Urbex-it

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2008-07-06T16:48:00.004+01:00

It's already more than a year ago that I updated this blog. In the meantime I've been very active though: I've seen a lot of other beautiful locations and took such an amazing amount of photos that I don't have the time anymore to update this blog.
Luckily there are other ways too see my most recent explorations.
Every day (except for holidays) I update my Flickr-photostream, mostly with urbex-pics. They're all organised into collections and sets, they're tagged, their "date taken" is correct, so it's very easy for you to discover them all.
This is the link to my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-itje/
An overview of all my urban explorations can be discovered here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-itje/collections/72157600061771339/
I also have another blog in Dutch, which is more a kind of picture diary, where I also insert my urbex-photos. So if you understand Dutch you can read more information on the urbex-adventures if you want to: http://x-itjesfotos.blogspot.com/

More than a half year ago I switched to a DSLR-cam with 4 lenses (Olympus E-510 + 14-42mm + 40-150mm + macro 35mm + fisheye 8mm, still waiting for the 9-18mm) so my possibilities and experience have expanded. If I may speak for myself I can say that I'm improved, not only in taking pictures but also in processing & editing, and LightRoom (+ the presets I find on Internet) and Photomatix are the ones to honour.

I don't think I will be updating this blog in the near future, but I do have plans for an own website, which will be announced here once ready.

Thanks for watching, commenting, and enjoy all of my pics on http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-itje/ !!!

(B) Mechelen, Lorette convent / school

2007-06-23T22:03:00.000+01:00

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In 1851 a new monastic order is established under Victor Scheppers, "Zusters van O.L.V. van Barmhartigheid" (Nuns of Our Lady of Charity), or also known as the "Loretten". They move into a convent into the Begijnenstraat in Mechelen.
In 1860 they open an elementary school, which grows into the Lorette-school, with a nursery school, an elementary school and a secondary school.
In the course of years, they also build a home for elderly women.
In the late 20th centry the monastic order extinguishes and the Lorette school ascends into the Scheppersinstituut. The buildings are vacant now.
In 1990 the school is re-used for parttime education until April 2003. (In 2001, some doors were stolen from the Lorette convent, the police found them again at an antiquarian in Mechelen)
Int he years 2000, some project developers got interested in the buildings, but for some it was too expensive, another one wanted it didn't come with the money, and one who bought it found it too hard to keep the protected state of some buildings in account.
From June till September 2005 some archeologists did a first examination of the grounds, before they would start building apartments and a sub-underground parking.
End 2005 it seemed that the renovation and renewal would begin soon; a project developer from Antwerp bought the buildings of the convent and had plans for a living complex with apartments and lofts. Another one took an option on the school buildings.
In March 2007 - still nothing has happened to the buildings - the city of Mechelen asks allowances at the federal government because it wants to participate in the renovation.
Finally, on June 30 of this year, the renovation is subsidized, now it's just waiting till October, when the request for building will hopefully be confirmed.
Then convent will be reconverted into 18 convent lofts.
Three façades of the other buildings must be kept, there they will build 3 houses, and behind that some other new buildings, 2 gardens and a parking...
Will that ever come true? We'll see...

We walked around the buildings, but all the doors were closed and all windows had rolling shutters.
But there was one rolling shutter which was loose. My boyfround lifted it as subtle as possible and discovered that the window behind it was open!
Okay, that could be easy, if it wasn't for the fact that the buildings are in the center of the city, it was nice weather and lots of people were passing by.
Even a group of tourists.
As we stood there waiting till the coast was clear, a local weirdo had seen we were trying to find an entrance and came to talk to us.
He didn't even know what exactly the buildings had served for.
We explained, and he left.
On a pretty safe moment, we got in action: the rolling shutter was lifted and I sneaked in.
It was a real surprise to see that the next one crawling in was not one of my fellow explorers, but the weirdo!
Finally we had all entered, the exploring could begin!
It was almost already the end for me because I stepped right next to a hole in the floor which I hadn't seen...
We decided to have a quick run-through to see what's most interesting, because the place is huge.
But the first floor being discovered, we couldn't keep ourselves in check and started photographing from there.
The weirdo borrowed my flashlight to explore the upper floors.
He came back with some pics he took with his cellphone, we were really impressed ;-)
Then he left - finallly - with some religious books we had found on the floor...
Some time later I experienced the most wonderful and magic moment ever since I've started exploring: I discovered a heavenly hall with arches, orange lit by the sun.
(see photo above)
I got so excited, it was really divine. I yelled my friends to come immediately, before the sun would be gone and the light so much less gorgeous.
To encounter such lovely places and try to catch it in a photo, that's what I do it all for. The hallways in the convent were also beautiful.

