Urbex: Hauts-Fourneaux B

Hauts-Fourneaux B is an abandoned steel mill in Belgium, built in 1962. The site was owned by Cockerill Sambre and was the largest coke plant in the country. The plant operated until 2008 but was then closed due to the economic crisis and low demand for steel. The blast furnace was restarted in 2010, but just a year later, Arcelor/Mittal decided to shut down the blast furnaces in the city. There was still insufficient demand for steel and overproduction. This was a significant blow to the many employees. It was also bad news for Antwerp's dockworkers. The HFB blast furnace was permanently closed in 2014.

What exactly will happen to the HFB remains unclear. They certainly don't want to demolish it immediately. Who knows, maybe this location will eventually find a new purpose. Industrial estates in Germany are being closely watched. The former Völklingen ironworks and the Zeche Zollverein coal mine have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in recent years. Who knows, maybe Hauts-Fourneaux B will also make it onto this list in the future?

Finally! We're going out again. The last time we planned a day of urbex was in April 2019, so it's been almost a year. I've missed the anticipation of scouting out locations and potential entrances. The excitement of the adventure is also coming back. Hauts-Fourneaux B had been on our list for a while. We drove past it a few years ago, but we still saw a lot of security on the grounds. Since we'd already been caught in another department, we didn't dare take the risk here. Meanwhile, we'd read that the grounds are much less secure, so we saw our chance.

With a bit of climbing and jumping, we quickly reach the vast grounds of Hauts-Fourneaux B. First, we check for cameras, but we can't find any. We immediately climb the first set of stairs and find ourselves in a maze of pipes and conduits, with several staircases leading upwards. This is the industrial atmosphere I love and which is beautiful to photograph.

The blast furnace

We soon reach the impressive blast furnace. In the blast furnaces, iron ore was converted into liquid pig iron by reducing it. This means that the oxygen is removed from the ores. Coke and sinter are the raw materials that are brought from storage bunkers to the top of the blast furnace and poured into the hopper. This ends up in a swing chute that evenly distributes the charge in the blast furnace. At the bottom of the blast furnace, hot air is blown in at a temperature of 1000 to 1200 degrees Celsius. This hot air reacts with the coke and pulverized coal, forming a gas that extracts the oxygen from the iron ore. The heat also melts the iron ore. The molten iron ore collects at the bottom of the blast furnace and is tapped off for transport to the steel mill. The gases produced in the blast furnace are used internally via pipes as fuel and can generate electricity.

Coal is needed to produce pig iron, but it cannot be used directly in the blast furnace. The coal must first be converted into coke. This is done by heating it in a closed furnace to 1250 degrees Celsius. Once the coal has been converted into glowing coke, it is fed into a quenching truck that transports the coke to the quenching tower. Here, the coke is sprayed with water. The coke then enters the coke quay where it can evaporate. A conveyor belt transports the coke to the coke stabilization unit, where it is crushed and screened for use in the blast furnace.

On top of the world

Since bad weather is on the way, we quickly decide to go higher and climb one of the towers. I'm not afraid of heights, but the thought of one of the metal plates we're walking on giving way is unbearable. The wind also makes it quite nerve-wracking. Right at the top, we have a fantastic view of the enormous complex. We're about 60 meters up. From a distance, it must be obvious that we're at the top of the tower, but we happily take photos. This is so cool!

We descend to look inside the abandoned buildings. And there are many of them. We reach a workshop, among other things, and climb to the roof of another building where we can see the industrial ovens.

In a large factory hall, we encounter old turbines and enormous steel equipment. Some of these are still packed in boxes and have therefore never been used. This hall also houses the site's largest control room. While still impressive to see, this control room has been significantly trashed. It's incredibly unfortunate that some people feel the need to destroy everything. In the adjacent building, we reach the conveyor belts that transported the coal up to the coke stabilization unit. The decay in the buildings is clearly visible, as the ground floor is completely flooded with water. We examine a few more conveyor belts and are startled when we suddenly see a white van parked behind a building. For a moment, we think we've been caught by security, but it turns out to be a wrecked van.

We enter the main office through an open window. It turns out we're not the only ones, as we see a shadow ducking in front of us. Later, we see more urban explorers. It's always exciting to bump into others. The main office itself isn't really worth it. Every room has been completely ransacked, and the heavy rain reveals that the ceiling is as leaky as a sieve. Because of the torrential downpour, we decide to stay inside for a while and explore the various rooms.

When it's dry, we've already been exploring the site for over 7,5 hours. We still haven't seen everything! It's been a while for today, and we walk back to the car. Hauts-Fourneaux B is a fantastic urban exploration destination that's easy to explore. Unfortunately, quite a bit has been demolished in recent years. Nevertheless, this is one of the coolest industrial complexes we've visited so far.

We previously visited another abandoned factory: SA des Chaudronneries Pierrou.