Forest 1190 · Brussels-Capital
Renovation in Forest.
1930s houses, bow windows, roofing, insulation, bathrooms, kitchens. We are in Uccle, just the other side of the avenue.
- 01Ten minutes awayChaussée de Waterloo, 1180 Uccle
- 02CoBAT and exemptionsPermit file prepared with you
- 03Liability and ten-year coverCertificates handed over with the quote
- 04Quote within 48 hStart and finish dates in writing
What we renovate in Forest
A 1930s house is well built. It simply is not insulated.
Forest filled up between the wars, in rows of ochre brick houses climbing the slopes. Bow windows, brick laid in geometric patterns, stone banding, block parquet, stepped cornices. The masonry is excellent and the proportions are right. But Belgium's first thermal regulation dates from 1974: forty years earlier, there is nothing in the walls.
On this kind of stock, the order that returns the most per euro spent is almost always the same.
- 01Roof and atticThe most profitable item, by a distance. Many roofs of this generation reach the end of their life at the same time as insulation that never existed.
- 02Window frames and glazingBow windows lose a lot, because they project into thin air and glaze three sides. Like-for-like replacement is exempt from a permit.
- 03Walls and floorsFrom the inside when the brick and its patterned bond must stay visible, which is nearly always the case here. Otherwise from the outside, with a permit.
- 04Heating and ventilationLast, never first. You size the boiler on the insulated house, not on the old one, otherwise you pay twice.
Financial support in 2026
The commune of Forest says it itself: no grant application can be filed.
This is not our opinion, it is written on the commune's own site: no grant application may be submitted for work whose final invoice falls in 2025, pending a government decision. The regional Renolution grants are suspended, and Homegrade, the Region's information service, states that aid is not known for 2026. Be wary of any quote that still promises you a 70% grant.
What still exists
The 6% VAT rate, federal and untouched: dwelling over ten years old, private use, invoice to the end consumer. On a 25,000 euro roof that is 3,750 euros against the full rate. And the Ecoreno loan from the Brussels Housing Fund.
Where to ask in Forest
The commune has no grant of its own, but it points to three services that genuinely help: Une Maison en Plus for renovation and energy advice and putting files together, the ALE of Forest for small maintenance, and Homegrade for housing quality.
We price with no regional grant in it, and we tell you plainly when a form of support does not apply to you. If the new loan scheme arrives during the works, we will say so.
What it looks like
The same house, once the bow window is back in service.
1930s houses have details nobody makes any more. The work is to keep them while making the place comfortable.
Where we work
The districts of Forest.
Forest rises and falls, and the building stock changes with the slope. You do not renovate the same way at the top of the Altitude Cent and down by the station.
Altitude Cent
The high point, and the finest Art Deco ensemble in the commune around the church of Saint-Augustin. Careful facades, bow windows, and appearance constraints that have to be respected.
Forest-Centre and Saint-Denis
Around the abbey and the old church. Older, more irregular stock, with stability and damp questions to settle before any question of looks.
Duden and Wiels
On the edge of the park. Bourgeois houses and apartment blocks, often with good ceiling heights and sloping gardens to level out.
Bervoets
A more modest and very dense fabric, where full renovations of family houses are common, floor to roof and all in one go.
Saint-Antoine
Regular rows of interwar houses. Original roofs and window frames at the end of the road almost everywhere in the same street.
Neerstalle and Marconi
The lower part, more mixed, with converted industrial buildings and dwellings of unusual proportions that call for bespoke work.
Permits and planning
In Forest, the inside is free. The facade is not.
Forest is in the Brussels Region, so the CoBAT applies. The order of 13 November 2008 exempts from a permit: renovating a room, putting up or taking down a light partition, redoing the electrics, the plumbing or the heating, changing a floor covering, insulating from the inside. Provided the number and layout of dwellings do not change, and nothing touches stability.
Outside it is tighter. A window frame replaced like for like is exempt, including going from single to double glazing. Changing the colour or the visible material of the facade needs a permit. Insulating the roof is exempt if the shade and material stay the same. And a rooflight passes if it stays within the plane of the roof, under 45 degrees, and under 20% of that roof slope.
We call in at the commune's planning service before pricing whenever there is the slightest doubt about the facade, and we put the processing time into the schedule in the quote.
Frequently asked
What people ask us in Forest.
Do you work everywhere in Forest?
Across the whole commune, from the Altitude Cent to Neerstalle, taking in Forest-Centre, Duden, Bervoets and Saint-Antoine. Our address is chaussée de Waterloo in Uccle, the neighbouring commune.
My house dates from the 1930s, can it be insulated?
Almost always, yes. Belgium's first thermal regulation dates from 1974, so an interwar house has nothing in the walls. The roof and attic are the first item, then the window frames, then the walls from the inside.
Do the Renolution grants still exist?
No. The commune of Forest's own site states that no grant application can be filed for work invoiced in 2025, pending a government decision, and Homegrade states that aid is not known for 2026. So we price with no regional grant.
Can I insulate my facade from the outside in Forest?
Technically often yes; administratively it needs a permit as soon as the visible appearance changes, which a render on a brick facade certainly does. On the fine Art Deco ensembles of the Altitude Cent it is rarely the right answer, so we insulate from the inside instead.
Do I need a permit for a rooflight?
Not if it stays within the plane of the roof, at a pitch under 45 degrees and a cumulative area under 20% of that roof slope. Beyond that, yes. We check before drawing anything.
Do I qualify for 6% VAT in Forest?
The reduced rate is federal, so it is the same everywhere in Belgium: dwelling over ten years old since first occupation, mainly private use, invoice addressed to the end consumer. We check all three conditions with you before pricing.
Your quote
Your quote for Forest, in 48 hours.
Tell us what you want to do. We come and measure within five working days, and the detailed quote follows within 48 hours.
- Phone0467 88 59 52
- E-mailinfo@freitasgroup.be
- AddressChaussée de Waterloo 838, boîte 17
1180 Uccle - Other tradeProfessional cleaning