Million savings on Aarhus new stadium: Agreement on fewer seating areas, but VIP areas secured for now

Politicians in Aarhus have agreed on several million savings on the city's new stadium, which is expected to be much more expensive than anticipated.

According to loose-affiliated Thure Hastrup from the city's steering group, there are savings of up to 17 million DKK and new external financing of 10 million DKK. Therefore, there is still an imbalance of 35 million DKK in the budget.

- There are savings on technical packages, changes in floor types, and adjustments to design elements. These are all smaller things that can be implemented immediately, says Thure Hastrup.

If politicians decide to reduce the number or width of the external wooden panels, the operational consequence could be more wind and moisture entering the concourse, which could lead to more cleaning inside the concourse. (Photo: © DR Graphics: Nathalie Nystad. Photo: Spare catalog from Kongelundens Secretariat)

However, politicians have not yet agreed on savings on the new stadium's VIP facilities, but Thure Hastrup would have liked to see politicians agree to implement savings in the catalog of around 60 million DKK.

This would prevent the bill from ultimately falling on taxpayers.

- I took the reservation that I think we should take all savings now, and the task would be to find additional income, for example, through the lease agreement we will make with AGF or new donations, says he.

Kongelundens Secretariat has had a savings catalog prepared, which was the subject of today's meeting in the steering group. The images in this article are from a draft of the catalog that DR has seen. Politicians received the final savings catalog today.

Thure Hastrup thus sets the stage for the stadium to be expanded and completed when financing has been found for it.

-----------------------------

A quarter billion over budget

-----------------------------

The same attitude is shared by Jakob Søgaard Clausen from the Denmark Democrats.

- I am very concerned about not putting more tax dollars into the stadium. It has gone significantly over budget and has cost the municipal budget over a quarter billion DKK. I do not want to continue to contribute to this, so we must bite the bullet and find the savings, says he.

He will therefore pressure for an investigation into whether there are other savings opportunities that have not yet been on the table.

- Especially if there is something we can omit now and then buy later if someone wants to finance it, says Jakob Søgaard Clausen.

One of the savings proposals is to downgrade all 2,918 upgraded seats to standard seats without armrests. (Photo: © DR Graphics: Nathalie Nystad. Photo: Spare catalog from Kongelundens Secretariat)

Politicians have already found savings of around 21 million DKK on the billion-dollar prestige project in February. After today's meeting, there is still a shortfall of 35 million DKK in the budget, and there is therefore a possibility of more meetings about savings.

The stadium project is expected to cost around one billion DKK and has become nearly a quarter billion DKK more expensive than expected.

*Here are the savings that politicians agreed on today:*

*

•

Fewer seats so that the total number ends up around 20,000. This is the minimum requirement that UEFA will have. The savings are 950,000 DKK.

*

•

Change of floor type. The savings are 360,000 DKK.

*

•

Changes to design elements. The savings are 4 million DKK.

*

•

Reduction in the quality of seats, including savings on heat in the seats. The savings are 7 million DKK.

*

•

Savings on a technical package give 1.5 million DKK.

*

•

The above savings amount to around 14 million. In addition, other costs are saved, which would have been associated with the above, and this gives a total savings of 17 million.

*

•

In addition, new, external financing provides 10 million DKK.

*

•

Source: Thure Hastrup

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.