| NATO headquarters | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of NATO headquarters inHaren, Brussels | |
 Interactive map of the NATO headquarters area | |
| General information | |
| Type | Office, conference building |
| Location | Boulevard Léopold III /Leopold III-laan, 1110Haren,City of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium |
| Coordinates | 50°52′45″N4°25′30″E / 50.87917°N 4.42500°E /50.87917; 4.42500 |
| Construction started | 2010 (2010) |
| Completed | 2016 |
| Inaugurated | 25 May 2017 |
| Owner | North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) |
TheNATO headquarters is the political and administrative center of theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). After previous locations in London and Paris, it has been headquartered in Brussels since 1967, in a complex inHaren, part of theCity of Brussels, along theBoulevard Léopold III/Leopold III-laan.[1]
The staff at the headquarters is composed of national delegations ofNATO member states and includes civilian and military liaison offices and officers or diplomatic missions and diplomats of partner countries, as well as the International Staff (IS) andInternational Military Staff (IMS) filled from serving members of the armed forces of member states.[2] Non-governmental citizens' groups have also grown up in support of NATO, broadly under the banner of theAtlantic Council/Atlantic Treaty Association movement.
WhenNATO was established in 1949,London was the first location chosen for its headquarters. A 19th-century mansion designed by the architectThomas Cubitt at 13 Belgrave Square, in the heart of the city'sBelgravia neighborhood, was made available to the organization. Nowadays, this building houses the Ghana High Commission.[3]
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On 15 September 1950, at a meeting of theNorth Atlantic Council inNew York City, it was decided to establish the headquarters inParis, mainly because of the city's central position and its excellent means of communication. The move was officialized on 1 April 1952, coinciding with NATO's third anniversary.[5] In Paris, the organization initially occupied temporary premises constructed along the reflecting pool of thePalais de Chaillot in theTrocadéro, located across theSeine from theEiffel Tower, in the16th arrondissement.[5]
A permanent building, donated by France in April 1954, was constructed atPorte Dauphine in the 16th arrondissement, just off theBoulevard Périphérique and in the immediate vicinity of theBois de Boulogne. ThePalais Dauphine, also known as the Palais de l'OTAN ("NATO Palace"), was built between 1955 and 1957, according to the plans of the architectJacques Carlu, who had also previously designed the Palais de Chaillot. The building was A-shaped, denoting 'alliance' or 'allies'. The organization moved there in 1959, only to leave it a few years later.[6] The building now serves as the main campus ofParis Dauphine University.[6]
Following France's decision to withdraw fromNATO's Military Command Structure in 1966, the organization moved its headquarters again.[7][8] In December of that year, the organization took the decision to set up its new headquarters inBrussels. Originally planned on theHeysel/Heizel Plateau inLaeken, they were "temporarily" built on theBoulevard Léopold III/Leopold III-laan in the former municipality ofHaren (merged like Laeken with theCity of Brussels), in the north-eastern part of Brussels.[9]
After an international call for tenders, NATO entrusted the construction of these new headquarters, in March 1967, to two Belgian-German-Dutch joint ventures. Work began immediately and was completed twenty-nine weeks later. The site, owned by theBelgian Government and symbolically rented to NATO,[5] was inaugurated on 16 October 1967.[10]
Problems in the original building stemmed from its hurried construction in 1967. In 1999, during theWashington Summit, the Heads of State and Government of the allied countries decided to replace the building with headquarters adapted to 21st-century needs.[11] It was then decided to build new headquarters located just opposite the current ones on the site of the old terminals of the Haren 6 airfield.[12][13]
A new €750 million headquarters building was constructed over the period between 2010 and summer 2016,[14] and was dedicated on 25 May 2017 with a ceremony in the presence of allied Heads of State. Secretary-GeneralJens Stoltenberg addressed the crowd, while then-US PresidentDonald Trump hectored some among the crowd over their failure to live up to the 2% GDP target required by NATO spending rules.[15] The cost of the new headquarters building escalated to about €1.1 billion.[11]
The complex was designed by an international design consortium led by the US Firm ofSkidmore, Owings and Merrill, includingJo Palma. Both Design and Construction were completed under the auspices of the Belgian Ministry of Defense's Project Management Team led byColonelChristian LaNotte,Belgian Army Engineers. Project Financing and Requirements definition as well as the Design and Construction Phases were overseen for NATO by its HQ Project Office, led byDonald Hutchins (CAPT,US Navy Civil Engineer Corps, Retired) during the design Phase andBrigadier GeneralAnthony Carruth, (British Army Engineer, Retired) during construction. According to the designers, the appearance of the new headquarters symbolize "several interlocking fingers" as "a three-dimensional representation for a complex decision-making body".[16][17]
Situated along the Boulevard Léopold III inHaren, part of theCity of Brussels,[1] the headquarters include 250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft) of floor space, and is office and home to an international staff of 3,800.[13] The Boulevard Léopold III is a major dual carriageway linking via the A201 motorway the center of Brussels toits airport, the latter being located just over 1 km (0.62 mi) from the NATO site. Access can be done by taking theSTIB/MIVB bus lines 12, 21, 65 and the tram line 62, as well as theDe Lijn network. The site is also approximately 80 km (50 mi) north of NATO's military headquarters inCasteau, nearMons, still calledSupreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), although it now houses Allied Command Operations, which directs NATO's military operations worldwide.[18]
The staff at the Brussels headquarters primarily supports theNorth Atlantic Council and its subsidiary organisms. The International Staff provides advice, guidance, and administrative support to the NATO Secretary General. It works closely with theInternational Military Staff (IMS).The first is primarily civilian; the second, primarily military, filled from serving members of the armed forces of member states.[2] The IMS works to the instructions of the senior military body of the Alliance, the Military Committee, and its Chairman. There are also a host of national delegations; liaison offices, and diplomatic missions attached to the headquarters.
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Media related toNATO Headquarters at Wikimedia Commons
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