In 1980 the Hansa colliery was decommissioned after a working life of 110 years. The coal required by the coking plant was brought by rail from other collieries for another twelve years. But in 1992 operations came to an end at the once major coking plant. There were many reasons for this. The steel crisis led to the closure of ever more blast furnaces and this in turn resulted in a rapid reduction in the demand for coke. In addition petro-chemicals - chemical exploitation from crude oil – threatened coal-based chemicals. Finally cheaper natural gas now replaced most of the coking gas. A part of the workforce and some of the activities at the Hansa coking plant were transferred to the Kaiserstuhl coking plant on the site of the "Westfalen Steel Mill" in Dortmund.

The buildings on the Hansa coking plant site are now used as offices for the Foundation for the Preservation of Industrial Monuments and Cultural History of the Federal State of North Rhine Westphalia.

The Foundation aims to preserve the vegetation in its present state and to open up the coking plant buildings to the general public in order to make them vividly aware of all the processes entailed in making. An event trail enables visitors to follow all the production stages in a coking plant. The centre point of the presentation is the compressor hall, with its remarkable complex of five large gas engines, the only surviving example of this kind in the region. A visit to this hall undoubtedly provides one of the most striking experiences of technical achievement in Europe. The old washroom is devoted to an exhibition on nature and industry..

Some 50 separate buildings, housing a comprehensive array of machinery, are scattered all over the ca. 32 hectare site of the Hansa coking plant. Some of the separate constructions on the site, from pipelines, ramp bridges, coke oven batteries and chimney coolers to the purification works have massive dimensions.