What else did I find: a wallet with an identity card, a banc card, a bus card, etc. (lost some weeks ago). Some remains of a papier-mâché dragon. And some seats with a shit-hole.

Unfortunately I ran out of batteries at the end (blame my LCD screen which I use all the time), but I had nearly seen everything.
We left via a door on the other - less visible in public - side, which can only be opened from the inside. A few weeks later I heard that it was closed again - luckily.
The last thing this wonderful place can use are vandals!

Info source:

2005 (History in brief): http://www.victor-scheppers.org/Scheppers-n/BROEDERS/Eerbiedwaardige/Zusters/Zusters.htm
2004/12/03 (the parttime education): http://www.tsmmechelen.be/CLW/CDO20j/cdo20Presentatie.htm
2001/08/24 (the theft): http://antwerpen.gva.be/nieuws-antwerpen/2001/08/24/kloosterdeuren-stonden-bij-mechelse-antiquair.html
2005/01/15 (the sale): http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=gulbn1kt
2005/04/06 (the sale): http://www.radioreflex.be/web/html/home/nieuws_archief.html
2005/11/05 (sale again): http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=gnsjuhh0
2006/03/05 (excavations): http://tijlv.studentenweb.org/mt/archives/2006/03/het_spijker_in.html
2007/03/01 (allowances): http://blog.stadmechelen.be/index.php?itemid=1197
2007/06/30 (request for building): http://handiginhuis.be/?p=323

(B) Mechelen, Predikheren/Dominican monastery

2007-06-23T21:01:00.000+01:00

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The Dominican Order, or Predikheren is a Catholic religious order, created by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France.
In 1736 the Dominicans monastery was built in Mechelen. The west wing, the church of the monastery, was never completed.

In 1796 the French occupiers took the buildings and closed the monastery. The buildings later were sold to a religious group that used the monastery as a home for elderly men.

In 1809 the buildings were used as a military hospital and the church in 1814 as a military arsenal. That's why it's also called the General Delobbe-baracks.

The monastery has kept its military use until 1977. The last 30 years the buildings haven't been used, only some theatre projects were held in the church.

(Source:http://www.urbex.nl)

In May 2001 the buildings were sold to a property developer who would build an office complex, but that never happened.
In July 2005 the city of Mechelen bought it back, in order to find a solution to guard the buildings from further decay.

Up till now nothing has happened to the buildings, except for natural decay. Local youth seems to use it as a shelter, too.

It was fairly easy to enter. On the internet I always read that people find an entrance though a cellar window, but we just had to climb upon a bike that was left against a wall, and jump through an open window.
We first entered the church of which the windows were masked with plates, so it was pretty dark in there. Just as we had seen on photos on the internet, we lit small candles at the pillars to have more light and to create some kind of 'special effect'.
But with a cam with a maxium shutter time of 15 seconds, trouble focusing and generating lots of noise in dark areas, I wasn't able to get a good shot... gotta go back when I have a new camera ;-)

Then we wandered through the rest of the building, most lovely was the green hall as you can see in the photo above. Most rooms and halls were dark (all windows are masked), it was a strange experience, thinking of all things that had been going on here in former times.

Finally we entered the huge attic, completely made out of wood and with 'no smoking' texts.
At this point we heard lots of noises downstairs, as if some vandals were busy, eh, vandalising. Quite scary if you ask me, but we went on photographing.

Back downstairs we saw that local youth had been there, eating and drinking and making some mess, but nothing really vandalised. There was still one of them talking into his cellphone, but he and we acted as if it was the most normal thing being there - and in fact, why not.

(B) Kortrijk, Mobil Oil nv

2007-06-17T17:41:00.000+01:00

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I don't exactly know what this place was, some refer to it as the custom-house-depot, but looking at the documents and posters inside it was a probably a company called "Mobil Oil NV". And it smells like that too, in the big hangar you still smell the petrol. Being there too long you might get a headache! That raises the supposition that the soil is very polluted.
The place is completely trashed, I guess vandals like to come there to go on the spree.

