Developers say the project will fundamentally reshape travel in the EU for the better cutting the time it takes to get from Hamburg to Copenhagen in half But German advocates aren’t so sure the benefits outweigh the risks Rødbyhavn tunnel factory in January of 2025 If the idea of driving more than 11 miles through the ocean sounds terrifying “When you drive through the Fehmarn Belt tunnel you will have 40 meters (approximately 131 feet) of water above you,” he said Vincentsen is CEO of the Danish state-owned company behind the Fehmarn Belt Link which will connect Denmark and Germany through the longest immersed tunnel in the world Most of the funding comes from Denmark and the European Union Unlike other passages through major waterways — such as the Channel Tunnel between England and France which travels through solid earth beneath the ocean floor — the Fehmarn Belt will travel along a trench at the bottom of the sea The tunnel itself is locked into place with stone and sand covering the top Footage of construction crews shows workers casting the structure of the tunnel in concrete They’re building the tunnel in 79 different pieces each weighing approximately 150 million pounds Vincentsen said that he understands that the idea is intimidating The tunnel’s traffic will be split into two separate roadways making it easier to respond to any issues underwater It will also include monitors throughout in case of an emergency it’s probably some of the most-safe areas to actually drive Danish advocates were initially skeptical of the proposal to connect islands between northern Germany and southern Denmark when the developers were thinking of building a bridge above the water rather than a tunnel because we think it was maybe destroying nature and acting like some sort of barrier for the stream of water in and out of the Baltic Sea,” said Michael Kruse of the Danish Society for Nature and Conservation Kruse said he was particularly concerned about the potential for massive ships that travel through the Baltic to hit the structure “If you can imagine a Russian supertanker coming through the Baltic Sea and it made contact with the bridge it could give a lot of problems with the environment amid all that oil,” he said The company in charge of the project eventually made concessions Kruse said environmentalists changed their stance as a result he looks forward to being able to zip between Denmark and Germany without taking a ferry or finding a lengthy car route The shorter distance — and the option of traveling via railway — will ultimately be better for the environment adding that the new connection will foster cultural exchange “It’s two cultures meeting in one project,” Kruse said “It’s almost like you are creating a new country But some Germans say they see things differently with Germany’s oldest and largest environmental group said that while a tunnel is a better option than a bridge the project will primarily benefit the Danish side by creating jobs in one of the country’s poorest areas is very much dependent on tourism and lives on tourism mainly,” he said Siegert said he is concerned that rather than helping the tourism industry the construction and traffic jams caused by the tunnel will destroy the area’s charm for vacationers the project’s developers are moving forward arguing that the economic benefits of a new link between the two countries outweigh any local concerns They hope to open the tunnel to trains and cars in 2029 delivered to your inbox every weekday morning Thanks to our sponsor PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402 Festival goers camped in crowded conditions and battled bad weather for much of the event Hendrix is all smiles as he walks among festival goers If you asked those fortunate enough to see Jimi Hendrix perform live at one of his 350 or so shows during his short career to describe the experience words like "amazing," "electrifying," "otherworldly," "loud" and "unpredictable" would likely rank high among their descriptive choices for his final scheduled performance — at a festival marred by technical issues a lack of facilities and eventual cancellations — the unpredictable element was whether the guitar icon would show up at all The event in question was the Open Air Love & Peace Festival held over the weekend of September 4 through 6 which Hendrix was set to headline on Saturday night This appearance would mark the final scheduled performance from Hendrix and the last incarnation of the Experience The show saw the return of original drummer Mitch Mitchell and featured Hendrix’s army pal The Fehmarn gig was the final stop of the band's 1970 Cry of Love Tour Other scheduled acts on the festival bill included Sly & the Family Stone, Canned Heat, the Faces, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Cactus, and the Rory Gallagher–fronted Taste the latter two acts would eventually pull out due to the same issues that would impact Hendrix's set The three German organizers were inspired by the success of the Isle of Wight Festival boasted six to seven hundred thousand attendees and at one point held a Guinness World Record for festival attendance Hoping to piggyback on the festival’s popularity and book some of its acts the Fehmarn organizers thought they might create a European version of Woodstock Some reports suggest that as few as 10,000 tickets were shifted In the end perhaps 60,000 made actually attended the event an unexpected crush that made for uncomfortable conditions throughout the event and blocked traffic to and from the concert Hendrix was paid 70,000 Deutsche Marks — around $160,000 in today's money — along with his travel costs in advance for the appearance The festival's success heavily relied on him as the Saturday headliner The organizers hoped to capitalize on the popularity of the Woodstock festival film which had hit European theaters earlier that summer and featured Hendrix’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” As a result the guitarist’s face appeared alone on many of the event's promotional posters the event was plagued with power issues from the start Severe winds and storms battered the stage throughout Saturday's sets and it was deemed unsafe for anyone to set foot on it — let alone plug anything in — until the weather cleared who was scheduled to take the stage at 8 p.m eventually began his set at noon the following day — with several thousand fans holding their place in the rain for the 16 hours in between with many still popping up online occasionally you mothers," before shedding some light on his tardiness "We couldn't come on last night — it was just unbearable," Hendrix explained referencing the torrid conditions he and the band endured upon finally arriving at the site Once Hendrix played the first few notes of the show opener Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," all appeared to be forgiven with the Experience tearing through a stacked setlist that included classics from across his discography such as "Spanish Castle Magic," "Hey Joe," "All Along the Watchtower," "Red House," and "Purple Haze," before closing with "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)." The set also featured some new tracks that would eventually be released posthumously This wasn't Hendrix's first rodeo when it came to unforeseen circumstances halting one of his performances he was scheduled to close the festival on Sunday night significant delays pushed his set to 9 a.m the audience's reaction was far more forgiving — perhaps a reflection of the '69 "flower power" and "Summer of Love" energy of the time the boos and jeers at this 1970 festival may have spoken to a harder-edged crowd reflecting the changing times — or maybe they were just fed up being stuck out in the rain we know the Open Air Love & Peace Festival show was the beginning of the end for Hendrix with rumors of upcoming collaborations with Miles Davis and Jimi's need to constantly evolve as a player you can't help but wonder where he might have gone next musically I've given this era of music everything." Suggesting that he had grown "exhausted" and jaded with his current presentation "I can't think of anything new to add to it in its present state." Hendrix's final time onstage would come two nights before he died when he sat in for a couple of the closing numbers with the Animals frontman Eric Burdon and his new band War at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London on September 16 1970 — a little shy of four years to the day when the then-unknown Hendrix played his first show just half a mile away at the Scotch of St The complete audio recording of the Jimi Hendrix Experience performing at the Open Air Love & Peace Festival — sneakily captured by the organizers using overhead mics onto a reel-to-reel at the side of the stage — was eventually released in 2005 as Live at the Isle of Fehmarn and lives on as an essential document of the guitar god's final official live performance Whether CD sales have helped recoup any of the troubled event's financial losses Jonathan GrahamSocial Links NavigationWriterThe Editor in chief of Guitar Interactive since 2017 Jonathan has written online articles for Guitar World Guitar Player and Guitar Aficionado over the last decade He has interviewed hundreds of music's finest session work and online lessons for Lick Library “We turned the Marshall up all the way That’s the sound.’” In a rare interview Barry Goudreau talks creating Boston’s smash debut and his ongoing rift with Tom Scholz “I sometimes feel a bit apologetic about it." Brian May says Freddie Mercury fought his now-classic guitar solo on one of Queen's biggest hits It wasn't the 'magical record.'" When Kiss’s 1998 reunion album was in jeopardy Bruce Kulick returned to the fold to save the day Femern A/S recently released a very interesting video named ‘Fehmarnbelt tunnel – Great progress with the German portal Puttgarden Autumn 