At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, Bilbao was to experience a momentous change. The oil crisis in the 1970s led to the collapse of the large heavy industry that was based on the riverbanks of Bilbao; thus, the land that until then had been occupied by industries and factories in this activity was abandoned or underused.
In 1987, Bilbao City Council designed its first General Urban Development Plan, which indicated that the greatest opportunities for urban development in the city were in Abandoibarra and Ametzola, land owned by central government companies. The existence of a General Directorate within the now defunct Ministry of Public Works and Transport (later Fomento), responsible for coordinating actions in the cities, led to the creation of an entity owned 50% by each of the parties, destined to carry out the regeneration of metropolitan Bilbao.
In 2004, Bilbao R a 2000, directed by Ángel María Nieva García, obtained the AENOR ISO 9001:2000 quality certification for the design, planning, ution and management of land for the transformation of Metropolitan Bilbao.
On 19 November 1992, a public limited company called BILBAO R a 2000 was created, in which various public companies, the Basque Administrations and the State participated. The objective of the Company was the recovery of unused industrial land and its integration into the urban fabric, within the framework of the new urban plans drawn up by the Administration. In addition, port activities and the railway infrastructure linked to them began to be transferred to the outer estuary of the Ibaizabal-Nervi n, freeing up, in turn, new urban spaces. BILBAO R a 2000 was born with a capital contribution of 1,803,036.31 euros (300 million pesetas) and with subsidies from the European Union. From then on, the entity had to demonstrate its ability to achieve financial stability without having to resort to public budgets, with a total investment planned for the various projects of up to 60,000 million pesetas.
The procedure was as follows: the shareholders gave up the land they owned in the central areas of Bilbao and Barakaldo, while the City Councils reclassified the land. On this basis, BILBAO R a 2000 invested in the development of the land and sold the plots to private developers. As the land was located in very central areas - which means that there is a great demand for it - its sale generated added value. This added value, in turn, was invested in important projects for the city and its surroundings, such as the Southern Variant, Bilbao La Vieja and the Urban-Barakaldo programme.
The OAVS (Operation Abandoibarra Ametzola Variante Sur) is the first of these major projects by BILBAO R a 2000 and summarises the company's objective. It is an operation that pursues communication, railway and urban renewal actions to take advantage of the value of the land and improve the city with the surplus obtained from it.
The OVAS's main objective is to improve urban mobility, which is essential for building a real metropolitan environment. The other objective is the urban regeneration of industrial land located within the city itself. The income obtained through the public sale of the former industrial plots is used, among other actions, to carry out the railway works.
Abandoibarra is located adjacent to the edge of the Ibaizabal-Nervi n. It is an area of 345,000 square metres, the emblematic Guggenheim Museum and the Euskalduna Palace, which, as part of the urban regeneration process of the city, is being converted, the end of the 20th century and the 21st century, into the cultural and economic centre of Bilbao. This area was home to a container terminal, a shipyard and other port uses, as well as part of the railway line that was later relocated. In the first decade of the 21st century, it is an area in which residential buildings, a shopping centre, several office buildings, including an emblematic tower, a hotel and two university buildings are planned. In this large space, 115,000 m2 are dedicated to green areas. Abandoibarra is the area that has contributed the most economic resources to the OAVS operation. The Iberdrola Group is leading the construction of the Abandoibarra office tower, based on the basic design by architect Cesar Pelli. From an architectural point of view, the area will be a reference point in terms of international architecture, where, the Guggenheim Museum and the Euskalduna Palace, in addition to the tower, buildings by Rafael Moneo, Robert Stern, Ricardo Legorreta, Luis Pe a Ganchegui, Eugenio Aguinaga, Robert Krier and other internationally renowned architects will be built.
In the history of Bilbao, Ametzola is an area of 110,000 m2 that was used by freight railway stations. These infrastructures constituted a physical barrier different neighbourhoods and were an obstacle to the development of an urban network. At the beginning of the 21st century, Ametzola is a residential area, with a new 36,000 m2 park built on the space of the old tracks. The renovated railway line now serves the areas that were previously separated. Ametzola has also served to obtain important economic contributions for the OAVS operation.
The Southern Railway Variant consisted of modifying the railway accesses from the left bank, so that they would be integrated into the city. The operation made it possible to take advantage of the previous freight railway layout and build four new stations on it and renovate two others. The southern districts of Bilbao are thus connected to the centre and to the entire left bank of the Ibaizabal-Nervi n. In addition, it has made it possible to overcome the barrier that the previous layout represented, which ran alongside the River and made it impossible to connect the city with the riverbank.
By the beginning of the 21st century, 3.2 km of new roads had been built, of which 2.3 km were covered. The covering has also turned an old urban barrier into a new tree-lined avenue that not only connects previously separate areas on the surface but also means that the urban grid has a wide avenue that connects directly to one of the main exits of the city.
In 2004, the Spanish Ministry of Public Works awarded the contract for the new railway access to the expansion area of the Port of Bilbao, via Mount Serantes. In November 2004, the Board of Directors of BILBAO RA 2000 awarded the contract for the construction of the Renfe commuter train station in Miribilla. The station, which will serve the residents of the Bilbao neighbourhood and those of San Adrián, Torre Urizar and Larraskitu, will be integrated into the Renfe commuter train line C3 (Bilbao - Orduña) and will allow passengers to reach the Abando station in two or three minutes.
As BILBAO R a 2000 aims to be a non-profit company, the surpluses from these operations have been used to carry out actions in other areas of the city. Bilbao la Vieja, an area subject to a serious process of urban degradation, has received a large part of these surpluses through urban regeneration works. Other areas have also benefited from this operation with new railway stations and various facilities.