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65m-high Copenhagen cycle bridge as good as dead

The Local Denmark
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
65m-high Copenhagen cycle bridge as good as dead
Even if the bridge is built, you'll probably never ride over it. Photo: Steven Holl Architects

Remember that 65m-high Copenhagen cycle bridge? It’s probably never going to happen.

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A suspended bridge that was supposed to connect two new high-rise buildings and allow cyclists and pedestrians to cross the Nordhavn harbour at a height of 65 metres continues to disappoint. 
 
After the excitement of the project’s initial announcement, the hype was tempered by the revelation that the bridge would not be open to Copenhagen residents or tourists
 
Now it looks like it’s not going to happen at all. 
 
Berlingske reported that the developer behind the project, Harbour P/S, has significantly altered its plans for the prestige project along Langelinie. 
 
At a Copenhagen City Council meeting last week, Harbour P/S announced two major changes to the project. To begin with, the developer confirmed that the bridge would not be accessible to the public. It also said, however, that it plans to carry out the project in two stages. In the first phase, it will build the so-called Marble Pier (Marmormolen) on one side of the harbour. 
 
But it will not commit to the second phase of the project, which would entail a second building on the other side of the water and the bridge connecting the buildings. 
 
“The project’s two towers total 60,000 square metres and that is a lot. We are two institutional investors and we both have a standing policy that we only build what we can rent out. We can quite simply not run too large of risks for our members’ money. The other [building] could come about if and when we can rent it out,” Michael Nielen, the CEO of AFP Ejendomme, one of the co-owners of Harbour P/S, told Berlingske. 
 
The changes in plans did not sit well with Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for technical affairs, Morten Kabell. 
 
“The consequence is now that instead of realizing an exciting project that would give a lot back to Copenhageners – including an amazing view from the bridge – we get a relatively boring high-rise,” he told Berlingske. 
 
“It is really unfortunate. I think this was pandering to people with a lot of money instead of having a visions on behalf of the city,” Kabell continued. 
 
The 'Copenhagen Gate' project was designed by American architecture firm Steven Holl Architects and first approved in 2008 before being put on ice due to the financial crisis. The idea of the suspended bridge was to allow for daily docking and departures of massive Oslo-bound ferries. 

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