2024’ The video shows visible progress at the German portal near Puttgarden: the temporary retaining dyke that previously enclosed the northern part of the excavation pit has been completely removed This means that the foremost tunnel section built on land now extends into the Baltic Sea This content is available after accepting the cookies which is being manufactured in the factory on Lolland and towed to the coast near Fehmarn Daily news and in-depth stories in your inbox We look back at the icon's last ever performance and which tracks he played It's now over half century since the world lost Jimi Hendrix The legendary guitarist died on 18th September 1970 tragically becoming a member of the "27 Club" He was found in a basement apartment in London having died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates icon and rock pioneer had many brilliant moments in his short life including his performance at Woodstock 1969 Radio X looks into the last gig the Purple Haze singer ever played Some may think Hendrix's last gig was at the Isle Of Wight Festival, which took place on the British island between 26th and 31st August 1970 the musician then went on to play the Open Air Love & Peace Festival in Fehmarn this show was set to take place on an Island set just North East of Hamburh and a few miles from the Danish coast from 4 to 6 September it wasn't quite the well-oiled machine it thought it would be and the festival was fraught with problems due to poor organisation and ticket sales the weather broke and the festival goers who braved the trip had to contend with wind and rain and many acts began pulling out of what was beginning to look like a disastrous inaugural event READ MORE: What did The Stone Roses play at their last gig? According to a reporrt on the Concerts Wiki, Hendrix didn't play the first night he arrived due to poor weather conditions and an issue with tents being too close to his stage playing what nobody realised would be his last ever public live performance Disgruntled with the festival as a whole and his late showing at first the crowd are believed to have jeered and booed kicking off his performance with a cover of Howling Wolf's Killing Floor Hendrix launched into his cover of Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower Jimi Hendrix | Canned Heat - Isle of Fehmarn (1970 | Rare Footage) Opting for his interpretation of Billy Roberts' Hey Joe for track number four the rocker then played Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) Message of Love and the irresistible Foxy Lady which was first taken from The Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 debut album Are You Experienced Ezy Rider and Freedom were next up on the setlist JIMI HENDRIX - The Last Minutes On Stage (1970) - VHS Archives Hendrix's 13-track-setlist ended with a duo of absolute belters with the guitar legend playing a rendition of Purple Haze and Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) which would have no doubt swept the audience up into a frenzy It might not have been the glitziest of festivals but thanks to a dodgy bootleg recording by the promoters on site it was later mixed and produced into a live album in 2005 ready to be enjoyed by generations of fans born long after Hendrix passed away Jimi Hendrix last performance at the Love & Peace Festival 1970 Killing Floor (originally by Howlin’ Wolf)2 All Along the Watchtower (originally by Bob Dylan)4 See more More Features Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Arup and TEC joint venture as the main technical advisor and consultant for the 18km-long Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link a strategic underwater transport link between Scandinavia and continental Europe.  the tunnel will unlock opportunities for commuters Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link will be the world’s longest immersed rail and road tunnel.  The JV has been working closely with Femern A/S for over a decade providing specialist technical advice across a range of engineering disciplines to allow the delivery of a world class transportation system for the future. A key part of the European Commission's TEN-T programme and a priority rail corridor Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link includes a two-lane motorway and a double-track railway for high-speed electric trains drivers will cut down their travel time by about an hour each way compared to the ferry crossing Rail passengers between Copenhagen and Hamburg will save about two hours on their journey With more freight being transported by rail the tunnel will also support a greener transportation system.  Following the signing of a bilateral treaty between Denmark and Germany in 2008 Arup was appointed as part of a joint venture with Rambøll and TEC to support Femern A/S as the principal client consultant for the tunnel design Our initial commission comprised early optioneering preparation of the illustrative design and identification of the technical requirements for the tendering process. Our technical support to the client continued into the pre-qualification stage and we participated in the Competitive Dialogue tendering process for the four major tunnel contracts our role on the project continued as client advisor during the design review and construction phases right through to completion of the works The unique scale of this immersed tunnel required an innovative design approach the work by our JV made the selection of the immersed tunnel option preferable over the cable-stayed bridge backed by our thorough analysis of technical The advantages of building a tunnel included lower risks to navigational safety and lower permanent impact on the marine environment and bird migration in the region Our tunnel ventilation strategy was also key to selecting a tunnel over a bridge The immersed tunnel will be made of 79 standard and 10 special elements each of the standard tunnel elements is 217 metres-long The 200ha construction site at Rødbyhavn in Lolland is the location for the large purpose-built production facility and the work harbour for the construction and launching of the immersed tunnel elements.  as part of a dedicated JV sustainability team also led the upgrade of the carbon inventory for the construction phase to calculate the generated carbon emissions Collaboration between the JV and Femern’s in-house specialists was key to delivering a project of this complexity, scale and size from design through to construction in both on-shore and off-shore environments The Rambøll, Arup, TEC JV has provided technical advice on a range of challenging issues, including the behaviour of the complex geotechnical conditions spanning the 18km Fehmarnbelt seabed and the interface with the structural elements The team has also developed asset management specifications and structural health monitoring requirements with a view to optimising the future operation and maintenance of the tunnel designed an innovative tunnel ventilation system.  Provided technical advice on a range of challenging issues, including the behaviour of the complex geotechnical conditions spanning the 18km Fehmarnbelt seabed and the interface with the structural elements If you'd like to speak to one of our rail experts about any of the issues raised on this page or a potential collaboration then please get in touch by completing the form Femern A/S has just released the latest Fehmarnbelt project update from the German construction site: the northernmost part of the portal at Puttgarden has been successfully flooded This means that a part of the tunnel on the German side is now also under water The outer retaining dike still has to be removed so that the first element of the immersed tunnel which will be transported from the factory in Lolland to Fehmarn can later be connected to this part of the tunnel The construction site on the German side is much smaller compared to the construction site on the Danish side In addition to the construction of the tunnel portal on Fehmarn the project also includes connections to the existing road network – main road B207 and motorway E47 – and the existing railway The local road and path network will also be adjusted and several smaller bridges and tunnels will be built to ensure passage for local traffic Serving the tunnelling industry since 1969 The first element will be prepared for immersion by attaching two special pontoons to the ends of the element and adding more ballast concrete and the remaining tunnel elements will be carried into the basins soon Femern announced that the first two elements for the Fehmarnbelt tunnel have been moved from the dry dock into the large basins before the tunnel factory at Rødbyhavn The update follows several weeks of extensive testing involving water filling in the dry dock and the closure of the watertight gate in front of the factory a total of 89 elements will be produced for the project seven standard elements and two special elements designed for the basement of the tunnel’s technical equipment The first elements will be prepared for immersion which involves attaching two special pontoons to the ends of the element and adding more ballast concrete to weigh it down The remaining tunnel elements will be carried into the basins soon where they will be kept until the main contractor Femern Link Contractors (FLC) proceeds to final work building and operating the fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt between Denmark and Germany is an under-construction immersed tunnel that links the Danish Island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn Work harbours are developed at Puttgarden on Fehmarn and at Rødbyhavn on Lolland from where building materials needed for the construction project are sailed out The project involves dredging an 18 km-long trench where the tunnel elements will be immersed into and covered with gravel The surplus material from the dredging