The oil company Uno-X has taken steps to tear down an iconic roof at one of its petrol stations in Herning despite it being designed by the famous Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the architect who designed the Sydney Opera House.
According to Uno-X, the foundation of the famous roof built in 1986, is in such disrepair that it cannot be salvaged, and the company has asked Herning Municipality for permission to tear it down.
“It’s not possible to renovate the roof,” Paulo Nielsen, the regional head of Uno-X, told DR Nyheder.
“The bearing construction, which is made of glued laminated timber, has simply rotted away. It is not permitted to build a roof made from flammable material over a petrol station, and glued laminated timber is just that. So we cannot build an equivalent roof because it’s not legal.”
READ MORE: Municipality accidently destroys historic local sculpture
Jørn move Herning
According to the planning law, Herning Municipality can ban Uno-X from tearing the roof down, but the consequence will be that the municipality will be forced to take over the property and fund the restoration itself.
Uno-X has offered to take apart the roof so that the municipality can renovate it as a sculpture elsewhere in the city of Herning.
Herning Municipality is due to process the application for dismantlement of the roof sometime today.
The debacle comes in the wake of Rudersdal Municipality accidentally destroying a sculpture by the renowned artist Anders Tinsbo late last year after it was mistaken for construction rubbish by municipality workers.
