The first 300,000 square metres of reclaimed coastline has opened near Rødbyhavn, transforming material excavated for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel into publicly accessible habitats, ponds and walking trails.
Denmark’s newest piece of land
Denmark has officially gained a new stretch of coastline on the island of Lolland, where seabed material removed during construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel has been reused to form a 300,000-square-metre coastal landscape. Located east of the tunnel-element factory at Rødbyhavn, the newly opened area is the first part of a much larger land-reclamation programme that will eventually create approximately seven kilometres of coastline and around 300 hectares of nature and recreational space. Rather than treating the millions of cubic metres of excavated material solely as construction waste, the project is using it to reshape the boundary between land and the Baltic Sea.
A landscape designed for nature to take over
The newly accessible 30-hectare section has been planned as varied coastal terrain containing walking paths and three ponds intended to attract birds, amphibians, insects and plant life. The landscape has also been engineered to withstand the exposed conditions of the Fehmarn Belt, including strong winds, waves and salt carried inland from the sea. Its designers nevertheless intend to limit active landscaping and allow vegetation and wildlife to colonise the area gradually from neighbouring habitats. In selected places, soil removed before construction of the nearby tunnel factory has been spread over the reclaimed ground, bringing with it seeds from the former landscape and helping local plant species return naturally.
Excavated seabed becomes a public resource
The reclamation is closely connected to the construction method chosen for the Fehmarnbelt link. The 18-kilometre crossing between Lolland and the German island of Fehmarn is being built as an immersed tunnel, requiring a trench to be excavated across the seabed before 89 enormous concrete tunnel elements can be lowered into position. Much of the approximately 19 million cubic metres of material removed during these works is being reused along the Danish coast. Landscape architecture practice Schønherr has been involved in integrating the tunnel’s entrances, technical infrastructure and surplus soil into Lolland’s exceptionally flat coastal environment, creating wetlands, low-lying ground, lagoons, heathland and protected areas for migratory birds.
Infrastructure on an unprecedented scale
Once completed, the Fehmarnbelt tunnel will carry a four-lane motorway and an electrified double-track railway between Denmark and Germany. The crossing is expected to take approximately ten minutes by car and seven minutes by train, replacing the existing 45-minute ferry journey between Rødbyhavn and Puttgarden and strengthening the transport corridor between Scandinavia and continental Europe. It will be the world’s longest immersed road-and-rail tunnel, making the surrounding landscape works an unusually visible example of how material from a major infrastructure project can be incorporated into a new public environment.
A new coast with an environmental tension
Presenting the reclaimed land as a gain for biodiversity does not remove the broader environmental questions surrounding such a vast intervention in the Baltic seabed. Dredging, sediment movement and the disruption of marine habitats remain among the project’s most closely monitored impacts. The new ponds, salt marshes and bird habitats should therefore be understood as mitigation and landscape transformation rather than a simple replacement for the ecosystems affected by construction. Their long-term ecological value will depend on how successfully wildlife colonises the young terrain and how carefully the area is managed as both a nature reserve and a place open to visitors.
Watching a landscape begin
The first section opened to the public with a community run and guided nature walk on 1 September 2026, giving residents and visitors the unusual opportunity to observe a coastal ecosystem from its earliest stages. Over the coming years, bare reclaimed ground is expected to evolve into salt marshes and increasingly diverse habitats. The result will not merely be land added to the national map, but an evolving landscape in which one of northern Europe’s largest engineering projects becomes part of Lolland’s natural and recreational coastline.
Suggested Online Sources
Dezeen – Denmark land reclamation for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel · Femern – Denmark grows larger with the Fehmarnbelt project · Femern – Fehmarnbelt tunnel project · State of Green – The Fehmarn Belt Tunnel and its new coastal landscapes · European Commission – Fehmarn Belt fixed road-and-rail link
