• Constant Lier Congress & Coworking

This is where Constant grows

The city account of 1426 shows that the building ‘Het Schaeckberd’ must originally have been a civilian home, which was converted into a private brewery shortly afterwards.

Since the owners of this brewery, Het Schaeckberd, also owned the adjacent city brewery De Vijfhoek, both premises were merged for a period of time, until the rights to the city brewery were sold to other brewers and both breweries were privatised.

A few years later, in 1606, Het Schaeckberd was thoroughly renovated and rebuilt in the current Flemish Renaissance style. The year anchors adorning the façade still remind us of this!

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Schaeckberd, often also called Checkerboard or Chessboard, grew into an important, prestigious brewery that was so extensive that people soon spoke of the ‘big’ and the ‘small’ Schaeckberd.

At that time, the adjacent alley was still flanked by tall buildings.

In the center of the plot there was an open courtyard, which will still be used as a patio today.

Brewing took place on the ground floor.

The first floor was furnished as a reception room where the brewer’s family received distinguished guests in the large lounge, and right at the top was the brewer’s office.

To brew, breweries need easy access to water.

This brewery ‘t Schaeckberd was not located on the Kleine Nete, but was still supplied with water thanks to the small river, the Brouwersvliet, which was located at the back of the plot and was connected to the Nete.

A photo from 1914 shows the arch in the masonry, indicating that the Brouwersvliet was already filled up and bricked up at the time.

The buildings were purchased by the city in 1912, but shortly thereafter WWI broke out and a devastating fire left this building complex in a pitiful state.

The building was reconstructed in the first half of the 1930s, and over the years has been further refurbished and adapted as municipal offices as required. The building was finally protected in 1939 as a monument of historical, artistic and antiquity value.

The building is currently being repurposed as a location for meetings, corporate hubs and cowork, whereby the common thread throughout the building’s history to ‘bring people together’ is preserved in the CONSTANT project.

In De Roode Flesch, the building next to this old brewery, the Van Ouytsel family has been roasting coffee since 1876, making use of the steam generated in the ‘t Schaeckberd brewery. That is why people also spoke of STEAM COFFEE BURNING. This property is home to warm family stories, and is being repurposed as a private residence.