The Brussels Canal Zone is still characterized today by its former industrial use with the waterway as its infrastructural backbone. Now the waterfront has regained interest as a potential site for residential development. Lo cated on the site of the former national postal service Bpost, Canal Wharf by 51N4E is one of the first developments on the master plan by Stéphane Beel Architects.

In 2013 the Brussels Region adopted the general guidelines of the Canal Plan. The up-site tower was already under construction at the time. Since then, control over the development of the territory along the canal has been fiercely disputed. Power struggles between public authorities and private developers, between reasoned urban density and desired profit margins, between preservation of the existing situation and demographic issues. Little consideration for the inhabitants of these areas, but many actors involved to preserve its qualities and the diversity of its activities, and to ensure the public character of the spaces waiting to be transformed. In late 2013, agReal Estate, in partnership with the Antwerp property developer Vooruitzicht, asked three architectural firms – Stéphane Beel Architects (sba), architectesassoc. and 51n4e – to draw up a master plan for the Canal Wharf site, located between up-site and Citroën. The client, agReal Estate, tasked sba with its design, coordination and execution, and called on the same three offices to build the four buildings resulting from the proposal. In due course, the complex will comprise 270 housing units (from studios to three-bedroom units) on the site of the building purchased from Bpost.