Milestones
The industrial estate of Esch-Belval looks back over a hundred years of history:
1909: Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks AG acquired the municipal forest of Escher Bësch from the city of Esch/Alzette and cleared 39 hectares of it to build the Belval ironworks. The first two blast furnaces were put in operation in 1911.
1919: A group of Luxembourg, Belgian and French companies founded Société Métallurgique des Terres-Rouges and took over the plants and mines of Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks AG.
1937: The ironworks was taken over by the Luxembourg steel conglomerate ARBED (Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange SA, the present ArcelorMittal) that had been founded in 1911.
1965: Blast Furnace A was put in operation with a daily capacity of 2300 tons. In the 1960s, Luxembourg's iron producing industry, with its 30 plus ironworks and numerous steel and rolling mills, brought in almost one-third of the gross national product. Well into the 1970s, ARBED employed a total of 27,000 people, including about 7800 at Belval.
1970: Blast furnace B was put in operation on Belval with a daily capacity of 3000 tons.
1979: Blast furnace C was put in operation on Belval with a daily capacity of 4300 tons.
1995: Blast furnace C on Belval was shut down on Belval.
1996-97: Blast furnace C was dismantled and transferred to China.
1997: Blast furnace B, the last still operating blast furnace in Luxembourg, was shut down. A surface area of 120 hectares reverted to fallow ground. The ARBED steel and rolling works in the eastern section of the site (currently ArcelorMittal Esch-Belval) remained in operation.
2000: Classification of blast furnaces A and B as industrial monuments.
2001: An international competition sponsored by the development corporation AGORA for a master plan for the vacant industrial site of Belval was won by the Maastricht architects' firm of Jo Coenen & Co. The Government gave the green light to the implementation of the plans for the Cité des Sciences.
December 2005: The Luxembourg Government made the Belval site the headquarters of the University of Luxembourg.
2005: Inauguration of Rockhal, a hall for concerts and major events on Belval.
2006: Inauguration of the red building of RBC Dexia, subsidiary of the Dexia Bank Group, on Belval.
2008: Opening of the Belval Plaza shopping centre.
March 2009: Groundbreaking for construction of Maison du Savoir, the main university building on Belval.
September 2010: Inauguration of the new railway station of Belval-Université, designed by the architect Jim Clemes.
November 2010: Groundbreaking for construction of Maison des Sciences Humaines.
