Hauts-Fourneaux B also known as HFB or Cockerill Sambre among urban explorers.
A large abandoned steel and coking plant in Belgium.
An urbex location that has been on my wish list for a very long time and where I have been twice now.
History HFB
Hauts-Foureaux B or also known as Cockerill Sambre is a large factory site built in 1962.
The following years the factory ran well but towards 2008 operations were slowly phased out. Not many years later, the factory closed due to the economic crisis in 2014.
The size of the site was no longer profitable so it closed permanently. In total, some 40,000 people worked at HFB.
Really, this place does not have a special history and it is precisely the factory itself that makes this place so cool to visit.
Climbing, scrambling and being careful
We soon find out that everything here is decaying and not everything is safe anymore. When climbing the stairs, it's good to be careful. Many stairs are old and shaky and holes in steps are not strange. Excitement is present and we are careful as we go up. On some stairs we agree to go up one at a time and hold the handrails with both hands. At one point we get to a level where there are boards missing and some of the steps are in very poor condition.
we decide to go carefully to the highest point anyway.
the view
