Bridges delayed after Pihl & Søn’s collapse

Three cycle/pedestrian bridges in the city are still without contractors and could face delays of up to two years

Oct 11, 2013

The City Council is desperately looking for new contractors to take over the construction of three bridges that remain unfinished following the bankruptcy of construction giant Pihl & Søn (P&S) in late August.

Inderhavnsbroen, a bicycle/pedestrian bridge that stretches unfinished across the inner harbour between Nyhavn and Christianshavn, was expected to be finished this year, but P&S’s collapse means that the project will be delayed.

“We have used the time following Pihl’s bankruptcy to review opportunities to properly make progress with the bridge projects,” Jens Zøfting-Larsen, the head of the city's development department, Center for Anlæg, said in a press release.

A map from Christianhavn's local committee shows the location of the affected bridges (Christianshavns Lokaludvalg) Going their own way
City Council now expects that Inderhavnsbroen, along with two other pedestrian channel bridges in the city – Trangravsbroen (over Trangraven Canal on Christianshavn) and Proviantbroen (over Freriksholm Canal) – won’t be completed for up to another two years.

After looking into their legal options following the bankruptcy of P&S, the city decided to annul the contracts on the bridges and try and find a new contractor without employing the usual bidding process. The council hopes that this method will shorten the process dramatically.

“We have chosen to annul the contracts and have a plan ready for how we move forward so that the people of Copenhagen get their bridges as quickly as possible, but with quality,” Zøfting-Larsen said.

The city hopes that work will resume on the bridges, which are being built as part of the city’s pedestrian and cycling initiative, sometime before the end of this year. Up to 7,000 cyclists are expected to use Inderhavnsbroen on a daily basis.

Better news on other projects
The P&S bankruptcy left a number of projects around the country in the lurch, but there are a few that are already getting back on track.

A parking lot project at Glostrup Hospital, which P&S secured back in May, will be taken over by 5E Byg and is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

Two other P&S projects – a part of the Nordhavn redevelopment project and the second leg of the Frederikssund motorway – have also been taken over by other companies and should be completed on schedule.

Finally, the contractor A. Enggaard has assumed control of the massive Navitas building project in the Aarhus harbour area. As it stands, it is about 80 percent completed.