(B) Kortrijk, abandoned house in the Sionstraat

2007-06-10T23:23:00.000+01:00

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This is an abandoned house next to the O.L.V. van Bijstand-school (see previous post). All the houses and shops in the neighbourhood are left because they will be demolished to build a new huge shopping mall and apartments.

(B) Kortrijk, O.L.V. van Bijstand

2007-06-10T22:54:00.000+01:00

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O.L.V. van Bijstand was a school in the center of Kortrijk. Years ago it was closed but still used as part of the art academy. Now it is completely abandoned, just like a convent, an elderly home and some premises in the neighbourhood. A small part of it is already demolished.
On August 1, the complete demolition of all buildings will start to make place for a huge shopping mall and appartments.
A blog about the demolishing and building can be found here: http://winkelcomplexkortrijk.blogspot.com/

(B) Poperinge, O.L.V. Gasthuis

2007-06-03T22:29:00.000+01:00

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This building was originally used as a local hospital, "Mariaziekenhuis" until the 1980's. In 1985, it was a temporary accomodation for elderly people who had to move out of their home 'Heilig Hart' because of new standards of fire security. In 1988, the name changed into "O.L.V. Gasthuis".
The building was left in 2004 when the residents could move into a new home on the other side of the street.
On some walls there are children's drawings and prints of children's hands, but I don't know who did this, when or why.
When we visited, the place was already a construction site, because they are renovating it for appartments. Walls were stripped off or broken down, lots of stuff was already gone (but some rooms still look great), only on the attic we found some interesting things and lots of administration. Pity we hadn't found this location earlier.

(B) Kortrijk, Tissage & filature Camille De Stoop, III

2007-06-02T23:40:00.000+01:00

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We went back with our ladder today (people passed by when we pushed the ladder under the fence, but they ignored us), to catch the nice orange sunlight coming from the sunset (see the set of I climbed onto the roof and had a view on Kortrijk.
No spectacular adventures today ;-)
But we saw a hole in the floor in the place where we had lightpainted and jumped around in the dark on our previous visit... none of us remarked it then, and fortunately neither did we fall in...

1st visit: 2007/03/10
2nd visit: 2007/04/22

(B) Cheratte, Hasard Cheratte

2007-05-26T22:00:00.000+01:00

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This coal mine, located in the heart of the town of Cheratte, dates back to the 1860's, and was one of the numerous mines in the Liège coal basin. The main buildings consists of a tall, castle-like winding tower over shaft #1, which is connected to two similar looking wings, which held washrooms and other related facilities. A low laying building in the center of the facility served as a lamp room and charging area. The remains of a tower can be seen on the hill behind the mine, which sits over the shaft "Puits Hognée," and was used to transport waste materials. The imposing concrete winding tower sits over shaft #3, which is the deepest shaft at this facility (480 meters).

The mine has been closed since 1977, and has remained undisturbed for the most part. It has been designated as a Belgian protected landmark, which equates to fencing, signs, and nothing else.

Info source: http://www.opacity.us

My boyfriend had examinated the place the day before, so today I only had to follow his footsteps through the forest. The last part, entering the domain of the buidings, was the hardest - a bit slippery because of the rain the day before - but we managed it without serious injuries ;-)
The first room, one of many with lockers and showers, already impressed me very much. Although completely rusty, it was like I was entering the past. We spent almost an hour over there (most of the time it's a mistake to spend such a long time in the first place you enter; usually other rooms are just as, or even more interesting. If you'd spend an hour on every place in such an interesting and huge site as Hasard Cheratte, you would need a couple of days).
I completely forgot about time while being there. Discovering a place makes me excited, taking photographs sets me at rest. It was nice to still find some (stiffen) clothes, helmets, gas masks, gloves, belts and of course: lots of boots.
Although this place has already been photographed many times, it's fun to search your own approach, and to try to transcend the quality of other people's photos.

Suddenly, when we were in one tower, we heard voices outside. Looking down, we saw a whole crew of photographers, helpers and models, and they even brought a small dog. Apparently they had entered through an easier way (probably legitimate), looking at the clothes of the models and the material they had brought!
They saw us but fortunately ignored us, so we tried to ignore them, although we had to pass right through their set a couple of times :-)

Because I had to catch a train and because I had spent way too many time in the first shower room, we had to go too quickly through the last building we visited: the place where the workers got paid and where they stored their lamps and gas masks, etc.
What a pity, we'll have to return later to this urbex-heaven...

