European car park made from wind rotor blades
The Niels Bohr car park in Lund is partly constructed from disused rotor blades from wind turbines.
Vattenfall, who supplied the rotor blades, claims the building is the first of its kind in Europe.
The façade is made from rotor blades from its now decommissioned Nørre Økse Sø wind farm.
The car park is owned by Lunds kommunala parkeringsbolag (LKP) and is located in the new Brunnshög district on the outskirts of Lund, in the south of Sweden.
Vattenfall has donated 57 rotor blades to the construction project, which have been used to create 'curtain walls' – non-load-bearing walls that cover large parts of the façade.
When a wind turbine is decommissioned, the company investigates whether the blades can be sold to another company or project. It has also introduced a ban on sending used blades to landfill and has set a target of recycling 100% of blades by 2030.
Architect Jonas Lloyd got the idea for the car park when he read a magazine article about the American wind industry and its challenges in recycling disused blades.
As rotor blades are designed to withstand wind and weather for decades, they are extremely durable but also challenging to recycle.
It consists of 365 parking spaces on five floors, including 40 charging points and a storage battery
The façade also consists of pollinator-friendly plants and the roof is covered with solar panels, connected to a battery for charging cars at night.
‘This is visible and concrete proof that sustainability can meet the cost, schedule and safety requirements of a project,’ says Vattenfall's Country Manager for Denmark, Anne Mette Traberg.
