The coal bridge in Aarhus: The man who waited 12 years for his bridge

There is a very special atmosphere that I remember from Sydhavnen when I first found my way there after moving to Aarhus 7 years ago. The old worn-out industrial buildings, a tarpaulin flapping somewhere, and not much else. It was a neighborhood you would rather not go to at night. Containers were stacked between sheds with graffiti, the old job center loomed, and above it all lay Kulbroen like a sleeping giant in concrete.

I remember taking pictures of the bridge piers. And of the iron stairs up to the small platform where you could stand and look out over the harbor, if you were brave enough to climb up there. That was one of the first things that made me fall for Aarhus. The raw and the half-finished among all the polished. Places that maybe weren't exactly made for me, but that I could be in anyway.

Today I stand in the same place, where everything has changed. TREE rises like a gigantic wooden tower above me. The Belle Guldsmeden hotel will soon be ready to receive its first guests. An orange lift is waiting between the construction fences. And in front of the old concrete bridge, between two of the pillars, Martin Thim Tømmergaard stands and smiles.

It started with a view

“I sat in my old office at Kohalen and looked over at this bridge every day,” he says. “It was kind of love at first sight.”

As we talk, we walk up the new walkway that leads from the ground at TRÆ to the deck of the Coal Bridge. The wind has died down and the sun is beating down on us with warm rays. Martin stops halfway up and smiles.
“Just a moment. I need to breathe, it’s going up a lot.”

That's how he is. Stubborn, as one should be if you stick to an idea for 12 years. But also warm, and strikingly modest for a man who has pushed one of the largest urban space projects in Aarhus onto the list of things that actually become something.

He tells of a trip to Estonia with his father in 1995, where as a boy he stood in a Russian port full of concrete settlements. That fascination has followed him ever since. When he walked on the newly opened Highline in New York in 2008, it became concrete. The idea of ​​moving through a city at a different height followed him home to Aarhus.

And so he sat there at Sydhavnen. With a view of an old coal bridge that Aarhus was about to forget. Together with Daniel Walsh, he started talking about what it could become. They officially came out with their idea in 2014.
“We started out a bit like concrete cutters,” he says, smiling broadly.

The walkway at the WOOD building.

The human scale

We continue up to the bridge itself. It stretches for just under 200 meters in total, including the new extension across Spain. Up here, it's eight meters down, and the view is exactly what I remember from back then, just with more buildings.
On the way up I see a tree standing between two of the concrete pillars. It's battered, a little uneven and completely without symmetry. And it's allowed to remain standing.

“They’re a bit battered, the old trees,” admits Martin. “They’ve had a rough time here during the construction. But they’re stronger than you think.”
It's exactly these kinds of details that elevate Kulbroen from just another construction project to something more. In a district that's growing in glass and high-rise buildings, someone has sat down and decided that the old trees should stay. That the human scale should be included.

He points towards the round, red walkway that now connects TRÆ directly to Kulbroen. Explains that the new Belle Guldsmeden will have its reception on the bridge itself instead of on the ground floor. That the Moxy hotel will also connect. That they are no longer just building next to Kulbroen, but are relating to it.

“If Kulbroen hadn't been here, those thoughts would never have arisen,” he says thoughtfully.

A place that lives all day long

And what will you experience when you visit Sydhavnen in a year?
“You come down to a square where the cafes are open. Where people are sitting outside. Both those who work here and those associated with our projects. In the evening there might be a concert inside Train. And people sit outside and eat. This will be a place that lives all day, not just from nine to four.”

It is the Coal Square he is talking about. It will open in the spring of 2027 together with the green path under the bridge, and will be, as he himself says, the heart of it all. Until then, from June 2026, you can go up to the raised promenade itself and cross Spain through the air, eight meters above the traffic.

He also mentions that they will be doing events in and around the square. Several times a month, together with the neighbors. TRÆ, Jutland Academy of Fine Arts, Aarhus Visual Arts Center, the new Porters jazz bar across the street and Birks Køkken. The entire cultural infrastructure that has already moved in before Kulbroen has even opened.
“More cultural actors have actually come here than there were before,” says Martin.

This is just the beginning of the second part.

I ask how he feels about standing here now, where the vision can suddenly be touched. And I can feel it before he answers. He seems very touched and it is clear to see the pride that shines out of him.”
“It’s a bit crazy, actually. When the bridge over Spain was put in place in February, I stood here at night and froze. It’s all just been ideas and drawings and budget negotiations. And suddenly it becomes a reality.”

Kulbroen as a cultural institution moves into the Kultårnet at Kulpladsen, and Martin follows. At the bottom there will be a café and restaurant. On the first floor there will be Kulbroen's residency program, which is a development process and workspace for professional cultural creators, artists and project developers. On the second floor Kulbroen's own organization. And at the very top there will be a public roof terrace where you can stand and look out over the entire Sydhavnen.”

“We’ve spent 10-12 years getting here,” he says. “But this is actually just the beginning of the second part,” he says, smiling a little mysteriously.
And then we walk down the red walkway, out into a Sydhavnen that is no longer as raw as I once found it. But which fortunately still has some potential. And which will have much more potential when the raised promenade opens this summer.

Facts about the coal bridge

• Location: South Harbour, Aarhus.
• Length: Almost 200 meters including the extension across Spain.
• Height: 8 meters above ground.
• Origin: Built in the 1950s as part of Midtkraft's coal and energy infrastructure. The coal bridge is today one of the few preserved traces of the former facility.
• Ideators: Martin Thim Tømmergaard and Daniel Walsh, officially came out with the vision in 2014.
• Client: Aarhus Municipality.
• Architects: Transform, Dissing+Weitling, Lendager Group, Søren Jensen Consulting Engineering Firm and Vega Landskab.

Opening in four phases

• Summer 2026: The raised promenade opens. You can walk across Spain and over to TREES.
• Autumn 2026: The Coal Tower opens with a café, *residency, office and public roof terrace.
• Spring 2027: The coal yard and the green path under the bridge open.
• Later: The eastern end is developed parallel to the new Værestedet.

*Kulbroen's residency program: a development process and workspace for professional cultural creators, artists and project developers.