will be used to build new coastal areas near Rødbyhavn and to a limited extent on Fehmarn the Fehmarn Belt Contractors (FBC) consortium completed the digging of the trench after three years and removed around 15 million m3 of spoil from the seabed In June, Denmark’s King Frederik inaugurated the first tunnel element which measures 217m and contains nine segments of 24m each The construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel is expected to be completed in 2029 the tunnel would become the world’s longest road and rail tunnel Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the Progressive Media network © Business Trade Media International Limited either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content The first section of the world's longest underwater road and rail tunnel has been constructed putting the project on track for completion by the end of the decade The Fehmarnbelt tunnel will link the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn It is said the tunnel will cut travel times between Scandinavia and Central Europe to under ten minutes while contributing to tourism and both countries' green transitions conservationists told Newsweek that they fear the ambitious new link won't live up to the developers' environmental promises Construction began in 2020 on the Danish side the Copenhagen-based firm charged with designing and planning the tunnel Completion of the tunnel is scheduled for 2029 and will apparently cut travel time between the countries from 45 minutes by ferry to 7 minutes by train Works are currently focused on dredging the tunnel trench and constructing new breakwaters in Lolland the latter creating "around 300 hectares of new land," according to Femern named after the 12-mile Fehmarn belt in the Baltic Sea under which it will be built will be around 41 meters wide and sit at a depth of up to 130 meters Denmark will be responsible for funding the project the costs of which were estimated at €5.5 billion in 2008 which will be paid off with tolls from those using the completed tunnel Femern told Newsweek that Fehmarnbelt link's total construction framework is now 55.1 billion Danish krone Femern said that the tunnel had been designated as a "priority project" by the European Union, which has provided funding to several similar transit projects hoped to create a trans-European transport network Through its through its Connecting Europe funding facility, the EU has so far granted Fehmarnbelt around $1.2 billion in subsidies for design and construction costs Last Monday, King Frederik X of Denmark was on site in Lolland to celebrate completion of the first 217-metre sections of the tunnel the country's transport minister Thomas Danielsen called the project "a milestone in Danish history," and said: "With the Fehmarnbelt tunnel we get a fantastic and cross-border infrastructure project." "Today is visible proof of how far we have come," added Mikeel Hemmingsen the Danish company in charge of the tunnel's construction "The Fehmarnbelt tunnel will show the way for many other major projects in Denmark and in the rest of the world." Its developers have championed the tunnel as an investment in climate friendly transport providing a greener alternative to air travel between Scandinavia and Central Europe Søren Have of Copenhagen-based climate-focused think tank CONCITO echoed these expectations and said: "While all such infrastructure projects have substantial carbon emissions from construction some have the potential to pay it back over time through lower emissions from reduced or changed traffic patterns The Fehmarnbelt tunnel is such a project." this sentiment was not shared by The Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union Germany's oldest environmental association a policy officer for marine conservation at NABU told Newsweek that the Fehmarnbelt link "contradicts a green transition." Citing a 2020 report by the European Court of Auditors which cast doubt on the economic viability of numerous transportation megaprojects in which the EU has invested Böhnke-Henrichs said: "The project includes a large highway component which conflicts with the European aim to bring traffic from road to rail is expected to attract only 1 million passengers yearly far too little to be economically viable." She added that the tunnel's construction risks harming "some of the most diverse reefs in this part of the Baltic Sea." "Irrespective of the Baltic's poor environmental status The project cuts the Fehmarnbelt marine protected area and thus disturbs refuge of the protected harbor porpoise." Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsweek is committed to journalism that's factual and fair Hold us accountable and submit your rating of this article on the meter. Newsletters in your inbox See all By 2024-05-14T12:00:00+01:00 EUROPE: The first of 89 concrete elements which will be assembled to form the 18 km Fehmarn Belt immersed tube rail and road tunnel between Denmark and Germany has been cast at the production site in Rødbyhavn The 217 m element comprises nine 24 m segments and weighs 73 500 tonnes The project will require 79 elements of this type plus 10 special elements with space for technical equipment ‘Casting such a large concrete structure has been a long and complicated undertaking but we’ve now demonstrated that technology and methods interact well’ CEO of state-owned project promoter Femern A/S on May 6 Dutch companies Boskalis and Van Oord have now completed dredging of the tunnel trench which took almost three years and involved up to 70 vessels It involved the excavation of 15 million m3 of material — the equivalent of six Great Pyramids or 6 000 Olympic swimming pools — which has been used to create 300 ha of new land at Rødbyhavn The fixed link is expected to be completed by 2029 offering a transit time of 7 min by train and 10 min by car INNOTRANS: Boring will be exciting at the Tunnel Construction segment of InnoTrans 2024 which will feature more than 30 exhibitors highlighting the latest ideas to make building and operating tunnels safer and more efficient while minimising environmental impact DENMARK: The first of the buildings which will be used to produce the 217 m long 73 500 tonne concrete elements for the Fehmarn Belt immersed rail and road tunnel between Denmark and Germany has been topped out by project promoter Femern A/S and main contractor .. GERMANY: Construction of the German side of the 18 km Fehmarn Belt immersed tube road and rail tunnel between Germany and Denmark was officially launched with a sod-turning ceremony on Puttgarden on November 29 Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of .. Site powered by Webvision Cloud M&A Seminar on Preparing Your Company for Sale Presented by Maslon LLP and Northborne Partners visits the Fehmarn Belt tunnel construction site at Roedbyhavn on the island of Lolland The future 11-mile rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea will link southern Denmark to northern Germany First element of underwater tunnel linking Denmark to Germany makes progress The Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates unchanged despite political pressure from President Tru[...] The Trump administration is swiftly remaking housing policy as the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Develo[...] construction job openings dropped by 38,000 in March signaling slowing labor demand amid tariffs Trump's trade demands stretch beyond tariffs is now an official city after a local vote Milwaukee Mitchell Airport will start a $95.2M international terminal project this summer after delays and ris[...] Sign up for your daily digest of Minnesota News Efforts to reform Minnesota zoning laws fail again as local opposition blocks a bill limiting parkin[...] will break ground this summer on The Dorian a 190-unit apartment complex in Lake Elmo af[...] The University of Minnesota plans to sell 60 acres at UMore Park for $8.1M to North Wind Test for a [...] The Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates unchanged despite political pressure from Pre[...] The Trump administration is swiftly remaking housing policy as the U.S Department of Housing and Ur[...] signaling slowing labor demand amid tarif[...] Trump's trade demands stretch beyond tariffs Performance contracting helps governments and schools cut energy costs Milwaukee Mitchell Airport will start a $95.2M international terminal project this summer after dela[...] Listen here analysis and commentary on Minnesota business We are the only independent daily newspaper dedicated to business reporting Get our free e-alerts & breaking news notifications Subscribe for access to the latest digital and special editions your new go-to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news and behind-the-scenes from Brussels and beyond From the economy to the climate and the EU's role in world affairs this talk show sheds light on European affairs and the issues that impact on our daily lives as Europeans Tune in to understand the ins and outs of European politics Dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries Deep dive conversations with business leaders Euronews Tech Talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society Europe's water is under increasing pressure floods are taking their toll on our drinking water Join us on a journey around Europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters and to discover some of the best water solutions an animated explainer series and live debate - find out why Water Matters We give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing We meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt Denmark and Germany are one step closer to being linked by the world's longest underwater rail and road tunnel Danish King Frederik X inaugurated the first element of a future 18-kilometre tunnel under the Baltic Sea on Monday It