(B) Kortrijk, Tuileries du Littoral, V

2007-05-23T22:52:00.000+01:00

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Today, after working hours, we explored the rest of the buildings of Littoral. While we were busy on one side, we suddenly had to flee, because we heard someone entering the big hall, where doors are normally closed.
But we went on doing our thing, in the very dusty production halls. Today we were very lucky with the sunlight, as you can see in the set of today. I even met the big brother of R2D2, a very impressive machine.
Once back in the hall were we started, the setting sun produced a nice orange light.
But again we had to flee, the man seemed to be still busy putting things at the end of the hall. My boyfriend had to cross quickly, luckily the man didn't notice him.
Going back to our car, we saw the man at his car and he saw us, but he didn't care about us and we did neither ;-)

1st visit: 2007/03/10
2nd visit: 2007/03/18
3rd visit: 2007/04/01
4th visit: 2007/04/23

(B) Dadizele, Dadipark

2007-05-19T20:12:00.000+01:00

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Dadipark in Dadizele is the oldest amusement park in Belgium.
It was raised in 1949 by the diocese of West-Vlaanderen under influence of priest Deweer. At the end of the eighties, the park was taken over by a few local retailers, but in 2003 they decided to close it down because the park made losses and the constant cost of repairs was raising.
At the climax of its popularity, Dadipark welcomed one million visitors a year - the last year there were hardly 175.000 visitors.

The park had always free entrance, and most of the attractions are mechanic, that is, the power comes from the kids and not from the electricity. In former summertimes, Dadipark was the place to be for many people I know, as part of a pilgrimage, a school trip or just some occupational therapy in summer holidays ;-).

Now nature has taken over the park that has a size of 10 hectare; weeds and rust are everywhere. Some attractions are even hard to find between all that green (in times of spring and summer).

In 2003, the middle class was still hoping that it would be closed for only one season.
In 2004 an investor from the Netherlands wanted to turn it into an outletshopping, but the plans didn't go on because a part of the park had to be restored in its original condition.
In 2005 there was again new hope that the park would be re-opened somewhere in 2007.
In 2006 the town-council of Moorslede would approve the change of the development plan, so that there could be a small shopping center too.
This year, on April 18, there was the announcement that a British investor would invest € 80 million in the park. The plan of Building & Engineering, a property developer from Deerlijk, is to open a free theme park, with income from commercial activities like the sale of products linked to the attractions. They aim at a half a million visitors a year and 350 employees. The re-opening would be in 2009... we'll see.
An amusement park for kids is now the playground of adult photographers...

When we tried to enter, some kids playing there thought it was cool and entered before us through the holes in the revolving door - which were too small for us. For one moment we considered to jump over the small canal, but luckily we found an easier way over it.
While shooting we met two other urbexers from Mechelen, but the real surprise was... 2 huge ostriches, running free in the park. Luckily they didn't go that far, so that the rest of our urbex-trip seemed pretty safe. Later on we met some local youth hanging around. The guys were proud that they had taken out the water in the arena near the big slide. They also told us that the ostriches are from a butcher nearby; they had broken out but the owner thinks it okay that Dadipark becomes a bit like Jurassic Park now ;-)

We climbed up the huge footbridge (used to be feared by a lot of kids) and had a nice view on the park and its surroundings, of which the cathedral of Dadizele, the bridge seems to lead right to it.
While I was standing on top a man in the street warned me that it was dangerous, but the bridge had already proven its firmness to us, as we had even been running on it.
The way down was a real jungle, but we got out alive ;-)

(B) Celles, Château de Miranda (Home de Noisy)

2007-04-29T22:00:00.000+01:00

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During the French revolution, in 1866, the family of the Count from Liedekerke-Beaufort had left the nearby feudal castle of Vèves to hide in a farm outside the village, near Celles. The farm grew and finally became this enormous castle, "Château de Miranda", designed by the English architect Milner.
In 1950 it became a vacation home for children, "Home de Noisy" (or "Château de Noisy"), of the employees at the NMBS (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen, National Community of Belgian Railways)
After 1970 it was used for activities and sports holidays for kids.
In 1991 it was abandoned and now nature and some vandals (who raised fire, broke out the floors, broke down the stairs, ...) are taking over.

