- Joined
- Jan 2, 2017
- Messages
- 47
- Reaction score
- 151
- Points
- 33
- Location
- Belgium
- Website
- www.urbanrelics.be
Part of this largely abandoned plant is temporarily being used as a storage facility for a nearby company. That is why the electricity on the whole site was still working. It makes for a bit of an eerie explore, but a lot of fun nonetheless. Unfortuantely a lot of the machinery had already been sold or moved to other factories of the same group. There were a lot of big, empty halls, but all in all there was still enough left to make it an interesting visit. At least I thought so... I'll let you be the judge! 
A bit of background:
This wire drawing plant was founded in 1951 as a subsidiary of the steel company of Gustave Boël, which produced both sheet steel and wire rod. Before the founding of this subsidiary, the wire rod was sold to independent wire drawers at home and abroad. The new company set itself the goal of manufacturing and developing traditional wire products such as bare wire, galvanized wire, wire nails, barbed wire and closures. The European wire market experienced strong growth and this created additional export opportunities. In the following years, construction steel became the factory's largest sales product.
The production gradually changed from ribbed wire and construction steel mats to shiny wire for chrome plating and nickel plating. Investments were also made in annealing furnaces for the production of particular kinds of wire. A takeover in 1999 by a Swiss-Italian group, which was more specialized in buying and selling than in production, was the beginning of the end for this factory. Acquisitions and joint ventures followed at a quick pace, but this factory continued to function as a department of the steel plant from which it originated. After the closure of the steel plant at the beginning of 2013, things deteriorated rapidly. In the fall of 2018, after 67 years, the final curtain fell over the wire drawing plant.
That's all folks! Thanks for watching!
A bit of background:
This wire drawing plant was founded in 1951 as a subsidiary of the steel company of Gustave Boël, which produced both sheet steel and wire rod. Before the founding of this subsidiary, the wire rod was sold to independent wire drawers at home and abroad. The new company set itself the goal of manufacturing and developing traditional wire products such as bare wire, galvanized wire, wire nails, barbed wire and closures. The European wire market experienced strong growth and this created additional export opportunities. In the following years, construction steel became the factory's largest sales product.
The production gradually changed from ribbed wire and construction steel mats to shiny wire for chrome plating and nickel plating. Investments were also made in annealing furnaces for the production of particular kinds of wire. A takeover in 1999 by a Swiss-Italian group, which was more specialized in buying and selling than in production, was the beginning of the end for this factory. Acquisitions and joint ventures followed at a quick pace, but this factory continued to function as a department of the steel plant from which it originated. After the closure of the steel plant at the beginning of 2013, things deteriorated rapidly. In the fall of 2018, after 67 years, the final curtain fell over the wire drawing plant.
That's all folks! Thanks for watching!
