Landsbankinn plans to raise headquarters next to Harpa

Landsbankinn bank have decided to construct their headquarters at the East Harbour (Austurhöfn) in Reykjavik, next to Harpa concert hall and conference centre. The proposed building, which has received strong criticism, would be the largest bank headquarters in Iceland at 16,500 square metres.

Landsbankinn had big plans for new headquarters before the economic crash. In 2007, the bank, which had expanded overseas in 2000 (leading to the creation of the Icesave subsidiary in 2006), decided to build its new headquarters in the East Harbour area downtown. According to the 2007 plan, the building was to become more than 30,000 square metres. An architectural contest for the building was set up and over 47 architects from seventeen countries took part. The result was to be announced in October 2008 when the bank crashed and the plans came to nothing. 

In August, five years later, the directors of the new Landsbankinn asked to meet with representatives from the City of Reykjavik to start negotiations again for a new building for its headquarters in the East Harbour. Last year, the bank finalised the purchase of a site from Situs ehf, a subsidiary of the Icelandic State and the City of Reykjavik and which cost 967 million ISK.  Last week, the bank released a statement regarding the building of new headquarters, 14,500 square metres in size with 2,000 square metres in the basement. A new architectural contest for its design will be taking place in collaboration with the Icelandic society of architects. Construction could begin at the end of 2016 or at the beginning of 2017. 

According to Landsbankinn, whose headquarters have always been in central Reykjavik,  a number of different locations in the city were looked into before reaching this decision. A central placement is important to the bank, according to the statement. 

"In the end, the plot at Austurhöfn was selected as the best and most advantageous option by the Bank. The size of the plot suits the Bank's needs and it was favourably priced, due, among other reasons, to the fact that excavation is almost complete and road construction fees were included in the price. Other advantages include good connections to public transport and the option to share parking spaces, thus reducing building cost significantly. In building in this area, Landsbankinn continues to operate in the city centre and contributes to robust and diversified industrial activities there," reads the press release. 

These plans for the new Landsbankinn headquarters have met with quite a lot of opposition from Members of Parliament. Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarsson, MP and Independance Party member, for example, writes in Morgunblaðið today that the plans are totally nonsensical. "They say it's economical to have all bank operations in one premise but at the same time they buy the most expensive site in Iceland and said no to less expensive ones." 

Many have remembered the words of PM Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson from 2013 when he stated that it was out of the question that the state bank would build new headquarters in the near future.  He also said that,"It would be terrible if the city centre would be closed off from the harbour area by large buildings and that the view of the mountains would be obscured. It would be more wise to look at what the city looked like before large buildings and car parks were built."

The full press release on the new Landsbankinn headquarters from the bank can be read HERE.