“The Zorrotzaurre project is the latest major urban regeneration project to be implemented in Bilbao. Zorrotzaurre is an area that has shown constant social and industrial decline since the 1970s, where, today, scarcely 500 people live.

The area occupies 838,781m2, of which more than half belong to public institutions (the Regional Basque Government, the Bilbao City Hall and the Port Authority of Bilbao) with the rest shared between a number of private owners.

Zorrotzaurre experienced its industrial heyday in the mid-sixties with the opening up of the Deusto Canal by the Bilbao Port Authority, a development never completely concluded.”

“In 2001, public and private Zorrotzaurre owners formed a Management Commission for the Urban Development of Zorrotzaurre, to promote and execute the urban regeneration plan of the area. 

The Master Plan project was designed by the prestigious Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The Master Plan drawn up in 2004, and revised in 2007, includes the complete opening of the Deusto Canal leading to the transformation of the Zorrotzaurre peninsula into an island, thereby guaranteeing flood protection for the area.

With the initial approval of the Zorrotzaurre Special Plan by the Bilbao City Hall in November 2011, a final impulse was given to this urban regeneration project which, one year later (November 29th 2012) was consolidated and reinforced with the definitive approval of the Special Plan.

Seen as a whole, the regeneration of Zorrotzaurre represents a balanced and integral project, defined by concepts of sustainability, that recuperates a degraded space and converts it into a new quarter of Bilbao. A new quarter that is well-connected to the rest of the city, equipped with affordable housing, areas for environmentally-friendly industry, cultural and social facilities and plenty of open spaces for the enjoyment of local people.”

http://www.zorrotzaurre.com/Modulos/Albumes/Albumes.aspx