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Top 10 public works

The many building sites in Copenhagen right now have you doing a slalom between holes, excavations, and piles of sand. Here is the University Post hit parade of the most interesting public works going on right now

Construction sites are turning Copenhagen upside down, moving graves, shaking your topography and bringing back to light 11th century wood settlements. Find out what is going on in the city with our top ten list of public works!

10. New pavement in front of the University

Have you ever noticed that statues of nine Nobel Prize winners from the University of Copenhagen decorate the façade of the main University building at Frue Plads?

Well, they should have given them earplugs. Relief is on the way however. Works to renew the square are soon over!

The main University building was bombarded by the British Navy in 1807. The present one was built in the 1830s.

9. Freestyle paradise coming soon

At Nørre Allé, Europe’s biggest skate park is under construction right in front of the HCØ Institute, which is part of the Science Campus.

New cement bumps and ramps will substitute the old school wood and iron facilities. Read more about the park here.

8. New ghostly metro stop

At present, the Copenhagen Metro consists of two lines, built between 1996 and 2003. A new circular, scheduled to be finished by 2018, is now under construction.

This new line will circle the city centre, connecting Østerbro, Nørrebro and Vesterbro to Frederiksberg.

One of the new stops will be placed at the northern corner of the Assistens Cemetery, where many famous Danes are buried. A few graves have been removed to create space for the metro.

Find more details on the Copenhagen Metro (including its fascinating automated driving system) here.

7. New House of Industry

Between the Tivoli fun park and the Rådhuspladsen square in front of city hall, the Danish Confederation of Industries is constructing a new headquarters.

As it looks now, the building is nothing but a bunch of cement columns, but by the end it, its glossy façade will mirror the surrounding buildings.

Here you can see what the new House of Industry will look like.

Works are expected completed by 31 May, 2013.

6. Nørrebrogade, the cycle highway

If Copenhagen is a city of cyclists, then Nørrebrogade is its pedalling heart: According to the Danish Cyclists Federation (DCF), it is the busiest bicycle street in Europe.

To reduce the number of cars and increase the number of cyclists even more, the City of Copenhagen decided to increase the width of the Nørrebrogade’s bike lanes.

After reducing the space for cars on the bridge crossing the lakes, works are now proceeding up the street towards the Assistens Cemetery.

Read more about Nørrebrogade’s development on the blog copenhagenize.com

5. New metro stop facing City Hall

One of the stops of the new Metro line will be ‘Rådhuspladsen’. That’s why the square is so messy right now.

The works inspired street artist Bert, who has decorated the construction site with wooden sculptures (see the photo gallery).

Read an article about Bert on the Classic Copenhagen blog.

4. Mind the hole on Strøget

Now that one constantly has to avoid new holes, walking at Strøget has been a bit more stressful than usual.

But don’t worry, your favourite shop is not collapsing – it is just ordinary pipe substitution.

3. Shopping under construction

Holes are dug also at Gammel Strand, a road with a vast range of »hyggelige« shops and cafés. Again, the construction work is related to the new metro line.

The situation stimulates the creativity of the shopkeepers. The clothing store ‘Kitsch Bitch’, for example, uses the construction site barriers to exhibit clothes from the store (see the photo gallery).

2. Frederiksborggade is refurbished

Frederiksborggade is the pedestrian road you take to go from Nørreport station to Strøget. Now you can walk only on the left side of the road, while the pavement is renewed on the other half.

To allow access to the shops on the right side, appropriate footbridges have been placed.

1. Archaeology meets city planning

And now to our number one:

When excavations for the new circular metro line started, engineers had to take into account not only urbanistic, logistic and design related issues. They also had to take into account historical ones.

At the moment, archaeologists from the Museum of Copenhagen work side by side with excavators at Kongens Nytorv. Read about their archaelogical findings here.

It is right here that one of the two 11th century settlements, which later became Copenhagen, was located.

See our photo gallery of the public works here

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