Photo: Morten Larsen

Flintholm Station wins European Steel Award 

3,000 tonnes of steel were used to build Flintholm Station. Now the busy station, which links public transport facilities between Frederiksberg and Copenhagen, has been honoured with the European Steel Award.
Flintholm Station has just received its fourth award in a row since the station was completed in 2004. The prestigious steel award from European Steel Design Awards 2005, presented yesterday in Nice, has inched the station up a notch into the international class. Flintholm Station displays a unique steel structure design that features many of the advantages afforded by steel in terms of construction, production, economy and architecture.

The 3,000 tonnes of steel used to construct Flintholm Station are very much what make the building project unique. The steel has made it possible to accomplish a building with both large spans and a slimline look.

This is clearly visible from the steel bridges that span almost 29 metres and the 5,000 square metre glazed roof, that virtually floats above Flintholm Station.

At the same time, it has been possible to build the station in a short time, since the steel girders used for the roof and steel bridges were fitted on site, thereby causing as little disruption as possible to the intense traffic in the area.



Up there with the best of them

"It’s always a satisfying experience when someone appreciates the work we do. The international award also shows that we are up there at the forefront with the best of them when it comes to exploiting steel. We have it down to a fine art, and that has now been officially confirmed! And needless to say, we can use that in our marketing vis-à-vis potential new clients. Receiving an award always carries a little prestige with it," says Erling M. Bødker, Project Manager at COWI.

COWI has been in charge of the project right from the initial sketches to inspection of the day-to-day construction work on Flintholm Station.

As subconsultants, the architects KHRAS/DSB-arkitekter took care of the architectural side of things as a joint venture, while Atkins Danmark undertook the rail engineering work. Rail Net Denmark (Banedanmark) is the client.

More honours

Flintholm has also received the Danish Steel Award from the Danish Steel Institute for a convincing and consistently all-round grasp of a highly complex brief and for having created a transparent look using steel structures and a variety of glass, showing multiple facets of the steel’s potential.

Flintholm Station has also won credit for its architecture and design in the form of a diploma from The Brunel Awards, and a beauty award from the Danish Association for Beautification of the Capital for the large, airy roof that provides light, shelter and clarity of layout, as well as for having solved a significant transfer problem for the transport network.

By Christina Tækker cht@cowi.dk

Posted: 22.9.2005


Why did Flintholm get the European Steel Award?  
In particular, the jury had stressed that "the project displays a unique steel structure design that features many of the advantages afforded by steel in terms of construction, production, economy and architecture". They go on to justify their choice by saying that the building project provides a convincing solution to the highly complex brief of synthesizing the station's many functions into a cohesive whole.