Bilbao was a major centre for heavy industry during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. Bilbao’s industrial revolution hit its peak in the early 1900s. The surrounding hills were mined for iron ore. This ore was supplied to the steel factories, and in turn, the steel supplied heavy industry and the shipbuilding yards. This huge increase in trade was handled by the Port of Bilbao, and thousands of workers came from all over Spain to grab the new job opportunities.

The blast furnaces in the city’s steel works became a symbol of its industrial power. A sight that many people can still remember, some with a great deal of pleasure and pride. One lady recalls her ‘very special memories of the blast furnaces of Biscay, as they were called. They were huge things, all in iron, marvellous, and they had fires burning, I mean all the flames used to pour out, and it was not as if you were going to get burned or anything, but it all poured out. So, depending on the kind of day it was, if it was sunny, it would look blue, green, red, and if it was cloudy there were other tones, silver grey, sometimes it looked like aluminium was leaping out, it was marvellous. That memory remains because the river was just there beneath, and it reflected it all and it was like seeing it twice, at the bottom and at the top. I will never forget that, I will never forget that, we will never see it again because Bilbao is now very different but it can’t be forgotten.’

Problems of decay

a) Sadly, industrial expansion was uncontrolled and no account was taken of its impact on the environment. Heavy industry cared nothing for the river. It dumped all of its waste straight into the water, creating a flow of poisonous effluent. All life in the river was lot. One eyewitness said – ‘In those industrial years the river was brown, brown, I mean, it was as if the water was mixed with mud. Besides it wasn’t soft, it was hard, with a specific weight… you would touch it and it was like grabbing a piece of mud, there was water but the water was very dirty and so you couldn’t see it.’

b) Eventually the deposits of iron ore began to run out and to make matters worse; the region could no longer compete with cheaper manufacturing outside Europe. Mines and factories closed and there was massive unemployment. The collapse of its industries was followed by urban decay in the places where people lived.

c) This had terrible social consequences and nowhere was this worse than in the district of Bilbao La Vieja. Even now this district is struggling to recover. Most of the city’s immigrants live here. Unemployment is as high as 32%, and the majority of those without work are under 30. The schools are in a bad state. Nine out of ten homes have no heating, many households have no bath or shower, and a quarter of all homes have no telephone.

Renewal of the economy, social conditions and the appearance of the city.

Fortunately the government and the local authorities in northern Spain realised action was needed. Something drastic had to be done to stop Bilbao becoming a complete urban disaster. These days, if a European Union city looks like this, it doesn’t stand a chance of attracting new businesses and new jobs. Bilbao knew that it had to move fast and that it had to be bold, if it was ever to catch up. In just fifteen years, the city made a completely fresh start and it is now home to some of the most daring renewal projects on the continent.

The strategy involved the following phases:

• Improving the river water quality

The authorities knew the river was the key to rescuing the city. To start off, this meant dealing with the stinking, filthy water. £400 million has been invested in a twenty-year clean-up operation, which should be finished in 2005. Rather than letting the sewage run straight into the river, a brand new system of pipes carries the waste deep under it and onto the water treatment plant at Galinda. The quality of the water is carefully monitored and if a factory allows anything harmful into the river, there are heavy fines to pay.

• Rebuilding by the river’s edge

The riverbanks themselves are being completely remodelled to make space for high-tech offices, shops, flats, parks and daring new designs. The boldest move of all was the decision to build the new Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art.

• Encouraging civic pride and tourism

Many of the local people thought the museum was a huge waste of money when there were more urgent priorities like housing, hospitals, schools and jobs. But the fact is that any city nowadays needs a symbol which will stick in people’s minds if it is to stand any chance of standing out on the map of Europe. The Guggenheim has had a huge effect on the city. A few years ago, you wouldn’t have seen a single tourist in Bilbao. Today they are everywhere, taking photographs, and spending money, mostly on services like hotels and restaurants. This is an important development because this new money is reinvested in the Basque Country and generates even more wealth. No one had even heard of Bilbao before, but thanks to this museum, it now has a special place in the world.

• Building a new transport system

With so many new visitors and so many new jobs for the locals, the city had to deal with the problem of moving the people around. Traffic congestion has always been a problem in Bilbao. It is situated in a deep river valley and the lie of the land limits any kind of new construction. With no space left for new roads on the surface, the only answer was to go underground. Even the city’s new Metro is a designer item – in this fresh start for Bilbao, everything has to look good. The Metro follows the line of the river all the way to the sea, linking the city with the suburbs, the port and Bilbao’s seaside resorts. The Metro journey from the Guggenheim to the beach is a twenty-minute ride, and it costs just a pound. With over 200,000 people using the underground everyday, traffic congestion has eased.

It doesn’t stop there however – the Metro is just one part of a transport plan which will pull together underground and over-ground rail services plus brand new tram lines which are being built in the city centre. There’s also an ambitious new airport which, unsurprisingly, is another designer item intended to make an immediate impact from the moment your feet touch the ground. It has been designed to handle hundreds of extra flights each week.

• Developing the fishing industry and new port facilities

Since people prefer to eat the local catch, Bilbao’s fishing industry does good trade. It has also been successful in exporting fish throughout Spain and abroad. The river, the fishing and the sea are all bound together in the geography of the city, and nowhere is this clearer than in the Port of Bilbao itself. The ships used to come right up river and some of the containers are still stored in the city centre right next to the Guggenheim.

As the size and number of ships have increased however, port facilities have been squeezed further down river towards the sea where there is more space. 8km of new quayside will be built on the 3.5 million square metres of new land that has been reclaimed from the sea. The relentless landfill project continues. When the work is finished this will be one of the largest ports in Europe.