The largest relocation project in Danish history

It was the first time in the history of Denmark that a building so large and so old was moved over so relatively great a distance. A representative from Guinness World Records was there to see if there was a record in the making, and, sure enough, Copenhagen Airports A/S and contractors Monberg & Thorsen were entered into the Guinness World Records book for the ‘largest relocation project in Europe’.

The old airport terminal, designed in 1939 by Architect Vilhelm Lauritzen, was ruled worthy of preservation by the environmental authorities, but it was located in an area to the east of the airport that was designated for expansion. Consequently, the terminal was relocated: the move took place during the night between Saturday and Sunday, 18-19 September 1999, at the time of the week when air traffic was at its lowest level.

The terminal was moved on two large flatbed trucks across the airport area, from the eastern area of the airport to its new home in the western area of the airport.”

Terminal size

  • 110 metres long
  • 26 metres wide
  • weighs 2600 tonnes
  • 4000 sq.m. floor space
  • 3 storeys

The terminal was moved 3.8 kilometres across the airport area. One of the areas which the enormous removal vans had to pass was the seven-point junction which is the airport’s most heavily trafficked spot for aircraft.

Relocation phases

Between 5.00 and 7.00 pm on Friday, 17 September 1999, Monberg & Thorsen, the contractor selected for the relocation project, lifted the terminal building off its foundation using the sophisticated hydraulic system of the trailers. Then the building was ready to be moved. Initially, the terminal was taken about 200 metres forward to a gravelled area and then rotated. Later in the evening, the trucks moved the building about 500 metres further and stopped on a taxiway, so that they were ready for the long trek the next day. These initial preparations were completed by 6.00 am Saturday morning. The press was invited to see the first, crucial lift and the start of the transport by truck.

The actual relocation took place on Saturday, 18 September 1999 between about 10.30 pm and 1.00 am. The relocation route started out on the taxiway, where the building had been parked the morning before. The building was then trucked across the airport area and ended up in the western area. The press and other guests had been invited to watch the move from busses that drove alongside the illuminated moving trucks.

On Sunday, 19 September 1999, from about 6.00 am to about 6.00 pm, the terminal was slowly lowered onto its new foundation.

Technical preparations

  • May-June 1999: Project contractors Monberg & Thorsen stripped the terminal of its many additions. The goal was to find the innermost, original core of the terminal, because only that part had been listed.
  • May-June 1999: Four hundred parts of the building worth preserving were taken off the structure and stored in containers that maintained the correct climatic conditions for temporary storage. The parts were then added to the terminal again after the move was over in order to restore the terminal to its original 1939 appearance.
  • July 1999: The ground floor of the terminal was cleared to make way for the trucks that would move it.
  • August 1999: In order make the enormous building relocatable, Monberg & Thorsen inserted a steel structure in the terminal. The steel alone weighed about 175 tonnes; its function was to support the building structure during the move.
  • September 1999: A diamond saw was used to cut off the building’s concrete pillars at floor level, essentially cutting the building free and allowing it to be lifted off by means of the hydraulics of the flatbed trucks. Rented from a Dutch company that specialises in relocating extremely heavy objects, the trucks consisted of about 60 coupled trailers with a total of 744 wheels. The wheels were computer controlled, enabling a single operator using a joystick to determine the precise direction in which all the wheels would drive at the same time.

After the move

Since its relocation and reestablishment, the terminal has been used as office space and as a training centre for Copenhagen Airports A/S staff. The terminal has also hosted special arrangements.