is the area around Kalvebod Brygge the new hotel quarter of Copenhagen?

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the water front of the south harbour from Amager with the new Hotel Cabinn to the left, the white towers of the Tivoli Congress Center behind the office buildings and the Copenhagen Marriott to the right

At the city end, Kalvebod Brygge starts just south of HC Andersons Boulevard and Langebro and runs in a straight line to Otto Busses Vej - just beyond the Fisketorvet shopping centre - a distance of 1.6 kilometres. This is a wide and busy dual carriageway that from the 1960s has been the main road into the city from the south.

As part of the first redevelopment of the south harbour, in the 1990s, the quay was extended out into the harbour and a line of fairly characterless office buildings were constructed. The city was almost bankrupt and development of the port was crucial so the development allowed does not not make the most inspired use of the harbour - and certainly not as it is now - although buildings at the city end of Kalvebod Brygge, around a square south of Hambrosgade, are more distinguished.

As an area, the streets and squares north of Kalvebod Brygge form a rather odd shape that is 550 metres deep at the city end - from the harbour along HC Andersens Boulevard to the south-east corner of Tivoli - but the main railway tracks take out a great arc from the north-west side so that at the south end - at Otto Busses Vej - the area is only 200 metres deep from Kalvebod Brygge back to the railway.

The first large hotel in this part of the city was the tower of what is now the Danhostel - on HC Andersens Boulevard, against the south side of Langebro. When it opened in 1955, it was the tallest building in Copenhagen and was called the Europa Hotel.

The Copenhagen Marriott, 270 metres from Langebro, was designed by PLH Architects, and opened in 2001 and Copenhagen Island - a large hotel, close to a shopping centre at Fisketorvet designed by Kim Utzon - opened in June 2006.

By far the largest hotel complex is the Tivoli Congress Center, on the railway side of Kalvebod Brygge, with all three large blocks designed by Kim Utzon The Hotel Wakeup and the Hotel Harbour Tower were built in 2009 and the City Tower in 2016.

Recently, two new luxury hotels have opened at the north edge of the area, close to Tivoli, with the Nobis Hotel in the old building of the Danish Academy of Music on HC Andersens Boulevard and Villa Copenhagen in a prominent circa 1900 building that was the offices of Danish Post Office.

To these have now been added The Cabinn Hotel on Kalvebod Brygge - probably the ugliest building in the city from the last few years - and the recently-opened Next House Hotel, again by Kim Utzon. The next hotel in the area will be the Scandic Spectrum on Kalvebod Brygge by Dissing+Weitling that will open in June.

In a number of posts, I have written that I feel strongly that the dramatic and rapid rise in the number of tourists coming to the city and the construction of a large number of new hotels in the city over the last decade is one of the biggest threats to the character of the Copenhagen but one that is barely discussed by politicians.

The arguments for would probably be the creation of jobs, inward investment and money spent by tourists in the city in shops and at tourist destinations.

My argument against is that the huge number of tourists and, of course, all the passengers from cruise ships - just under a million in 2019 in the year before the pandemic - are swamping the city and changing the character of Copenhagen.

If you think that the number of new hotels around Kalvebod Brygge is hardly a tidal wave then maybe consider the figures. In just this one part of the city, many of the hotels are not just large but several of them are run as hostels with family or group rooms with four or more beds. Obviously that, in itself, is not a bad thing, but In just this part of the city, at a conservative estimate, there are rooms and beds for 13,500 visitors a night if you assume that there could be two people in most rooms. Not all of the rooms will be occupied on any one night but, before the pandemic, Copenhagen had occupancy rates of 80% and I am sure that all the hotels will be aiming to get back to that level as soon as possible now that pandemic restrictions have been eased.

If 13,500 does not sound like a particularly large number of tourists then consider that only 10,000 people are permanent residents in Christianshavn so, just in theory, every single person living in Christianshavn could march over Langebro and, together, they could have a weekend away. I can actually think of better ways to bond and the irony is that, of all the areas in the city, Kalvebod Brygge is probably the least likely part of the city that residents of Christianshavn would visit … unless they were cutting through to Vesterbro.

the first number is rooms and, for the hostel hotels, the second number is beds

Although this area along Kalvebod Brygge is close to Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and close to Tivoli, there are few other attractions for tourists in the immediate area. The buildings along the quay are some of the most boring modern buildings in the city but the harbour here is relatively wide and sheltered. If city planners want to make a success of this area and if, as they have said, they want to divert tourists away from the key sites, like Nyhavn, that now get very crowded, then they should consider extending pontoons out into the harbour with historic ships moored here and with restaurant ships here rather than in Nyhavn as proposed by some.

There might be an appropriate sailing ship to convert to a youth hostel - so a Copenhagen version of the Af Chapmann in Stockholm - or a group of the Urban Rigger floating shipping containers, designed by Bjarke Ingels as accommodation for students, could be moored here.

In theory, if the pandemic really is beaten and if tourists return, and if hotels get back to 80% occupancy rates, then around 4 million tourists a year could be staying in just this relatively small area of the city so it might be an idea to give them something to see and something to do.

is the growth of tourism in the city a threat? January 2022

Kalvebod Brygge - the main road between the harbour and the railway - before the south harbour was redeveloped

looking north towards Langebro from the cycle and foot bridge that crosses from the shopping centre at Fisketorvet to Amager
the white tower of the Tivoli Congress Center rises above the office buildings along the quay and the Copenhagen Marriott is in the distance

Copenhagen Marriott to the left, on the quay, by PLH Architects 2001
and in the gap - Scandic Spectrum by Dissing+Weitling that will open in June

Tivoli Congress Center - Tivoli Wakeup by Kim Utzon 2009

Tivoli Congress Center - City Tower by Kim Utzon 2016

Hotel Cabinn Copenhagen, 2019 with 1202 rooms and 2,645 beds

Next House, by Kim Utzon 2022

Scandic Spectrum by Dissing+Weitling to open in June 2022

 

is the growth of tourism in the city a threat?

