Sucreries Raffineries Bulgares

In March 1895, three Belgian industrialists were granted a 10-year concession over sugar beet production in the Bulgarian regions of Sofia, Tran and Kyustendil.

[1] The Sucreries Raffineries Bulgares joint-stock company was established in Brussels in May 1897; it took over the concessioners' rights and assets immediately.

In 1916, with Bulgaria's entry into World War I as part of the Central Powers, the Belgian investors sold their assets and left the country;[1] the factory closed in 1925 despite modernisation in 1921.

[2] The factory's buildings, officially designed a monument of culture of national importance, have been abandoned and disused for many decades, which has led to their very bad condition.

A group of architects has informally suggested several ideas to use the buildings, for example as a museum of modern art,[3] as loft apartments[4] or as an unlimited space for smokers (smoking in public places is to be banned in Bulgaria in 2010).