Municipal manager to become first resident of Hamborg

Bragi Þór Thoroddsen, municipal manager of Fljótsdalshreppur, expects to move next spring into the first home in Hamborg, a new residential centre in Fljótsdal, mbl.is reports.

The municipality is building the country’s first home made almost entirely from Icelandic materials, primarily Icelandic timber. The building’s entire structural frame was made on site using traditional methods.

The timber came from spruce trees felled last year in Öskjuhlíð to improve flight safety around Reykjavík Airport. Tandraberg, a company in Eskifjörður, carried out the felling and transported the wood east for use. Skógarafurðir, a company in Víðivellir in Fljótsdal, then processed the timber into standard planks after becoming the first Icelandic company certified to produce structural timber.

Chief carpenter Aðalsteinn Ásmundarson is overseeing the work with two carpenters from Fljótsdal, Hörður Guðmundsson and Jón Helgason. The carpenters are pleased with the Icelandic timber and say it may be better than imported wood. They had hoped to be further along by the end of the summer, but delays in receiving imported materials slowed construction.

“It is moving forward, and the building will be weatherproof from the middle of September. At least the house is well timbered and well nailed,” Aðalsteinn said.

The walls and roof will be covered with vertical larch cladding, which Skógarafurðir will also produce from forestry resources in eastern Iceland.

Six other plots have been reserved in Hamborg, and Bragi said construction could begin on at least two of them this autumn. Over the coming weeks, a 100-square-metre concrete building will also be constructed for the district heating utility. It will also serve as an equipment shed for the municipality.

Before winter, the municipality plans to install the utility’s pipelines, complete the sewage infrastructure and connect boreholes to a collection tank for drinking water above the new residential centre.

“There is nothing dangerous about building; houses do not go anywhere. The market is what determines what happens. You also create demand by increasing supply. If you do nothing, nothing happens,” Bragi said.

He previously served as municipal manager in Súðavík, where the municipality built five homes after no new housing had been constructed there for more than 20 years. More plots were subsequently allocated, and additional homes are being prepared.

“For a municipality with no debt, there is nothing wrong with taking part in the same activity as other municipalities in the country. A new village like this, planned from the ground up, creates many opportunities,” Bragi said.