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Striking banner pops up at ‘eternal scaffolding’ Brussels courthouse

Employment agency IMPACT urges politicians with playful action to go to professionals for lessons in decisiveness.

Brussels – 30/08/2023 -. It was a striking sight for passersby this morning. A giant banner was unfurled on the infamous scaffolding at the Brussels Palace of Justice with the caption “Dear politicians, it’s our turn. And it won’t take us 40 years to get this job done”.

A playful nod to the years of inactivity during which the scaffolding stood rusting for nearly 40 years before things finally moved forward and renovation work began at the beginning of this month. The banner was hung on behalf of IMPACT , an employment agency specializing in construction and engineering jobs. According to the company, if the work had been left to professionals, the scaffolding would have been long gone and the renovation done.

They have almost become a fixture in the city, the eternal scaffolding at the Brussels Palace of Justice. For nearly 40 years, they have stood waiting for the start of renovation works that were postponed year after year. Meanwhile, the scaffolds have become so outdated that they themselves were already in need of restoration. Then recently the news came unexpectedly that work on the building would begin. The situation inspired employment agency IMPACT to put up a giant banner in the early morning of Aug. 30 with a striking message: “Dear politicians, it’s our turn. And it won’t take us 40 years to get this job done”. With this, the company – which employs more than 1,000 professionals in construction and technical jobs every day – wants to playfully urge decision-makers to take an example from the decisiveness and sense of initiative of technically trained professionals. Now that they can finally get to work, the company believes progress will be made much faster.

The statements have become a symbol of a lack of decisiveness on the part of policy makers. With this playful action we want to encourage them to take an example from professionals. It is common knowledge that professionals are doers with a solution-oriented approach. We are therefore convinced that they would have solved the problem much faster and that policy makers can learn a lot from them when it comes to decisiveness. Now that the professionals can finally get to work, the works will undoubtedly show results very quickly.

Isabelle Dumortier

Marketing Director at IMPACT

Revaluation of skilled workers

With the action, IMPACT especially wants to show how important professionals are in society. It is thanks to their often difficult and complex work that the world around us takes shape and that our welfare model can continue to hold up. According to the company, however, professionals do not always get the appreciation they deserve for this. For example, technical training is not sufficiently valued. With the action, IMPACT calls attention to this issue.

The banner on the scaffolding of the courthouse is already the third in a series. Earlier this year, IMPACT placed a billboard on a construction site on De Keyserlei in Antwerp and on Lippenslaan in Knokke. It read “Hey ChatGPT, finish this building,” a clear nod to the importance of technical professionals in an increasingly digital society.

When it comes to making things really happen, we all look to skilled workers. They are literally building the world of tomorrow and sustaining our welfare model. Yet we find that technical jobs and training are often undervalued. With this action we want to contribute to the revaluation of professionals in our society.

Isabelle Dumortier

Marketing Director at IMPACT