Hi everyone!
This report is about the big ARBED steel plant in Esch-Schifflange.
History
It was quite hard to find precise infos about the history of this place, so in this part I've wrote the infos I found but it is not 100% complete.
In the 1870's a plant for the production of cast iron on a large scale was founded by Metz & Cie in Esch-Schifflange. In 1871, the first blast furnace started production and 3 others will be buit in 1872-1873.
the first blast furnaces under construction in 1871
The ARBED (Aciéries réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange) is created in 1911 by merging 3 companies of the area. One year later, the plant is modernised and 3 new blast furnaces are built along with a Thomas steel plant with 4 converters and a new wire rolling mill. In 1929 5 more convertes are built.
In the 1950's, two blast furnaces were demolished and two newer ones were built, Blast furnace A and B in Esch-belval. One more of the old blast furnaces is demolished in 1963 and blast furnace C is built one year later. Meantime new converters, rolling mills and various other buildings are built.
Blast furnaces A, B and C.
In 1971, the last 3 blast furnace shut down. The blast furnace C, which was commissioned only 8 years before, was disamnteled and sold to a chinese plant, where it is still operating nowdays.
In 1980, continuous casting for blooms is started up. An electric steel mill is comissioned in 1994 and will be the last big plant constructed until now. In the 2000's the plant is sold to Mittal and the ARBED compagny disapear.
In October 2012, the wire rolling mill in Schiffelange is temporarily stopped, but in the end it will never be put back into service. The whole site finally shut down in 2014.
Now the buildings in Shcifflenage are still there with all the porduction lines dismanteled and the steel mill half demolished. Blast furnaces A and B are preserved and integrated into a business district.
A steel mill is still operated by ArcelorMittal in Esch-Belval, with an electric arc furnace, a continuous caster and three rolling mills.
The exploration
let's start with the Schifflange site. to be honest from the pics i've seen on internet I was only expecting large empty halls, but I was pleasantly surprised by discovering many remains and a very interesting architecture in some parts. Even if this site is very easy to find and to access, there is really not much stupid graffiti or trashed parts.
Exterior
The weather of this cold winter day really fited the location, I love the atmosphere. Big Post-apo/ Soviet vibe here.
The production halls:
The huge halls where the production lines used to be are now almost completly empty, exept from a small control room and some objects left behind. They were still nice to see, especially the half demolished part whixh has an amazing post apocalyptic look.
Lockers and offices
Now let's head to a less industrial part, which had some really nice decay and architecture.
1950 sub-station
An interesting sub-station with an nice old architecture
Small switch house
As I entered the site I came across what I assume to be an old switch house.
Cooling tower
It is the last part I had the time to visit, there was not much light left and the wind was bloweing really hard so I only took one picture:
Conclusion
I was expecting to spend only a few hours there in empty halls, but as you cas see it was far better than I expected! This place is the last big remain of the Luxemourg steel industry, and even though the production lines are long gone there are a lot of interesting reamins from a long gone era to see.
This report is about the big ARBED steel plant in Esch-Schifflange.
History
It was quite hard to find precise infos about the history of this place, so in this part I've wrote the infos I found but it is not 100% complete.
In the 1870's a plant for the production of cast iron on a large scale was founded by Metz & Cie in Esch-Schifflange. In 1871, the first blast furnace started production and 3 others will be buit in 1872-1873.
the first blast furnaces under construction in 1871
The ARBED (Aciéries réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange) is created in 1911 by merging 3 companies of the area. One year later, the plant is modernised and 3 new blast furnaces are built along with a Thomas steel plant with 4 converters and a new wire rolling mill. In 1929 5 more convertes are built.
In the 1950's, two blast furnaces were demolished and two newer ones were built, Blast furnace A and B in Esch-belval. One more of the old blast furnaces is demolished in 1963 and blast furnace C is built one year later. Meantime new converters, rolling mills and various other buildings are built.
Blast furnaces A, B and C.
In 1971, the last 3 blast furnace shut down. The blast furnace C, which was commissioned only 8 years before, was disamnteled and sold to a chinese plant, where it is still operating nowdays.
In 1980, continuous casting for blooms is started up. An electric steel mill is comissioned in 1994 and will be the last big plant constructed until now. In the 2000's the plant is sold to Mittal and the ARBED compagny disapear.
In October 2012, the wire rolling mill in Schiffelange is temporarily stopped, but in the end it will never be put back into service. The whole site finally shut down in 2014.
Now the buildings in Shcifflenage are still there with all the porduction lines dismanteled and the steel mill half demolished. Blast furnaces A and B are preserved and integrated into a business district.
A steel mill is still operated by ArcelorMittal in Esch-Belval, with an electric arc furnace, a continuous caster and three rolling mills.
The exploration
let's start with the Schifflange site. to be honest from the pics i've seen on internet I was only expecting large empty halls, but I was pleasantly surprised by discovering many remains and a very interesting architecture in some parts. Even if this site is very easy to find and to access, there is really not much stupid graffiti or trashed parts.
Exterior
The weather of this cold winter day really fited the location, I love the atmosphere. Big Post-apo/ Soviet vibe here.
The production halls:
The huge halls where the production lines used to be are now almost completly empty, exept from a small control room and some objects left behind. They were still nice to see, especially the half demolished part whixh has an amazing post apocalyptic look.
Lockers and offices
Now let's head to a less industrial part, which had some really nice decay and architecture.
1950 sub-station
An interesting sub-station with an nice old architecture
Small switch house
As I entered the site I came across what I assume to be an old switch house.
Cooling tower
It is the last part I had the time to visit, there was not much light left and the wind was bloweing really hard so I only took one picture:
Conclusion
I was expecting to spend only a few hours there in empty halls, but as you cas see it was far better than I expected! This place is the last big remain of the Luxemourg steel industry, and even though the production lines are long gone there are a lot of interesting reamins from a long gone era to see.
