November 2027.
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