Alvotech and Veritas drop plans for Hólmsheiði development

Alvotech and Veritas have withdrawn plans to build on plots in Hólmsheiði, a new business district within Reykjavik, while three other companies expect to begin construction once their plots are ready next year, mbl.is reports.

Alvotech had planned a packaging centre and cold-storage facilities for biotech drug production. Veritas intended to build a warehouse for healthcare operations. The approved building areas for their plots were more than 20,000 square metres and about 18,000 square metres, respectively. Reykjavik City Council approved the withdrawal of both plot reservations in September.

The three companies still planning to build are Ölgerðin, Parlogis and Safari hjól. Ölgerðin plans a goods and distribution centre and a water-bottling plant. Parlogis intends to build a high-tech warehouse for medicines and healthcare products. Safari, which operates ATV and off-road vehicle tours near Reykjavik, plans to build new headquarters.

The new business district has six plots. The first five were reserved for companies, and the three remaining projects are among the largest plots in the wider development area. The district extends from the horse and sheep-farming area of Almannadal eastwards above Suðurlandsvegur. Further plots are planned towards Nesjavallavegur, Hólmsheiði prison and the substation there.

Ölgerðin’s plot is the largest, at 45,614 square metres, with permission for 31,930 square metres of building space and a maximum building height of 25 metres. Parlogis has a 33,166-square-metre plot with 13,266 square metres of building space, while Safari’s plot is 13,105 square metres, with 3,932 square metres of building space. Buildings on both the Parlogis and Safari plots may be up to three storeys and 14.5 metres high.

Street names in the district’s planning proposals refer to dwarves in the Old Norse poem Völuspá. Three of the names also appear in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.