The Breydel building is an office block in the European Quarter

Brussels and the European Union

Brussels is considered to be the de facto capital of the European Union, having a long history of hosting the institutions of the European Union within its European Quarter...

 of Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 (Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

) that served as a temporary headquarters for the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 between 1991 and 2004.

The seat of the Commission, the symbolic Berlaymont building

Berlaymont building

The Berlaymont is an office building in Brussels, Belgium that houses the headquarters of the European Commission, which is the executive of the European Union...

, was in dire need of renovation due to the discovery of asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

 in its construction. A new building was rapidly needed to house President

President of the European Commission

The President of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission ― the executive branch of the :European Union ― the most powerful officeholder in the EU. The President is responsible for allocating portfolios to members of the Commission and can reshuffle or dismiss them if needed...

 and his college of Commissioners

European Commissioner

A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each Member within the college holds a specific portfolio and are led by the President of the European Commission...

, as the issue of the location of European Union institutions

Location of European Union institutions

The governing institutions of the European Union are not concentrated in a single capital city; they are instead spread across three cities with other EU agencies and bodies based further away...

 was being discussed and any delays could lead to the Commission withdrawing from the city.

Plans for the building were already being prepared by the bank BACOB due to the rapidly expanding needs of the Commission, though the entire block would be needed to house the 1300 civil servants and auxiliary services. Foreseeing this, developers had bought a block of houses each on the area to ensure they all received a slice of the pie when the land was bought up. The main building was ready just in time for the transfer of Commission staff at the end of 1991, and expansion continued through the 1990s.

The President and most of the Commission moved back to the Berlaymont when renovation was completed in 2004, however the Commission has bought the building when it moved in (one of the first times it bought a building rather than rented it) and it is still a Commission building today, housing the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry

Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (European Commission)

The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The Enterprise Directorate-General works on creating an environment in which European firms can thrive...

 and the Directorate-General for Budget

Directorate-General for Budget (European Commission)

The Directorate-General for Budget is a Directorate-General of the European Commission.The task of the Directorate-General for Budget is to secure from the budgetary authority - the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union - the resources needed to implement the European Union's...

.

The building was designed by André and Jean Polak, who designed the Berlaymont, together with Marc Vanden Bossche and Johan Van Dessel. It took just 23 months to build.