Initial situation
Brewery De Halve Maan has been making its famous beer for over five centuries right in the heart of historic Bruges. Reports from way back in 1441 indicate that the brewery was already present at the current site. Bruges has always had a very rich history of breweries, especially during the inter-war period when more than 30 breweries were operating. Today, De Halve Maan is the last brewery to keep this tradition alive in the historic centre.
Findings
Over the years, the brewery has invested heavily in keeping its activities sustainable. In 2010, De Halve Maan opened a new site outside the city, on the industrial park Waggelwater, where the heaviest industrial activities have taken place ever since: filtering, the filling of beer in kegs and bottles, storage and logistics. Today every litre of the famous “Brugse Zot” is still brewed on the historic site of the Walplein. With its new pipeline, the brewery wants to banish the heavy trucks, which sometimes drive up to 12 times a day between the two locations, from the city centre. The route creates hazardous situations and has been troublesome for the inhabitants and the many tourists that visit Bruges daily.
Multimodal solution
In 2014, the brewery launched its visionary plan to transport its beer underground. “This is an extremely innovative technique which will realize economic growth and urban sustainability” writes Xavier Vanneste, director of De Halve Maan. The construction process took about 6 months. The pipeline runs through a 3276-meter-long tube, starting from the brewery hall in the centre of Bruges and going all the way to the new site in Waggelwater. At one location, the tube runs several meters deep under a parking lot. There are two pipelines running next to each other, which carry both Brugse Zot and Straffe Hendrik.
