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Building company freed from compensation claim

The Gothenburg Court of Appeal (Göta hovrätt) ruled on Friday that a construction company does not have to compensate 23 families seeking redress for moisture damage linked to a specific insulation technique.

Building company freed from compensation claim

The home owners had asked for a total of 8 million kronor ($1.2 million) in compensation, but construction company Myresjöhus now walks free from responsibility.

The plaintiffs will now also have to pay not only their own but the builders’ legal costs, amounting to 1.2 million in total, which ends up at about 35,000 kronor ($5,000) each.

The case has been watched closely by the building industry.

It concerns what is known as “one-step facade insulation” (enstegstätade fasader), which has been used on tens of thousands of homes across Sweden, the TT news agency reports.

The building technique has been condemned by many industry experts, although modified versions are still in use.

“It’s a very risky process. One little mistake and the whole thing goes to pot. Water gets into the walls and you can’t get it out,” Christer Harrysson, construction professor at Örebro University, told the trade magazine Byggvärlden last year.

“We been able to confirm that the facades are attacked by mould, fungi and bacteria, which means you have to dry out the wall but also decontaminate it.”

Harryson estimates that it costs between 1 and 1.5 million kronor (1 million kronor = $153,872) per house to fix the problem.

Many houseowners have been forced to take the matter to court, noted Byggvärlden, as constructions companies, property developers, and insurance companies keep shunting the cases between each other.

The upcoming ruling, due Friday from the Gothenburg Court of Appeals (Göta hovrätt), is expected to set legal precedent, reports TT.

TT/The Local/at

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PROPERTY

Copenhagen nature area to be developed as city approves land sale

A part of the Amager Fælled nature area has lost its reserve status and can now be sold to investors, after a majority in the city's municipal council voted in favour of development on Thursday.

Copenhagen nature area to be developed as city approves land sale
Amager Fælled. File photo: Asger Ladefoged/Ritzau Scanpix

The 219,000 square-kilometre area, known as Lærkesletten, can be sold to developers who wish to build homes on the land, broadcaster TV2 reported.

The sale raises money needed by the city to pay for the new Metro lines, which opened last year, and was part of a political deal agreed in 2017.

City councillors from the Social Democrats, Social Liberals, Liberals, Conservatives, Danish People's Party and two independents voted in favour, while Red-Green Alliance, Alternative and Independent Green parties and one independent opposed.

Located on the southern edge of the natural area on island Amager, the area is frequently used by people from the city for cycling, running and walking.

“We have seen that nature and the environment are at the centre of the public’s perception of what’s important. They want real wild nature in Denmark,” Gorm Anker Gunnarsen, who represents the Red-Green Alliance on the city council, told news agency Ritzau.

An Epinion survey this week showed that 76 percent of people who live in Copenhagen are either partly or completely against development of the area.

Gunnarsen told Ritzau he still believes there is a chance of preserving the nature zone.

“We have the authority to withdraw a building permit in special circumstances,” he said.

An advisory public vote could on the matter provide the basis for this, he argued.

“This case will not then just rest on which party you are with, but also on your view of the individual case,” he said.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen natural area Amager Fælled gets new development plan

 

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