Høyanger is one of Norway's purpose-built industrial towns. In 1915, Sigurd Kloumann founded the Norsk Aluminium Company and chose this spot on the Sognefjord because the river Høyangselva could be dammed for hydropower. By 1918, the aluminium smelter was running. The town, the factory, and the power plant were built as one project. The workers needed houses, so Kloumann built those too, in neat rows up the hillside. Høyanger did not grow naturally. It was designed.
The smelter is still here, now owned by Hydro, and it has been running continuously for over a century. During World War II, the Germans took control of it because aluminium was essential for aircraft production. The same story played out at Årdal and Sunndal and every other aluminium plant in Norway. After the war, the state took over, merged the plants into Årdal og Sunndal Verk, and ran them as public enterprises until Hydro bought the lot in 1986.
Today Høyanger is pivoting. The old smelter lines are being replaced with a major aluminium recycling facility. Hydro is investing billions to make Høyanger one of Europe's largest recycling plants for post-consumer aluminium. It's an interesting transformation: a town built to smelt raw metal from scratch is now being rebuilt to remelt what we already made. The architecture is worth a glance too. The original 1920s workers' housing is a rare example of a planned Norwegian industrial town.
The smelter is still here, now owned by Hydro, and it has been running continuously for over a century. During World War II, the Germans took control of it because aluminium was essential for aircraft production. The same story played out at Årdal and Sunndal and every other aluminium plant in Norway. After the war, the state took over, merged the plants into Årdal og Sunndal Verk, and ran them as public enterprises until Hydro bought the lot in 1986.
Today Høyanger is pivoting. The old smelter lines are being replaced with a major aluminium recycling facility. Hydro is investing billions to make Høyanger one of Europe's largest recycling plants for post-consumer aluminium. It's an interesting transformation: a town built to smelt raw metal from scratch is now being rebuilt to remelt what we already made. The architecture is worth a glance too. The original 1920s workers' housing is a rare example of a planned Norwegian industrial town.