Once so beautiful, it is now completely falling apart and very dangerous to enter. Last year, the horse stables have collapsed because of heavy rain. Floors, ceilings and walls are weak and sometimes already collapsed, stairs to the higher levels have been broken down (there are still steps to the left and right side of the stairway, but in the middle it's a kind of slide), the plaster is coming off and the paint flakes off - in brief, a complete mess here and there. But we managed to get onto the highest tower, 56 m of height!
Some (sick) people thought it was funny to put a fake bloody corpse on the toilet, and to hang up some dolls on the ceiling in the basement.
The chance of being discovered and sent away, and the danger of exploring this - still impressive and beautiful - castle, are a guarantee for an exciting day!

Click here to see a short movie made by a tv-station in the Netherlands. You can see the decay very well and the way we climbed up the 'slide-stairs'.

In spite of its size, the castle is hard to find. Via Google we found its coordinates, but because it lies in the middle of the woods on a private domain, you do have to search a little to find it. First there is a fence which blocks the way for cars, but as a pedestrian you can just walk along it. You pass a villa and some tennis-courts, and then it's still a little walk before the castle looms up before your eyes.

While my partner and I were busy exploring the former horse stables and our friends the surroundings of the castle, we heard a car arriving and stopping. Clearly someone authorised onto the domain! My boyfriend and could hide on time (I even saw the man passing by, luckily he didn't see me) and waited in silence until, after a minute or 5, we heard the car starting again and drive away. A few minutes later we got a call from our friends that they had been discovered and sent away.
But that didn't stop them, after a nice picknick in the fields they returned through the forest as hidden as possible, and they arrived with some other urbex-friends. My partner showed them the 'easiest' entrance into the castle, and from there we dispersed all over the place.

Some old black-boards made us clear that we were not the only ones having been there (but we had already seen a lot of photos all over the internet).
We even met another man and woman who were also exploring the place (without cameras though). The castle became crowded, we were 8 now!
Clearly, the chasing away by the owners doesn't help a lot!

In the late afternoon, when one of us was resting outside on the grass (he had a hang-over), 2 elderly people passed by. One of them made a remark about this being a private domain, to which our friend replied: "so, is this yours maybe", to which they said "it is".
... But the 'owners' didn't seem to mind that much, as our friend didn't get chased away.

After 6 hours continuously discovering and shooting - we didn't even took a decent pause for a snack and a drink - we got tired so we quited... and we hadn't seen it all yet!

(B) Waulsort, Grand Hôtel de la Meuse

2007-04-28T12:51:00.000+01:00

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The day before we went in at the evening to have a first exploration. The former hotel is already being renovated so there wasn't much left, except for some psychedelic wallpapers and a few keys and dusty bottles. My partner climbed up a ladder to the attic, but didn't get there because a rung broke under his foot :-) (luckily he didn't get hurt)
Today we returned with our cameras. I managed to take a few publishable pics anyway, mostly funky wallpapers and rays of sun on them.
We had to sneak out fast, because there were other (authorised) people on the construction site.

(B) Kortrijk, Tuileries du Littoral, IV

2007-04-23T14:00:00.000+01:00

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We went into the newer buildings on the other side of the street. I discovered an easy entrance to the domain the day before, today we noticed that all the doors were open and we could visit every building. Even the electricity was still working in one place!
There's a lot of dust floating around in the main building, I consider taking an industrial mask with me next time - no joking!
These buildings were abandoned only recently in 2004.

1st visit: 2007/03/10
2nd visit: 2007/03/18
3rd visit: 2007/04/01

(B) Kortrijk, Tissage & filature Camille De Stoop, II

2007-04-22T23:49:00.000+01:00

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It was already dark and we thougt it would be nice to play with our pocket-torches. We went totally crazy with the lights and had a lot of fun ;-)
I wonder what the neighbours across the street were thinking of it...

1st visit: 2007/03/10

(F) Marquette-lez-Lille, Grands Moulins de Paris, I

2007-04-09T22:29:00.000+01:00

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"Les Grands Moulins de Paris" in Marquette-lez-Lille was a flour-mill, built in 1920 and closed in 1989. "Les Grands Moulins de Paris" is still spread all over France, but also in Belgium, Italy, Sweden and Libanon. Their activities follow the way of corn: from cultivation till finished products.
The building in Marquette-lez-Lille has very much fallen into decay, by climatic conditions but also by vandals. It's a very impressive building, full of rubbish and graffiti. You have to watch your step because there are holes in the floor/ceiling everywhere.

We met another photographer from Germany, who was there already all day.