will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition The Fehmarnbelt link, which is expected to open in 2029, will also cut travel from the present 45-minute ferry crossing to as little as seven minutes by train It will link Roedby on the Danish side to Puttgarten in Germany with onward connections by road and rail to central Europe and the Nordic countries Frederik unveiled a plaque at the entrance of the first 217-metre section of the tunnel, which will be submerged into a seabed trench on the Danish side later this year. He dropped a coin at his effigy into a time capsule containing objects donated by those who built the concrete elements Sund & Baelt, the company building the Fehmarn link, claims it will be the longest submersible tunnel It will also include an electrified train track Cars are expected to be able to cross the Baltic Sea in 10 minutes on the four lanes and trains will do that in seven minutes In 2011, it was decided that a link between the southern Denmark island of Lolland and the northern German isle of Fehmarn should be built as an immersed tunnel. Work on the Danish side was commissioned in July 2022 and on the German side exactly a year later The tunnel will consist of 89 concrete elements which are being constructed at a special facility in Roedbyhavn on Lolland dubbed North Europe's largest construction site The Fehmarn link will cost 55.1 billion kroner (€4.8 billion) and will be paid by users in Denmark The Danish government will decide the toll charge for the tunnel at a later stage In recent years Denmark has built road-and-rail links to neighbouring Sweden and between two major Danish islands In 2000, a bridge-and-tunnel link across the Oresund strait connected Copenhagen to Sweden's third largest city Malmo road traffic opened between the islands of Funen where Odense - Denmark’s third largest city - is located Train traffic there started a year earlier Video presented and narrated by Fred Mills a sleepy German holiday island is about to be transformed by one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world The island of Fehmarn sits just off the mainland of Germany and is separated from the south coast of Denmark by a 20-kilometre stretch of water known as the Fehmarn Belt Construction is underway on a tunnel between the two countries that will provide the missing link in a transcontinental highway which will move hundreds of thousands of people a year and generate billions of dollars in revenue The Trans-European Transport Network is a series of roads railways and shipping lanes which connect every corner of the continent One of the most important routes is the Scan-Med corridor the central vertical axis of the network which spans 5,000 kilometres from Malta in the mediterranean to Finland's icy tundra Along the way it drills through Alpine rock and crosses frozen seas But follow the route north through Germany and something strange happens Instead of driving straight up towards Sweden you have to take a 150-kilometre loop through the whole of Denmark unassuming stretch of water: the Fehmarn Belt So, let’s just get this straight. There’s a transport route that stretches from near the African coast to the arctic circle, complete with some of the world’s most iconic engineering – the Brenner Base Tunnel the Great Belt Bridge – but a small stretch of water in northern Europe is enough to create a detour the size of a country Well, it may not look like much but the Fehmarn Belt has thwarted some of the world’s best engineers for over a century. Until now.The Øresund Bridge is one of those rare feats of civic construction: a mega structure whose architecture and engineering come together in perfect harmony to create a truly iconic piece of infrastructure. Immortalised in the 2011 drama The Bridge it connects Denmark with the southern Swedish city of Malmö and it was while this crossing was being planned that Sweden had a big idea Right now to get from Sweden down into Central Europe That takes you over the Øresund crossing to Copenhagen where you change onto another train that takes you down into Hamburg in Germany Even on a high speed train that takes about five and a half hours Germany is Sweden’s second biggest export market The Swedish government saw a shortcut at the Fehmarn Belt so during negotiations with Denmark a deal was struck: the Swedes would help build the Øresund Bridge if Denmark agreed to look into constructing a fixed link at the Fehmarn Belt that wasn’t as outrageous as you might think There’s been talk of creating a railway between Hamburg and Copenhagen since the 19th century – quaintly dubbed the Vogelfluglinie or bird flight line – but nothing really happened until the 60s when a bridge was built to cross the short stretch of water between Fehmarn and mainland Germany That route was then extended to a new ferry port at Puttgarden bringing trains right up to the water's edge Amazingly the trains were then loaded onto ferries and carried over the Fehmarn Belt and onto to Denmark The diesel trains that served the route weren’t as fast as the trains we have today Above: Trains on the ferry crossing the Fehmarn Belt For years afterwards there was talk about upgrading the route to a fixed link but it wasn’t until Sweden threw down the gauntlet that things got really serious and in 2008 the Danish and German governments signed a treaty to start work on The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link The proposed crossing would consist of a four-lane motorway and two rail lines serving both freight and high speed passenger trains The whole thing would be funded by Denmark who would in turn collect the toll fares and run the onshore businesses Germany would upgrade the route from Fehmarn into the mainland to allow for the new trains and traffic to pass through which would include building another short tunnel to cross the Fehmarn Sound It would be a once in a generation upgrade in the transport network The Hamburg to Copenhagen corridor would be transformed into a high-speed road and rail route the Swedes would get their shortcut to the continent a massive detour would be wiped off the Scan-Med corridor and that would transform the wider Trans-European Transport Network The only thing that stood in the way was the water Feasibility studies had been conducted as far back as the 90s and – as proved by the Øresund crossing – Denmark was pretty good at building them The proposal they came up with was a three-kilometre long cable-stayed bridge sitting about 65 metres above the water so that ships could still pass underneath The cable-stayed design was similar to the Øresund Bridge but with one key difference it would be three times as long – and that’s where the problems began perilous ocean but the Fehmarn Belt is still pretty awkward surprisingly deep in places and the soil conditions aren’t great for building on Image courtesy of Dissing+Weitling / Femern A/S To contend with the length of the Fehmarn Belt the bridge would have needed spans of over 700 metres longer than anything which has ever been built for a combined road and rail bridge The plan was to construct three huge pylons each just under 300 metres tall The foundations of those would have to be built at sea in depths of up to 25 metres Throw in poor soil conditions and a busy shipping lane and you have an engineer’s idea of hell After careful consideration of the risk of cost overruns and the technical complexity of construction No problem there though because the Fehmarn Belt is the ideal length for a bored tunnel There’s a few reasons why bored tunnels are great First off they don’t disturb anything above ground That’s why they’re usually used for underground railways in cities but that’s also great for a place like Fehmarn which has a delicate ecosystem that could take years to recover from all the disruption caused by building a bridge They’re expensive but they tend to be more economical the further you go So the team set out to investigate the possibility of a bored tunnel under the Fehmarn Belt Bored tunnels are dug by a tunnel boring machine – or TBM. The width of the tunnel depends on the TBM but something like London’s new Elizabeth line used machines around seven metres wide Above: The drill head of a tunnel boring machine They’re good for something like an underground railway because you have one track per tunnel That could mean boring 5 separate tunnels at five times the cost Very little of a train’s surface area actually sits on the track and because the wheels are made of steel it’s one of the reasons trains are so fast and efficient But going uphill becomes a bit more challenging The average mainline train can drive upwards by 2.5 percent or 1 in 40 The Fehmarn Belt is about 40 metres deep at its deepest point and any bored tunnel would have to sit at least 10 metres below that That would make the tunnel incredibly long in order for a train to travel into it pass under the ocean and pass successfully again up the other side A shorter tunnel would create a train track that’s incredibly steep and any train probably wouldn’t make it So you may think with a bridge and a bored tunnel ruled out it may be time to throw in the towel there’s one option left: the immersed tube tunnel IMTs are made up of prefabricated concrete elements Once made these are taken out to a trench which is dug in the seabed and sunk and sealed together the whole thing is covered over with earth and hey presto An IMT is a great solution for a place like the Fehmarn Belt It’s shallower than a bored tunnel so trains have no problem passing through You avoid the technical complexities of building a bridge and it poses no risk to shipping once it’s complete IMTs are usually used for fairly short stretches like rivers and harbours Keep driving over the Øresund Bridge towards Denmark and you hit a man made island and suddenly drop down under the sea into the Drogden Tunnel It’s one of the longest IMTs in the