Foundational units (general workshops) and offices of Babcock & Wilcox in Galindo (Sestao and Trapagaran). Recreation, made in 1923, of the industrial complex as it would have looked like once finished in the 40’s (1924 Catalogue).

 

It’s not the first time that this blog features the work of photographer Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral (Getxo, 1954); his photographs of industrial heritage have been exhibited and awarded in multiple occasions in the past. This time, he has documented the state of one of the great architectural jewels of the Basque metal industry: the Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019) ten foundational units in Galindo (Trapagaran and Sestao, Bizkaia), each one of them having a completely open surface of 200×20 metres (40,000 square metres of covered surface). The Basque Association of Industrial Heritage and Public Works (AVPIOP) deeply appreciates the authorisation for the reproduction of some of the photographs in this blog. Our readers will be able to look through the photographer’s lens at the grandeur of industrial architecture, even in the final moments when the demolition machinery turns the magnificent hundred-year-old structures into absurd rubble.

These buildings, as most of the elements of industrial architecture, could have easily accommodated new uses, both industrial and service-sector related, had politicians and technical staff shown any interest in supporting innovative and sustainable urban management policies. We deeply regret that this has not been the case. The texts accompanying the pictures belong to Chapter III of the Joint ICOMOS – TICCIH Principles for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Sites, Structures, Areas and Landscapes, «The Dublin Principles», adopted by the 17th ICOMOS General Assembly on 28 November 2011.

Babcock & Wilcox facilities in Galindo, with the ten foundational units, in 1962 / Map Library of Catalunya.

 

III ‐ CONSERVE AND MAINTAIN THE INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE STRUCTURES, SITES, AREAS AND LANDSCAPES

10 Appropriate original or alternative and adaptive use is the most frequent way and often the most sustainable way of ensuring the conservation of industrial heritage sites or structures. New uses should respect significant material, components and patterns of circulation and activity. Specialist skills are necessary to ensure that the heritage significance is taken into account and respected in managing the sustainable use of

these industrial heritage sites and structures. Building codes, risk mitigation  requirements, environmental or industrial regulations, and other standards should be implemented in an adapted way to take heritage dimensions into account when they are enforced through physical interventions.

11 Wherever possible, physical interventions should be reversible, and respect the age value and significant traces or marks. Changes should be documented. Reverting to a previous known state may be acceptable under excepcional circumstances for educational purposes, and must be based on thorough research and documentation. Dismantling and relocating are only acceptable in extraordinary cases when the destruction of the site is required by objectively proved overwhelming economic or social needs.

12 In case of prospective redundancy, decommissioning, and / or adaptation of industrial heritage sites or structures, the processes should be recorded including, for example, where components have to be demolished and machinery has to be removed. Their material form as well as their functioning and location as part of the industrial processes should be exhaustively documented. Oral and / or written stories of people connected with work processes should also be collected.

 

 

Photographs

The last days of Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019). Sestao – Trapagaran (Bizkaia, Basque Country) / Photo: ©Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral, December 1st, 2019.

 

The last days of Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019). Sestao – Trapagaran (Bizkaia, Basque Country) / Photo: ©Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral, December 1st, 2019.

 

The last days of Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019). Sestao – Trapagaran (Bizkaia, Basque Country) / Photo: ©Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral, December 1st, 2019.

 

The last days of Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019). Sestao – Trapagaran (Bizkaia, Basque Country) / Photo: ©Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral, December 1st, 2019.

 

The last days of Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019). Sestao – Trapagaran (Bizkaia, Basque Country) / Photo: ©Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral, December 1st, 2019.

 

The last days of Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019). Sestao – Trapagaran (Bizkaia, Basque Country) / Photo: ©Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral, December 1st, 2019.

 

The last days of Babcock & Wilcox (1918-2019). Sestao – Trapagaran (Bizkaia, Basque Country) / Photo: ©Rafael Paz Díaz-Romeral, December 1st, 2019.

 

ARCHIVO: Entradas anteriores sobre Rafael Paz:

2019/10/17 Euskadi: Babcock & Wilcox uztea eta eraistea. Rafa Pazen argazkiak

2019/12/15 Bizkaia: El patrimonio agonizante de la Babcock & Wilcox. Fotografías de Rafa Paz

2019/10/07 El fotógrafo Rafael Paz ganador del primer premio del certamen fotográfico de Incuna

2011/01/18 El fotógrafo Rafa Paz retrata la historia de La Naval

 

ARCHIVO. Babcock & Wilcox de Galindo (Sestao-Trapagaran). Entradas anteriores sobre su expolio y destrucción patrimonial:

2019/10/17 Euskadi: Babcock & Wilcox uztea eta eraistea. Rafa Pazen argazkiak

2019/12/15 Bizkaia: El patrimonio agonizante de la Babcock & Wilcox. Fotografías de Rafa Paz

2019/12/06 Los últimos días de la Babcock & Wilcox. Fotografías de Iñaki Zarragoitia

2019/11/24 Bizkaia. La especulación urbanística arrasa el patrimonio industrial. El final de Babcock.

2019/07/03 Trapagaran contra su memoria industrial: demolición de las oficinas de la Babcock & Wilcox

2019/01/31 Trapagaran, Sestao y el patrimonio industrial de la Babcock & Wilcox ¿hay un plan?

2018/04/19 Trapagaran: ¿Amazon en las naves de la Babcock?

2017/04/08 El patrimonio sentimental de la Babcock & Wilcox.

2016/05/09 El fuego contra la memoria. Arde el patrimonio histórico de la Babcock.

2016/05/12 El abandono de la Babcock & Wilcox en la televisión ETB2

2016/05/10 AVPIOP, la Babcock y el fuego: reseña de prensa.

2015/12/10 El patrimonio documental de la Babcock & Wilcox a debate en las Juntas de Bizkaia.

2015/11/10 El archivo histórico de la Babcock & Wilcox en Trapagaran saqueado.

2014/12/15 ARARTEKO. El desmantelamiento de las naves industriales de La Babcock.

2014/11/29 Industriari ugerra kentzen. Industria oparotasuna, hondkinetan galduta.

2014/11/12 El alcalde de Trapagaran habla sobre la situación de Babcock & Wilcox

2014/11/13 BABCOCK & WILCOX. 3ª Nota de Prensa. 12 noviembre 2014.

2014/11/06 BABCOCK & WILCOX. 2ª Nota de Prensa. 6 noviembre 2014

2014/11/04 AVPIOP denuncia el saqueo consentido del Patrimonio Industrial Vasco en Babcock.

2014/10/27 Continúa el expolio patrimonial en Babcock & Wilcox.

2014/10/17 ¿Por qué estamos indignados?: La BABCOCK & WILCOX de Sestao-Trapagaran, ayer y hoy (1).

2014/10/12 AVPIOP-IOHLEE, y el expolio del patrimonio industrial vasco, en la prensa: “Caníbales del pasado industrial”

2014/10/09 BABCOCK & WILCOX. Nota de prensa sobre el expolio.

2011/10/16 La AVPIOP contra el derribo de la Babcock en Sestao.

 

ARCHIVO. Entradas anteriores acerca de la Babcock & Wilcox de Galindo (Sestao-Trapagaran):

2014/11/19 BABCOCK & WILCOX. Para saber más / to know more.

2014/11/17 La implantación de la Babcock & Wilcox en la vega del Galindo.

2014/11/05 BABCOCK & WILCOX ESPAÑOLA de Galindo: Los fundadores. Bilbao y la gran empresa industrial multinacional