Official inauguration of four new Colruyt Group walking routes

Four routes for walkers, runners and nature lovers

Colruyt Group has worked intensively with the City of Halle and Sport Flanders to plan four walking and running routes. The new walking routes were officially inaugurated today by Isabelle Bosmans, head of welfare at Colruyt Group, together with Mayor Marc Snoeck of Halle and Kaat Van Cauwenbergh, team manager of "Sport at work" at Sport Flanders.

The routes are situated around the site of Wilgenveld (Edingensesteenweg 196) and other sites of Colruyt Group (Dassenveld, Elbeek and Hellebroek). Along these routes, nature lovers can enjoy a colourful collection of flora and fauna. Walkers can spend time getting to know biodiverse landscape, the pleasure gardens, the cooperative park for vulnerable biotopes, the pick-your-own farm, the water reservoir and the Eoly wind park. Notice boards have been placed along the routes providing information on what can be seen on the nature trails, and the official signs of Sport Flanders give directional information.

For the well-being of employees

For Colruyt Group, the new walking routes fit in with its efforts to improve the personal well-being of employees. The company wants to give employees the opportunity to adopt a healthier lifestyle and to exercise more at work, thereby also contributing to a healthier work-life balance. The walking routes are an important link in this set-up. In addition, Colruyt Group has launched a start-to-run and a start-to-walk for employees who use the new routes. Both programmes are accompanied by the physical therapy practices of Peter Laus from Halle.

Additionally, the Group is already taking other initiatives to enable employees to relax at work. The office buildings incorporate quiet rooms. Sessions have also been organised for yoga and mindfulness. Additionally, Colruyt Group also organises stop smoking campaigns, healthy eating campaigns, psychosocial prevention and free flu vaccinations. Numerous pilot projects are also underway, giving employees the opportunity to break up prolonged sessions of sitting and make more movement breaks when working, for example through the use of sit/stand desks.

New cycle path parallel to Beertsestraat

Colruyt Group used the presentation of the four routes to inaugurate the new cycle path. Cyclists and pedestrians can now use the recently-opened cycle path that runs from Pachtersweg, along the Elbeek site and to the Wilgenveld site of Colruyt Group. As well as being a convenient link between the two sites, the cycle path is also a safe alternative to Beertsestraat. This can get busy during rush hour, With the new cycle path, Colruyt Group aims to improve traffic safety and make headway with an alternative cycle route towards Pajottenland.

There was already an access road in place from when we built our windmills, so it made logical sense to upgrade this to a cycle path. And Halle as a city benefits as well, Cyclists and pedestrians can now travel safely from A to B.

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Contact

Hanne Poppe, press officer Colruyt Group, 0473 92 45 10
hanne.poppe@colruytgroup.com

About Colruyt Group

Colruyt Group is active in the distribution of food and non-food products in Belgium, France and Luxembourg, with around 550 of its own stores and more than 580 affiliated stores. In Belgium, it operates Colruyt, OKay, Bio-Planet, Cru, Dreamland, Dreambaby and the affiliated stores Spar and Spar Compact. In France, it operates Colruyt stores, as well as affiliated stores Coccinelle, CocciMarket and Panier Sympa. The group is also active in the food service business (delivering food to hospitals, company kitchens and catering companies) in Belgium (Solucious). Other activities include fuel stations in Belgium (DATS 24), print and document management solutions (Symeta) and the production of green energy. The Group has more than 29,300 employees and generated turnover of EUR 9.0 billion in 2017/18. Colruyt is listed on Euronext Brussels (COLR) under ISIN no. BE0974256852.