world and it’s only four kilometres The Fehmarn Tunnel will be five times longer it all starts at the immense construction site at Rødbyhavn on the Danish side of the Fehmarn Belt run by the Danish state owned company Femern A/S it’s taken them two years just to build the work area The star of the show is the enormous factory where the tunnel segments will be constructed It’s one of the biggest factories ever built in Denmark altogether covering half a million square metres That scale is needed for the production lines that will churn out the 89 concrete tunnel elements Once fully up and running these factories will be on 24 hours a day seven days a week – for three and a half years Above: The Rødbyhavn construction site with the tunnel factory under construction in the centre aggregates and materials will be delivered to the purpose built work harbour and then taken by conveyor belt to the factories where the elements are being cast Each element is so large it will be constructed of nine smaller segments Once a complete tunnel element is constructed it will get rolled out of the factory and taken to a huge dry dock where it then gets floated and taken out to sea where the tunnel trench is dug Massive ballast tanks are flooded to sink the 73,000-tonne concrete tunnel elements to the bottom of the ocean where winches will guide them to within 15mm of their targets the trench is back-filled and the tunnel is covered in gravel to protect it nature takes over and eventually covers the gravel bed with sand Above: An artist’s impression of a tunnel element being taken out to sea Once the tunnel structure is in place there’s then the small challenge of laying a motorway and railway through it The tunnel will also be fitted out with ventilation support and surveillance systems before it’s expected to open for traffic in 2029 thousands of cars and hundreds of trains will pass through it every day The expected economic benefits are huge but it still all costs a lot of money The budget for the project currently stands at USD $7.5BN Half a billion dollars of that is coming from EU subsidies and the rest is coming from a loan by the Danish state meaning it won’t cost Danish taxpayers a penny Above: An artist's impression of the tunnel entrance Denmark actually stands to gain quite a lot from this project It’s expected that cars are going to be charged around the same as the ferry – around USD $100 for a return journey – which is projected to generate around $4BN in profit during the first 50 years of the tunnel's life a tunnel which improves infrastructure and creates billions of dollars in profit Well it’s not just the Fehmarn Belt’s geography the construction has had to battle Campaigners from the German Aktionsbündnis gegen eine feste Fehmarnbeltquerung (AGFF) – action group against the Fehmarn Belt fixed link – have fought tooth and nail for the last decade to prevent the construction of any permanent crossing This is the downside of massive construction projects Any new mega scheme has to be built somewhere Whether you like it or not it’s going to have a massive impact One of the key environmental concerns regarding the tunnel is water clouding Critics of the project argue the soil dredged during the construction will have a significant impact on the ecology of the Fehmarn Belt “The ecology of the Fehmarn Belt is very diverse it’s marked by a diversity of species which were believed to be extinct in the Baltic The clouding of the Fehmarn Belt through the release of sediment and the turbidity will reduce the growth of macrophytes and plankton and have repercussions on all fauna and flora.” Above: A dredging boat digging the trench for the tunnel Femern A/S says sedimentation is one of the most closely monitored environmental impacts on this project The company says it uses special dredging machines to minimise the spill and have patrol boats and monitoring stations around the dredging site to collect data on water clouding This and other environmental data is published in real time on the Femern A/S website in an effort to improve transparency around the construction But it’s not just the marine environment AGFF is concerned about A big feature that is being touted about this new tunnel is that it’ll kind of provide a new green link to the continent Femern A/S says that because the distance between Hamburg and Copenhagen is being shortened thousands of vehicles will have to drive 150km less The new rail service will take cargo out of lorries and place them on to freight trains and the new rail link will make taking the train a more attractive option But – and this is a big but – constructing something as ambitious as the Fehmarn Tunnel comes with a huge carbon footprint mostly from the vast amounts of concrete being produced 2 million tonnes according to Femern A/S’ own calculations Above: An artist’s impression of a tunnel element being cast the tunnel will deliver a significant contribution to a green transeuropean traffic corridor by creating a 160 km shortcut creating a viable alternative to air traffic and shifting goods from trucks to electrified freight trains They add that they are making a concerted effort to reduce the CO2 footprint of construction but it’s not possible to build in this scale without causing some emissions One of these initiatives is their commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy sources for construction and operations of the tunnel Infrastructure inevitably comes into contact with the natural world That doesn’t mean concerns should be brushed aside but it also doesn’t mean we should never build infrastructure ever again What opposition groups such as the AGFF express are legitimate anxieties from people living on the doorstep of one of Europe’s biggest construction projects When there is a good case for a new megaproject it’s important that project teams listen to concerns and work to reduce the impact of their work on people's lives and the environment as much as possible That’s something this project has set out to do from the start Most of the construction activity is being done on the less-populated Danish side of the water and new habitats are being built to compensate for land now occupied by the factory Over the next decade a new route will be tattooed onto this part of the map – and for the people who use it its convenience will erase any memory of the enormous effort that it took to make it happen For an example of how this can happen you don't need to travel any further than the southern end of the Fehmarn The bridge which connects the island to the German mainland was heavily opposed when it was built in 1963 as residents worried it would destroy the place’s unique character Today it’s considered iconic and there is a campaign to save it following fears it will fall into disrepair once the new tunnel opens While these projects are difficult and controversial to realise when they’re first constructed they go on to have a defining impact on all of our lives The new tunnel under the Fehmarn Belt will impact millions of people across this continent over the decades to come Any of the controversies around its construction will likely be forgotten and the extraordinary engineering that went in will be taken for granted as Femern A/S technical director Jens Ole Kaslund said “My hope is just that a year after it opens no one can remember that it was not there."  Microsoft Flight Simulator and Smiley.toerist We welcome you sharing our content to inspire others, but please be nice and play by our rules. Thanks! You’ll get a confirmation email from us shortly. These can sometimes go into your junk mail. Sign up and follow us to ensure you never miss an update! The Fehmarn Belt Tunnel will link Denmark and Germany It's an engineering masterpiece that is set to halve journey times between Hamburg and Copenhagen This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Danish MPs have given the green light to the construction of the Fehmarnbelt underwater tunnel which will reduce travel time between the country and Germany to just a few minutes Work on the Danish side is now expected to start on January 1, 2021, and the tunnel — known as the Fehmarnbelt link — is now forecast to open in mid-2029, the Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Friday Transport Minister Benny Engelbrecht hailed the MPs agreement as a "historic decision" describing the tunnel as "a new gateway to Europe" The 18-kilometre tunnel will link northern Germany to the Danish island of Lolland which are separated by the Fehmarn Belt — a strait in the western part of the Baltic Sea Construction was postponed by six months because of the COVID-19 pandemic The 52.6 billion Danish kroner (€7 billion) project will feature an electrified double-track railway and a four-lane motorway It will allow trains and cars to cross the strait in just seven and ten minutes respectively a ferry takes about an hour to make the crossing The Fehmarnbelt link will be built as an immersed tunnel The concrete elements will each weigh 73,000 tonnes and will be towed by large tugboats before being lowered down The Fehmarnbelt link will be the longest tunnel of its kind anywhere in the world If you have questions regarding your subscription of European Security & Defence contact our subscriber service: By 2021-01-11T09:00:00 EUROPE: A virtual groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 1 to officially mark the start of construction of the 18 km Fehmarnbelt tunnel between Denmark and Germany Already have an account? LOG IN You’ve reached your limit of content for the month Register for free now Some are necessary and we can’t switch them off Others help us to provide you with the best possible service We use cookies to personalise content and ads to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic We also share anonymous information about your use of our site with our social media By accepting cookies you will be helping us to continue to provide you with the best possible service Adapteo has begun installing the accommodation and amenities at the specially created “FLC Village” in Denmark for the thousands of workers employed on the Fehmarn Belt tunnel currently being built between Germany and Denmark The temporary and adaptable buildings supplier was appointed by FLC Tunnel Group North to supply and manage the flexible buildings for the new 30,000m2 village which is currently under construction on the Danish island of Lolland would be ready for occupation by the end of this month The company will erect a total of 42 flexible units at FLC Village These will provide Fehmarn Tunnel workers with housing a hair salon and recreational spaces such as leisure facilities with changing rooms and a canteen “We are very proud to be able to offer high quality and flexible housing and recreational spaces to the people who are working with this enormous infrastructure project “It is the largest order in the history of Adapteo and we are happy and humble for the opportunity to be a part of the realization of the tunnel that will further conjoin Denmark – and by extension the Nordic countries – with the continent.” Adapteo created a completely new design for the FLC Village buildings.  “The buildings are 9x3 metres and include private rooms for the residents and recreational spaces and outdoor terraces “This is not something that we have done before so it is great to see how the buildings are coming along Our construction is proceeding according to plan and we look forward to welcoming the workers to their new accommodation soon.” The 18km long Fehmarn Belt tunnel is an undersea road and rail link the immersed tunnel will stretch across the Bay of Kiel in the Baltic Sea and upon completion will connect the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland Estimated to cost around €7.4 billion, the project is being funded by the Danish government, with some funds being provided by the European Union through its Connecting Europe Facility To accommodate the new transport link, a new harbour at Rødbyhavn has also been under construction since November 2019 Following an investigation, the financing for the project was cleared by the European Commission in March 2020 allowing developer Femern A/S to activate the main construction contracts with the Femern Link Contractors You’ve reached your limit of premium article views this month Become a Plus Member today and gain further access to the content Off Highway Research - Market research Unique marketing services that create demand for your products locally Marketing Services Download Media Kits there is a feud between Sweden and Denmark - and on a cold October day in 1644 bloody showdown between these two hereditary enemies takes place maritime archaeologists investigate the wrecks prior to the construction of a tunnel between Lolland and Fehmarn The exhibition ‘In Smoke and Flames’ is the result of several years of research carried out by Danish and German researchers from the Viking Ship Museum and the Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig ‐ Holstein With the discovery of the three shipwrecks we can bring to life the gruesome events that mark the beginning of the end of Denmark’s power in the Baltic Sea A visual staging of a dramatic painting from the naval battle Fragments of bronze guns destroyed by fire and explosion An impressive ship model of a Danish warship which underline the importance of fire as a decisive element of naval warfare A timeline that lets you follow the course of history From Christian IV increasing the Sound Toll and the Swedish invasion of Jutland to the fateful battle in Fehmarn Belt and the subsequent peace negotiations the maritime archaeological investigations of the shipwrecks in 2012 and 2020 The story continues in the online finds catalogue and essays from maritime archaeologists and experts in naval war history And with a series of small films produced during the construction of the exhibition we take a look behind the scenes and show glimpses of how the new special exhibition was created » Opening hours and prices » Become a friend of the museum » Subscribe to the Newsletter The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde is the home of five world famous Viking ships and is the Danish museum for ships seafaring and boatbuilding culture in ancient and medieval times Privacy and cookie policy | Subscribe Newsletter Vikingeskibsmuseet: Vindeboder 12 . DK-4000 Roskilde | Phone.: +45 46 300 200 | museum(at)vikingeskibsmuseet.dk Femern A/S is activating the main construction contracts with Femern Link Contractors (FLC) with effect from January 1 the project owner said in their latest release This means that construction of the large scale tunnel element factory at Rødbyhavn can get underway November 2019 saw the start of the main construction phase of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel when the contract with the Dutch contractor consortium for the new work harbor at Rødbyhavn came into force “The harbor is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 the EU Commission approved the financing model for the entire Fehmarnbelt project,” Femern said Activation of the contracts is being carried out with due respect for the ongoing German approval process of the Fehmarnbelt project To be built in northern Europe and connect Scandinavia with Germany the Fehmarnbelt will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel The infrastructure will close a major gap in the European transport network energy consumption and create a new region in Europe while also fostering the development of new nature and recreational landscapes by Working with Nature concepts By 2020-02-10T06:00:00 DENMARK: Fehmarn Belt rail and road tunnel project promoter Femern A/S has appointed SNC-Lavalin Group company Atkins to provide multidisciplinary railway consultancy services for the construction of the 18 km fixed link between Denmark and Germany By 2021-11-30T12:25:00 GERMANY: Construction of the German side of the 18 km Fehmarn Belt immersed tube road and rail tunnel between Germany and Denmark was officially launched with a sod-turning ceremony on Puttgarden on November 29 at the ironically titled Love And Peace Festival Festival goers camp in a Citroen 2CV car at the Open Air Love And Peace Festival Jimi Hendrix's final show was at a festival marred by terrible weather machine-gun fire and marauding Hell's Angels it’s because I’m always running” – Jimi Hendrix interviewed in The Times On September 5, 1970, the day before he played his last ever gig, UK music paper Melody Maker published an interview with Jimi Hendrix.  The interview had taken place some days earlier: on August 29, the day before Jimi played the Isle Of Wight Festival an appearance that marked the first day of a week of intensive touring bassist Billy Cox and drummer Mitch Mitchell would play six major gigs in three countries across Europe.  but the tour was cut short after concerns for the health of Cox: on September 1 someone had spiked his drink with LSD and he was still paranoid and exhausted over a week later the tour was cancelled and Cox returned to the States but they’d already played their last gig together violence and arson by the time Hendrix got there on September 6 for his last live performance UK student-turned-stagehand David Butcher was relatively sheltered from the chaos Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock ”On the second day this English guy who was manager of one of the other bands decided to pull out,” remembers Butcher “The Hell’s Angels were causing so much trouble – they were ransacking the office and giving free tickets to everybody but basically they kind of took over and there was a lot of trouble For a while afterwards I wondered if we’d imagined it I still think that Voodoo Child – the long version with Stevie Winwood and Jack Casady – is one of the most amazing pieces of rock music ever.” David and his friend Dave Philip travelled to Düsseldorf where Philip’s father was stationed in the army the two made full use of the house and the times when we saw a poster for this festival in Fehmarn We didn’t have any money so we sat down at this typewriter and we concocted this letter to the festival organisers saying that we were passionate about music – which was true – and that we were doing a thesis on music as a unifying force and visiting loads of festivals…” a couple of backstage passes arrived in the post The two hitchhiked all the way up to Fehmarn and we’d been hitchhiking for a day and half and we just found a spot on the grass to lie down got into our sleeping bags and crashed out We’d crashed out in what was the middle of the car park area and during the night hundreds of cars had appeared around us…” Jimi’s journey to Fehmarn hadn’t been filled with as much good fortune Hendrix hadn’t wanted to come to Europe in the first place but manager Michael Jeffrey had convinced him that his new Electric Lady studios needed an injection of cash – the answer was a short tour that began at the Isle of Wight festival and continued in Denmark before heading to the organised chaos that was Isle of Wight and probably the largest single audience of his career Around half a million people witnessed him struggling with technical problems (the amps picking up radio signals) exhaustion (the band didn’t actually appear onstage until 2am on Monday 31) and whatever combination of drugs and alcohol he was juggling at the time Less than 24 hours later they were playing a gig at an amusement park in Stockholm with Jimi insulting an audience crying out for the hits (“Fuck you fuck you – come up and play guitar”) and appearing weary with the whole process (“Ah let me tune my guitar there again – oh you don’t want to know…”).  