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In a number of posts on this blog, I have written that I feel that the rapid rise in the number of tourists visiting Copenhagen and the construction of a large number of new and very large hotels over the last decade could be a serious threat to the character of the city and one that is barely discussed by politicians.

Arguments for the growth of the tourist industry in Copenhagen that are usually put forward include the creation of jobs, the suggestion that the tourist industry attracts inward investment and that money spent by tourists in the city, in shops and at tourist destinations, is crucial for the local economy.

Arguments against what appears to be uncontrolled growth, is that the huge number of tourists with, of course, the astounding number of passengers from the cruise ships that come to the harbour - just under a million in 2019 in the year before the pandemic - are swamping Copenhagen and changing the character of the city. There is a certain irony in this because the visitors, by their sheer numbers, are damaging and changing what they have come to see.

Jobs are certainly created by the hotels but how many of those jobs are short term rather than long-term careers and where do hotel workers live? In the big hotels in the past, chamber maids and porters might well have lived in the hotel, in garrets and dormitories. That's hardly a positive thing but do short-term workers in the modern hotel industry add to serious problems caused by the shortage of affordable housing in the city?

Those jobs fuelled by tourism are not just those working directly for hotels and the tourism service industry such as guides but there are also jobs in supplying food, cleaning and servicing the hotels and restaurants and, of course, in general retail - many of the stores in the city have departments that are deliberately geared up to dealing with foreign visitors. Popular destinations for tourists including the city museums and galleries now depend on tourists coming through the doors and not only paying for entrance but spending in cafes or restaurants and souvenir shops. The argument then is that tourism subsidises facilities for local people that could not be supported on local spending alone.

When Coronavirus-19 struck the city, museums and galleries had to close and even when the lockdown was eased, the number of visitors has been slow to recover.

Designmuseum Danmark had serious financial problems as a consequence and they revealed that 90% of their income came from tourists. However, that should not be an argument for returning as quickly as possible to the pre pandemic numbers of tourists but a warning that the government and the city have left the museum vulnerable with a funding model that may well continue to be unreliable if coronavirus returns or if people are concerned about the possible and ongoing dangers of travel.

The tourist sector generates work for architects, engineers and interior designers who build and refurbish hotels and restaurants and there is an argument for soft-power influence for Danish design and manufacturing with tourists who visit hotels and design stores and see and use furniture and so on that they admire and they are then more likely to buy Danish designs when they return home.

Are there statistics to back this up?

There is certainly a strong market in high-quality Danish furniture that is purchased here in antique shops and second-hand stores and flea markets and then exported by the container load but that is not directly a byproduct of tourism.

Even foreign investment might not always be positive .... investment money coming into the country may well be offset by profits going out and many investors may well be blind to local issues and not susceptible to local pressure however well founded.

Even the amount of money spent by tourists may not actually be as much as assumed - how many passengers from a cruise ship buy little more than ice cream and a post card - and is there also a sort of escalator here? Successful tourist shops or successful restaurants aimed at visitors rather than local people can be profitable and then attract more businesses to jump on the band wagon. In recent criticism of the state of the Walking Street, local people commented that is now full of shops that sell tourist tat and that they avoided the area as much as possible.

Airbnb is a specific facet of tourism that has to be addressed at a political and planning level and stricter legal controls have to be introduced. The initial concept - with people using a spare bedroom to earn a little extra income and gain from entertaining visitors and proudly showing them their city - is fine and if people have to or want to move abroad for a short period and need to retain their home but have it work for them then Airbnb is one possible solution. The problem is when properties are bought to let as a portfolio investment because that is removing far too many homes from the normal rental market. Looking at maps of the distribution of Airbnb properties across the city then there are over 20,000 complete properties to let - rather than single rooms. If those homes were returned to the rental market then that would be close to the total of new homes that will be built on Lynetteholm - the contentious new island that will be constructed across the entrance to the harbour that is being promoted as a place to build housing for 35,000 people. One possible solution for the Airbnb problem would be to levy an additional tax based on profit that would be ring fenced for funding the construction of more social housing.

the distribution of Airbnb properties across the city

Copenhagen has always been a city that welcomed visitors but an important part of the appeal of the city is that so many people actually live in the historic centre. Large new hotels have taken over buildings or plots of land that could have been used for student accommodation or for social housing. There is a danger that if the number of tourists grows without more controls then the city will change from a place where people live who welcome visitors to a city that is a tourist destination where people live.

 

Nyhavn - what a difference a year and a virus makes

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last summer ……

…… and this summer with the city in lockdown

and a slightly lighter note …. when it comes to important things in life, people don’t change much. Who can resist leaning on the railings or the parapet of a bridge to stare at the water?

The lads fishing from the north bridge over the moat at Kastellet is a detail of a painting by Christen Købke from 1834 and is now in the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. The stance of the boy in pale trousers fishing and the pose of the girl in jeans and both with remarkably similar short jackets seems like a link through the decades between them.