Trump’s 2 percent and everything you need to know about the new NATO building

The construction is a huge one; it took various years to build it, also because of security demands. Here are some things you may want to know about the new NATO premises. For the occasion, Trump also held a short speech, confronting different allies with an inconvenient request.

• the offices cover 254,000 square metres.
• the building can accommodate 4,500 employees.
• the total budget is 1.12 billion euros.
• it still hasn’t been completely finished, although the building process has been going on for 6.5 years. It will eventually have taken 1.5 years more to get it finished, due to the stringent security demands.
• all material and personnel had to be screened during the building process, to avoid small microphones or wire-tapping devices being smuggled in.
• a new tunnel was dug in front of the building to have the busy traffic go underground on the busy Leopold III Avenue for safety reasons.
• the VRT was not allowed to film inside, but could exceptionally take some shots from the outside.
• the shape consists of eight office wings (four on each side) which come together in an atrium in a central spine; they represent the fingers of two clasping hands, to symbolise the bonds between the members.
• the façade is completely made of bullet-proof glass, to symbolise transparency and openness.
• Special attention was paid to cyber security, to avoid possible hacking by Russia.
• The building secures NATO’s link with Belgium, something which was uncertain 8 years ago.

The keys