The Swedish promoter had allegedly demanded that Hendrix play for no more than an hour so that the audience could use the nearby fun fair claiming that he’d make more money from the fair than the gig Justifiably offended – and apparently leaving the stage at one point to argue with the promoter – Jimi got his revenge by playing for 110 minutes “This song is dedicated to all the girls who get laid,” he said before the final track all the little girls back there with those little yellow pink and turquoise panties that they keep throwing on the stage It’s close to Mother’s Day – anybody that wanna be a mother the band – billed everywhere as the Jimi Hendrix Experience something that Hendrix seemed to have given up fighting – travelled to Gothenburg for an outdoor gig During the day he gave an interview to a Swedish newspaper who asked him about a contribution he had made to ‘the Martin Luther King Memorial Fund’.  “Would you rather I gave it to the Ku Klux Klan?” asked Jimi “In the USA you have to decide which side you’re on You’re either a rebel or like Frank Sinatra.” His idealism questioned by the straights his commitment questioned by his audiences “I’m tired of lying down and I feel mentally hollowed,” he told the interviewer If the gig that night was better than the previous one it still wasn’t enough to impress a visiting Chas Chandler – the man who had managed Hendrix to stardom but parted ways with him the year before.  “He was wrecked,” Chandler said get into the solo section and then he wouldn’t even remember what song they were playing at the time It was really awful to watch.”  I’m not sure I’ll live to be 28 years old I will not be around on this planet any more unless I have a wife and children – otherwise I’ve got nothing to live for Billy Cox’s drink was spiked and the drug-free bass player experienced a nightmarish bad trip that combined with the stress of a busy schedule over the next few days put him close to a nervous breakdown The whole camp was at the end of its tether “I’m not sure I’ll live to be 28 years old,” Jimi told an interviewer the next day at the moment I feel I have nothing more to give musically unless I have a wife and children – otherwise I’ve got nothing to live for.” cutting short his set after only three numbers (he had only ever stopped a gig once before: at the last Band Of Gypsys performance at Madison Square Garden in January that year).  recalled that when she met him earlier that day he was “staggering” and “acting in a funny way” “I don’t want you to see me like this” Nefer says that Jimi was unable to even tune his guitar before going onstage Mitch Mitchell covering his exit with a long drum solo claimed that “Hendrix collapsed into my arms and we sat him upon a chair He was cold – cold fever – then they asked for cocaine Hendrix headed back to his hotel where he spoke once again to Anne Bjorndal a journalist who had interviewed him earlier.  ”I love reading fairy tales,” he told her “Hans Christian Andersen and Winnie The Pooh Fairy tales are full of fantasy and they appeal to your imagination.”  Bjorndal claims that Jimi then started crawling around “Winnie The Pooh is searching,” she quoted him as saying “It’s winter and the tracks are easy to follow and Mitch Mitchell got a phone call telling him that his wife had given birth to a baby girl Mitchell chartered a flight back to London meeting up with Jimi later that day in Copenhagen for a blistering gig at the city’s KB Hallen hall Hendrix had spent the day with Nefer at her parents’ house and hit the stage apparently invigorated.  Danish newspaper Politiken raved: ‘Jimi was tired and ill in Arhus but was so high in Copenhagen that this was true energy true adrenaline which ran through his fingers through the guitar and into all of us… As a warrior of love he stood dressed in many colours and was the best guitarist rock’n’roll music can offer.’ The band then flew on to Berlin to perform at the Super Concert ’70 an indoor festival at the city’s Deutschlandhalle with Procol Harum Interviewed by American Forces radio before the gig he was asked if he ever thought there would ever be a festival as successful as Woodstock.  “It’s pretty hard for this sound to get to all those people in such a big crowd if we had smaller crowds you can really get next to ’em more you know?” How did he feel about playing in front of 400,000 people “That’s what I mean,” he said You know you’re not getting through to all of them…” By about six we heard this wind and then it turned into a gale We knew by then there were other problems as well: the usual equipment trouble plus Hell’s Angels with guns.. then caught a train to Grossenbrode in the north Jimi wanted to lie down so he broke into a locked sleeper car.  “The guard freaked out and stopped the train and threatened to throw us off,” remembered tour manager Gerry Stickells The situation was smoothed over and the band arrived on Fehmarn on the Saturday afternoon.  “We got there mid-afternoon,” said Mitch Mitchell “and were supposed to be on at eight We knew by then there were other problems as well The usual equipment trouble plus Hell’s Angels with guns.” Helmut Ferdinand and Timm Sievers had timed their event to coincide with the Isle of Wight festival (with the aim of snagging some major acts then at the height of his popularity in Germany after his appearance in the Woodstock movie) – but they hadn’t counted on some of the same elements that had disrupted the UK festival to derail theirs: rogue bikers bad weather and a load of cancellations had soured the ‘Love + Peace’ attitude of the 30,000-strong crowd “If you think the Isle of Wight was a mess, you should have been to Fehmarn,” comments Ford Crull Crull was 17 at the time and had heard about Fehmarn while at the Isle Of Wight.  but it was just chaos,” says Crull today “Sandy Denny kept getting an electric shock from the mic The whole place was wet and so she kept getting shocks.” Crull remembers another potentially dangerous experience as he accompanied Rod Stewart and the stage manager over to the business office to collect their payment.  “They just had suitcases packed with cash to give the bands – in American dollars too,” he says “We had to walk back through everyone with these cases packed with I don’t know how many thousands of dollars they would have stormed the office.” (That wasn’t the only excess “They must have had a pound.”) David Butcher had also been hired as stage hand “One of the managers of a number of the English bands including Fotheringay had paid us to be stage hands,” he says “We were just there and we seemed keen and we spoke English and he said ‘Can you help us out?’ All we had to do was help the roadies and made sure there weren’t too many hangers-on It was one of those revolving stages so the challenge was when the guys came up and got on to the backstage bit they needed peace and quiet and space so they could tune up We got drinks – anything that was needed The whole place was wet and so Sandy Denny kept getting shocks “We were getting paid the equivalent of £12 a day so this being 1970 we were doing pretty well this guy who’d employed us appeared in the late afternoon He had a huge wad of German marks and he said ‘Listen you guys – I’ve got the cash for the bands that have played I’ve got a couple of bands that are due to play later but I’m taking them home cos this thing is falling apart The Angels are just ruining the whole thing The cash isn’t there – I’m outta here.’ ‘Yeah – I’m staying on because of Hendrix.’ He said that’s up to you – my advice is don’t stay because it’s getting dangerous Do you want to be stage manager?’ So I said ‘Yes’ and he got out his stage manager pass and stuck it on me We’d gone from nowhere to getting free press passes then all of a sudden I was stage manager – whatever that meant.” Hendrix was due to take the stage at 8pm but when Gerry Stickells visited the site a force five gale and torrential rain convinced him that it would be a big mistake Instead Jimi stayed where he was in the Hotel Dania in Puttgarden on the north of the island Home to most of the musicians appearing at the festival David Butcher ended up there too: “My memory’s hazy for good reason – but we landed up in this bedroom and there were people everywhere Someone had a pair of bongos and there was lots of marijuana going around I just remember feeling very mellow and Alvin Lee was strumming away and someone was playing bongos and someone was singing – and we just fell asleep where we were.” Billy Cox wasn’t having nearly as good a time of it “Billy had kind of a breakdown,” Gerry Stickles told Tony Brown for his 1997 book The Final Days Of Jimi Hendrix (published by Omnibus “It was part of my job to nurse him through it But he was severely paranoid about what was going on This whole thing was going to collapse and everybody was going to be killed and God knows what else.  "I had to sit on the side of the stage and stuff like that But this was the last show – ‘let’s just do it get it over with and get out of here’ – and that’s what happened.” No sooner had they got there than Stickells was hit on the head by a plank of wood with six inch nails in it the band posed for German photographer Gernot Piltz Jimi even rolling around and laughing on the grass backstage.  “Maybe that was before he realised the situation there Jimi and Mitchell and Cox weren’t even talking to each other Mitchell’s legs were as thin as my arms.” It was David Butcher’s job to make sure that the band were taken care of “I didn’t really pick up on the turmoil that was obviously going on,” says Butcher He was probably stoned a bit before he arrived There were one or two joints being passed around "They had one or two caravans at the back where the stars stayed for the hour or so before they went on We made sure he was okay and settled in the caravan then we went back to the stage and made sure the roadies had everything they needed Later he came out of the caravan and came backstage and then we kept everyone away so that he could tune up and practice.” Butcher seized the opportunity to introduce himself as social secretary for Keele University and ask Jimi if he’d come and play there “Sure – talk to Gerry Stickells about it,” said Hendrix At around one o’clock in the afternoon the Experience took to the stage to boos and jeers and shouts of “Hau ab!” (German for “go home” or “get lost”).  