Camille De Stoop-Depoorteren. Until 1959, cotton steam spinning mill remained property of and was managed by the families De Stoop and Depoortere, from 1959 under the name Europaspinnerij (EuropaSpinningMill). After a fire in 1961, the firm moved and the factory remained unoccupied until 1964. In this year, Bouchimko sprl, wholesale of chemicals for the textile and metals industry, installed its depots in the buildings and - to ventilate the floors and to evacuate harmful exhalations - the windows are broken. Chemical products penetrated the soil, garbage was piling up. In short, when Bouchimko leaved the premises they left a dilapidated building and a heavily polluted soil. The site is acquired by the s.a. Beklon Fibers spinning mill, which plans a renovation but is due to file for bankruptcy in 1996. The decay continues and the neighborhood worried about the situation becoming more and more dangerous. In September 1999 a guided tour of the site was organized, followed by a public debate, in which the architectural value of this 'industrial castle' was highlighted, and the participants expressed the wish that it should be preserved and listed as a historical monument. Civil action continued with activities and articles in the press, interpellations in the municipal council, and the drawing up of a dossier for its protection. In the same time several projects were proposed (such as the transformation into a museum of modern art) but these did not find investors or did lack the necessary political support.
The spinning mill was however protected as a monument by decision of the Flemish Government of 8 January 2005.
In September 2006, a group of local investors gathered in the Manchester Ltd . They acquired the building and announced a re-use project, estimated at a cost of 12.5 million euros.
The factory now houses 42 lofts (of which 19 are duplexes), the offices of three companies, a parking lot on the ground floor for 46 cars and 125 bicycles. The renovation was closely monitored by the Monuments Department, which demanded that the details of construction and the elements of decoration should be kept on the outside and inside. As for the windows, the Department required the replacement of those of the facade with a traditional factory model (divided into small windows between bars of steel), for the side facades a neutral model of aluminum was accepted - all conform to the energy standards.
The aluminum profiles designed for this renovation project received the ‘Aluminum in Renovation Award’ in 2009.