History of Erandio and its industrial heritage

You enter Erandio municipal district immediately after you leave Bilbao – whether by underground or using the new bidegorri (bike lane) that runs along the old towpath beside the river. The history of Erandio goes hand in hand with industrialisation, at least in its most urban neighbourhoods: Altzaga, Astrabudua, Asua and Lutxana-Enekuri. In Erandio, ships and boats – first in timber and then in metal – were built and repaired; paint was made to add colour to them and spare parts produced to repair them; cables were built to support the Bizkaia Transporter Bridge and the aerial tramways of the mines; rocks were removed to channel part of the river estuary. It is where the left bank of the river estuary is mirrored on the right bank. It is the place of ‘the other industry’ – the lesser known - which flourished in the shadow of the giants on the other bank.

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A bit of history

  • Since its origins, Erandio has been a municipality with a distinct rural character which, even today, can still be felt in its higher areas in neighbourhoods such as Erandio Goikoa. However, with the arrival of industrialisation at the end of the 19th century, a new era began for the town, and new spaces were created for industry and for the construction of housing for workers.

  • The majority of the most characteristic architecture of the industrial era is located along the estuary promenade. Leaving San Ignacio and Elorrieta via the estuary road, the old neo-Basque-style schools located near the metro stop in the Lutxana-Erandio neighbourhood stand out. They were designed in 1924 by Angel Líbano in response to the demand for school places in this neighbourhood and were renovated in 1931 by Pedro de Ispizua.

  • A little further on, next to the mouth of the Asua River, is the “Pinturas Internacionales” factory. The company was founded in 1923 and was dedicated to the manufacture and sale of paints, anti-corrosion products, varnishes and similar products for ships under licence from The International Paint and Compositions Co. (London, 1881). The popularity of its products and an increase in demand led to the expansion of the original building in subsequent phases.

    From a typological perspective, it has distinctive characteristics, which differ greatly from the architectures typical of the naval and steel sectors, giving it considerable heritage value, although it is currently abandoned.

  • Crossing the Asua River also means crossing into a little-known yet highly significant part of history. The Asua neighbourhood held the status of Royal Port in the late Middle Ages, which demonstrates the importance of the settlement and the significance of this neighbourhood in Erandio’s history and this part of our route along the right bank of the estuary.

    Although no physical traces of that port remain, during the 19th century, Asua became one of the busiest ports in the entire Lordship, and by the early 1820s ranked just below Bilbao itself thanks to the continuous trade in goods being loaded and unloaded, and at one point even rivalled the capital's port.

  • This was a time of intense activity involving goods such as wood, tanned leather and barges that took advantage of the tidal flow to unload the ore extracted from the slopes of Muskiz and arriving from Barakaldo to supply the ironworks of Txorierri. This is iron that would later be turned into ploughshares, hammers, hoes, picks or swords in the hands of warring clans or galleys moored alongside for provisioning or repair. In short, the constant flow of goods is said to have been the origin of the industrial settlements that later sprang up along the Nervión estuary, with Erandio being one of the most important of these.

  • The first industrial shipyard in Erandio, Astilleros Ardanaz, was located just below the Rontegi Bridge. One of the most important civil engineering works in the country, it was built between 1977 and 1979; the shipyard itself had been promoted by Rafael Olazabal in 1917.

    Years later, in 1928, Astilleros y Talleres Celaya S.A. (ASTACE) was established here. Physically, it had little in common with a shipyard. It looked more like farmland separated from the estuary by the road. It was a shipyard with few resources. It had almost no workshops and little staff. Not surprisingly, its lack of space for slipways meant that ships had to be launched sideways.

  • Despite everything, some 200 boats of many types left the Astilleros Celaya slipways in Erandio, including coastal vessels, luxury yachts and barges. In 1960, the Port Works Board commissioned it to build two barges to reinforce its fleet of vessels (barge no. 1 and barge no. 2). One of these is the famous barge used by Athletic Club in its celebrations.

  • Next to ASTACE stands the building of the former FRIMOTOR company which, under licence from Westinghouse, manufactured refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, electric irons, train components, car prototypes and electric buses. Westinghouse employed more than 750 workers and was one of the leading companies in Erandio, although it is also sadly remembered for the tragic accident in 1967 that claimed the lives of 16 workers after part of the facilities collapsed.

  • Little by little, passing riverside residential buildings from earlier periods, we reach the pier, a perfect spot to stop and admire the estuary’s landscape. From there, the small gasolino boat departed for Barakaldo. It was the fastest, cheapest and simplest way for workers to get to the large factories on the left bank. This area was also a customs post for checking products and goods that passed by road or were unloaded at the quay.

    One of the few port cranes that could be found along the estuary is still preserved. At this same point, we will look at the large mural painted on the side façade of the shipyard. Created in 2007 by the company Wallart, its 72 m2 depict the flooding of the estuary, as if it were a huge snapshot.

  • A few metres further on, we come across the old Franco-Spanish Wire Drawing, Cable and Aerial Tramway Company, founded in 1898 by the Frenchmen Senret and Chandonet, whose building was designed by the French engineer Filiberto Bonvillain. It was the first factory in the country to manufacture steel cables and wires and was the leading supplier of steel cable for mining, bridges and other industries. In fact, it was responsible for supplying the cables for the Bizkaia Bridge.

    Its current rationalist appearance is the result of renovations carried out between 1939 and 1967 by Manuel and Carlos Castellanos.

  • Continuing along the road to Axpe, we come across the GESTAMP building, owned by an international group dedicated to the design, development and manufacture of automotive parts. The building originally belonged to Industrias Aguirena, a company dedicated to the manufacture of heavy electrical machinery.

  • Opposite this building, we can see the facilities of Astilleros de Murueta, an important, highly specialised shipyard with an impressive 156-metre-long slipway. Its gantry cranes stand out in the sky above the town and today they symbolise the area’s long shipbuilding tradition. These shipyards were founded in 1941 by Tomás Ruiz de Velasco and employed almost 500 people across their 40,000 m2 of space. The side launches carried out here are the most striking in the entire estuary.

  • Around this stretch was the Roca del Fraile, a rock that was hidden at high tide and made navigation dangerous. In 1882, Evaristo de Churruca, director of the Port Works Board, implemented the definitive solution, creating a training dyke of which the Roca del Fraile forms part. This led to the creation of the Axpe dock, a 540-metre long breakwater lined with mooring buoys. In this way, Churruca managed to smooth out the Axpe curve, thereby channelling this part of the estuary that had caused so many headaches for sailors and navigators.

  • From this point, walking along the estuary, we can see the old Axpe quarry, whose extractions were used from the end of the 19th century, among other things, to fill part of the Altzaga neighbourhood and to assist in channelling the estuary.

    Where today we see a group of new buildings, in 1962, the company Metalquímica del Nervión was established, the first factory in the country to use pyrite, copper and zinc ash to obtain copper concentrates and iron-enriched ore. Today, the site is occupied by an industrial estate and kestrels can be seen on the walls of the old quarry.

    From this point, passing the metro stations in Erandio and Astrabudua, we will gradually approach Leioa.