Nestling in the heart of a wild and green landscape, listed as a major Walloon heritage site, the Château of Freÿr is recognised as one of the most beautiful nature sites in Belgium. With its famous rocks and sumptuous French gardens, it provides an enchanting panorama. How to make this beautiful and widely-admired site also an ecological model was the challenge set by members of the ASBL Domaine de Freÿr. This led to the launch of the Zero Emissions Château project, which has as its objective to lower the ecological footprint of the château’s buildings and gardens and ensure a sustainable future for them.

The Zero Emissions Château project aims reduce the pressure that man exerts on nature and this in two main areas: energy consumption linked to heating and the treatment of wastewater.

As the buildings are listed buildings, the renovation work relates mainly to the provision and production of energy for heating. The old, oil-fired boilers will be replaced by high-performance wood-chip boilers, with the wood used coming from sustainable wood sources on the estate.

However, since these improvements would be of little value unless the buildings themselves were correctly preserved, a vast restoration project has also been launched. The roofs, roof structure, façade cladding, woodwork and other elements of the château, which have all been exposed to the onslaughts of time, will also be refurbished.

And finally, a new sewage treatment plant will soon be installed, which will treat all the wastewater from the château.

To meet this ecological challenge, the ASBL Domaine de Freÿr has received financial support from the Laubespin-Lagarde Fund, created within the King Baudouin Foundation.