Cockerill Sambre HF6

Carrying on from our little Urbex trip, me and Jolien randomly came across this massive steelworks plant. It looked very secure from the outside, with rolls of barbed wire covering every wall and entrance. We circled around the property twice to find a way in even, as it looked so impressive from outside.

I was about to give up, but thanks to Jolien insisting we found a way in in the unlikeliest of places.

Inside we got pretty excited. This place has only been shut down a few years, so there is lots and lots left, but nature’s also taking over again to provide for some interesting contrast.

I can’t even begin to comprehend what this maze of pipes, shacks and towers is supposed to do, but it is probably the best location I’ve visited so far, at least for the “industrial” category.  The whole site is truly massive too, at 1 kilometer long and half a kilometer wide. You could spend a whole day here and not see everything.

There’s a bit of vandalism going on here and there, but nothing terrible yet. I think the company who owns it might still vaguely consider starting it up one day, though the longer it is left the less likely that seems. Demolition seems far away too.

Contrary to some other, more known but less interesting places we visited, we didn’t run in to many people here, the sheer size makes that less likely of course. With urbex seemingly becoming much more popular than it ever was, it’s nice to still find places where you can still feel alone.

In the center of the terrain stands the giant blast furnace tower. We had seen someone up there, so we were determined to climb it as well.

Eventually we found our way to dusty black staircases leading higher and higher. Eventually the only way up is on some quite exposed spiral staircases.

The views high up were really impressive.

That round structure was my favorite out of the whole thing, it makes for such interesting visuals.

With the sun starting to set, we descended the tower to make our way out of steelworks and find a spot to camp for the night.

Addendum 2017:

From what I’ve heard, demolition has started, not even 2 months after we visited this in August 2016. At the very least the big tower we climbed has been blown up. Don’t expect too much anymore if you visit this.