(B) Kortrijk, Tuileries du Littoral, III

2007-04-01T18:36:00.000+01:00

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While I was busy taking photographs, a police car drove by and stopped - clearly for me! (They must 've seen my bike.) I went to the car, greeted the policemen, and told them that I was only taking photographs (showing my camera). They replied that this was private site, and that I should pay attention to the fact that I could have bricks or something on my head. (and I thought: cycling on the road is even more dangerous!). But they didn't chase me away, on the contrary, they said that I was allowed to proceed what I was doing!
I look very honest, I guess ;-)

1st visit: 2007/03/10
2nd visit: 2007/03/18

(B) Kortrijk, Filature KTM, II

2007-03-25T21:21:00.000+01:00

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While being in there, an alarm went off twice. We don't know what or who caused it, but we met no police or security-guards, luckily.
On the ground floor there were some rectangular holes filled with water or some kind of fluid, we had to watch our steps.

1st visit: 2007/03/18

(B) Kortrijk, Filature KTM, I

2007-03-18T21:59:00.000Z

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The early 1990's are the beginning of the end of the once so flourishing cotton industry of Kortrijk. Every year more companies stop production.

The Kortrijkse Textiel Maatschappij (KTM) was a spinning mill. The comapny went bankrupt in 2001 due to the debts they had. The production went well, but the costs of machines and buildings were to big for the company.

The oldest buildings date back to 1950, and the newer halls were built in the 1970s. In their peak year during the 1980s there were 800 employees. But automation of the production was the final end.

While exploring, we heard some doors and windows slamming... it was the wind.

Info source: http://www.urbex.nl

News (Dutch):

2001/08/28: Textielmaatschappij legt de boeken neer

2001/08/30: "Einde van gezond bedrijf"

(B) Kortrijk, Tuileries du Littoral, II

2007-03-18T21:53:00.000Z

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We climbed up to the upper level, of which the floor was pretty unsteady, but they had placed boards on it so we could explore it fairly safe.

1st visit: 2007/03/10

(B) Kortrijk, Tuileries du Littoral, I

2007-03-10T22:51:00.000Z

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After the First World War the owner of the roof tile factory in Ramskapelle gets the opportunity to start a new factory in Kortrijk. Next to a canal, a good transport route for export to England the new factory was build.

In 1924 the first tile was produced by Céramiques et Briqueteries Mecaniques du Littoral. In 1933 the first tunnel oven in Belgium was employed.

In 1959 the production was expanded by prefab walls. The tile business went bad, so other export possibilities were explored. But in the 1980's the tile market improved, the company was focussed again on roof tiles.

The beautiful building is temporary a protected monument. Anyway, some old buildings are already demolished.

Info source: http://www.urbex.nl

More info (Dutch): http://www.vvia.be/vviasites/8500_002.htm
News (Dutch):

2005/01/20: Koramic verhuist naar Aalbeke
2005/01/20: Plannen voor KMO-zone op Littoral
2005/07/23: "Ik steek er geen cent in"
2006/09/20: Deel dakpannenfabriek gaat tegen de vlakte

(B) Kortrijk, Tissage & filature Camille De Stoop, I

2007-03-10T22:28:00.000Z

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This spinning mill was built in 1908 and a newer part was build in 1927. The company was founded by Camiel de Stoop.

The factory started as Tissage et Filature Camille De Stoop. Later in 1928 it became Tissage et Teinturerie Le Canal. The spinning was replaced for textile production.

The building is a classic Manchester style, it reminds you of an medieval castle. It was the first spinning mill who hadn't the classic sheddak roofs.

The last compagny in this building was Beklon Spinning Mills and some years later Belplast Delorge. They recycled plastic waste. The compagny went bankrupt in 1990 after a fire in one of the buildings.

The building got protected status in 2003 and will be transformed into lofts soon.

When we wanted to go the the first level, a very solid closed door blocked our way. After somewhat looking about, we saw the floor of the first level but could not reach it. On the ground level there was a huge door which we lifted up and put against the wall, as some kind of ladder. It was pretty steady but still not very reliable. The guys went up, I also tried but was afraid that I would slip away or wouldn't be able to go back anymore. We'll return later with a real ladder ;-)

Info Source: http://www.urbex.nl

News (Dutch):

2002/05/04: Nieuw leven voor oude fabrieken
2003/07/25: Industrieel erfgoed is de moeite waard
2005/05/13: Lofts in Stoops fabriek
2007/03/07: 42 lofts in Stoops fabriek