Captured on an ‘official bootleg’ release from Experience Hendrix’s Dagger Records imprint (Live At The Isle Of Fehmarn) A rare video clip of the festival on YouTube shows Jimi walking to the mic arms outstretched: “I don’t give a fuck if you boo,” he shrugs The booing ceases and he then placates them by introducing the band and adding “We’d like to play some music for you and Because we’re sorry we couldn’t come on last night We couldn’t make it together like that From there, the band launch into Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor this was the opening song of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s first ever gig there was a big cheer and no more boos – the audience are already won over Then it was Spanish Castle Magic and into All Along The Watchtower David Butcher was standing at the side of the stage when he was given one more responsibility “The guy who was controlling the sound took a break so I was sort of delegated to look after the sound – but hopefully just stand there and not do anything cos I didn’t understand [how to work the mixing desk] “He was halfway through All Along The Watchtower when he looked round at me He’s doing this great solo and then he does that amazing thing where he stops playing with his left hand – he’s just got his right hand on the frets and the solo is magically continuing y’know – and I’m sort of mesmerised by this when I realise he’s looking at me He’s walking towards me and he’s saying trying to find the right fader… It was a wonderful moment because I did actually find the right levers and just moved them up a bit and he kind of smiled and winked so I obviously did the right thing…” Umbrellas went up and people huddled under tarpaulins Jimi laughed and improvised lyrics: “Yeah bad feeling,” he sang before laughing: “Yeah the weather is telling you something.” with a very cold wind,” remembers Butcher “The rain was coming in and he was standing there risking being electrocuted but just carrying on He didn’t move back from the front of the stage “From my position onstage I could see fights breaking out as Jimi approached the end of his set,” says Butcher but he was powerless to do anything about it.” the German police appeared and they basically had a gun fight with the the Hell's Angels The last two songs Hendrix ever played live were Purple Haze and a suitably stormy version of Voodoo Child (Slight Return) the final lines of the song – and the final lines that Hendrix would ever sing in public – are as follows: ‘If I don’t see you no more in this world/I’ll meet you in the next one and don’t be late David Butcher escorted them down the wooden steps at the back of the stage and they got in a helicopter bound for Hamburg.  Butcher decided it was time for him to leave too “We weren’t expecting to be paid anything for the final day All this stuff was on sale – they had guys from Holland out in the crowd clearly labelled – ‘Whatever you wanna try I suppose it was on an island and they just thought By the time we left the Angels were rampaging the stage He and one of Fotheringay’s roadies commandeered a van and piled the band’s gear inside “The bikers realised they weren’t gonna get paid and they were running amuck the German police appeared and they basically had a gun fight with these guys Our van had the windows smashed and I held up a tarpaulin so he could see while the rains came blasting in When we got to the hotel where the band was Sandy Denny gave me a big kiss for saving their stuff and they offered me a job a German anarchist rock band called Ton Steine Scherben took to the stage Infamous in Germany for songs like Keine Macht Für Niemand (No Power For No One) and Macht Kaputt Was Euch Kaputt Macht (Destroy What Destroys You) the appearance only added to their infamy: as they played To some in the audience it looked like Ton Steine Scherben had lit the match The era of Love + Peace was truly at an end on September 18 – two months short of his 28th birthday – Jimi Hendrix was dead David Butcher was “in an agent’s office somewhere in Kensington” telling him about the conversation he’d had with Jimi about playing at Keele “This guy was saying how he could liaise with Jimi’s agent and make it happen And it was at that moment that the door opened and the secretary walked in If the chaos of the preceding weeks made his death seem almost inevitable Hendrix wasn’t weary of life – just life in the Experience.  “A lot us hung out at night by the campfires backstage at Isle of Wight,” says Ford Crull “Jimi and Miles Davis were around one talking about working together – my friend heard them Jimi wanted to be taken seriously as a musician he didn’t want to play the guitar with his teeth… I think his handlers were almost forcing him to cash in Certainly Hendrix had been optimistic just days before “Something new has got to come and Jimi Hendrix will be there I don’t mean three harps and 14 violins I mean a big band full of competent musicians that I can conduct and write for And with the music we will paint pictures of earth and space so that the listener can be taken somewhere…They are getting their minds ready now getting fat and making themselves ready for the next trip.” Thanks to David Butcher and Ford Crull Many of the quotes used in this piece were collected in Tony Brown’s The Last Days Of Jimi Hendrix – thanks to Steve Jackson and Chris Charlesworth of Omnibus Press Postscript: Famously Jimi jammed with Eric Burdon on the night of his death playing guitar on a couple of song at Ronnie Scott’s The Fehmarn festival was his last scheduled performance Soundgarden's Kim Thayil names the rock and metal bands he believes should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the legendary prog band he can't believe hasn't been inducted already “I dreamed everything went wrong on stage and we all turned to dust.” Geezer Butler is having nightmares ahead of Black Sabbath's final show is a mantra for the down-but-not-out generation trying to survive in this burning shitheap of a world Adapteo Plc Insider information 2 March 2021 at 4:55 p.m which is responsible for the construction of the Fehmarn Belt tunnel that will link Denmark to the continent has chosen Adapteo to provide facilities for the extensive FLC Village in Rødbyhavn The order is the largest in Adapteo’s history and the company will supply adaptable buildings for accommodation and amenities of a total of 30,000 square meters The rental period will start in June 2021 and is forecasted to end in 2027 with a total rental value of over EUR 17 million.  The Fehmarn Belt tunnel project will be the world’s longest immersed rail and road tunnel with its 18 kilometres and is currently one of Europe’s most extensive infrastructure projects The project is expected to create job opportunities for thousands of people generating a great need for housing and recreation areas for labour connected to the project Adapteo’s organisation in Denmark will be responsible for delivering and managing an extensive village of adaptable buildings in Rødbyhavn locker rooms and canteens with a professional kitchen The village is called FLC village and will contain 30,000 square metres of space The rental period will start in June 2021 and is forecasted to end in 2027 Adapteo estimates that 30 percent of the total area of 30,000 square meters will be delivered in 2021.  – Being part of this immense infrastructural project that connects parts of Europe together with being able to secure a flexible way of offering high-quality housing and recreation areas for the people working on the project is I am also pleased to see that we can expand our new and important worker accommodation customer segment yet further through this project which is the largest contract in the history of Adapteo This makes us feel both excited and humbled about the task ahead is a joint venture in charge of the design and construction of the 18 kilometres immersed tunnel between Denmark and Germany and is constituted by nine international civil works companies which all have individual experience in major infrastructure projects – Adapteo was chosen for the total solution we were offering and the good layout of our buildings we have developed and optimised the design to suit all needs for daily use We are happy with the excellent cooperation throughout the process Erik Skånsberg, CFO, +46 70 264 70 35, erik.skansberg@adapteo.com This information is information that Adapteo is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation The information was submitted for publication at 4:55 p.m. CET on 2 March 2021 Adapteo is a leading flexible real estate provider in Northern Europe rent out and sell adaptable buildings for schools ​We know that our society will go through an immense change in the years to come we believe that adaptability is the best solution scale up and scale down in a matter of weeks by using a modular and circular building concept Our buildings can be used for a few days or indefinitely Adapteo is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and operates in Sweden www.adapteogroup.com  Femern Link Contractors (FLC) comprises Aarsleff (Denmark) VINCI Constructions Grands Projets (France) Solétanche-Bachy International S.A.S (France) Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG (Germany) By 2019-02-08T10:26:37 EUROPE: Denmark to Germany rail and road tunnel promoter Femern A/S has formally received a letter providing the Land of Schleswig-Holstein’s approval of the construction plan for the German elements of the project