She made parking in Copenhagen’s most modern areas 8 times more expensive than the rest of the city (read more here), tried to destroy Amager Fælled (and partly even succeeded), and failed to deliver on every promise of social housing. Not to mention Lynetteholm. Anne Skovbro will be leaving her role as CEO of By & Havn in August 2026, and she’ll get off scot-free by simply going on to run another company, Danica Ejendomme.
The news was reported by several local Copenhagen newspapers and preceded by a press release, in which the board of directors of the most hated company among Copenhagen’s citizens thanks Skovbro for her work and announces that they are looking for a new CEO. But since all parties — and especially those that citizens actually voted for — had promised a change and/or dismantling of By & Havn, we might consider this to be the first move towards a new direction.
The Lynetteholm debacle
No controversy has followed Anne Skovbro more persistently than Lynetteholm new island — Denmark’s largest ever construction project and, by many accounts, her most contested legacy. When Lynetteholm was approved by a parliamentary vote in June 2021, the decision was met with public outrage, protests and even attempted legal action.
At the groundbreaking ceremony in January 2022, Skovbro was surrounded by protesters as she and other officials symbolically shovelled Lynetteholm’s first piles of dirt. One protester even lay on the ground during the photocall in a striking act of civil resistance.
— Environmental critics, cited in public planning debate
Those opposing Lynetteholm also worry that construction is already damaging habitats and contaminating surrounding waters. By & Havn was forced to alter construction plans after protesters argued that dumping excavated soil in the city’s harbours could pollute the water and damage wildlife. Environmental organisation Klimabevægelsen even lodged a petition with the European Parliament, claiming Danish authorities broke EU law by failing to carry out an adequate environmental assessment.
Alleged silencing of Swedish Officials
Perhaps the most damaging episode of Skovbro’s tenure was the accusation that By & Havn actively tried to suppress transparency around Lynetteholm — a particularly serious charge given the company’s repeated public pledges of openness.
Email correspondence obtained by DR revealed that Swedish officials alleged By & Havn had demanded silence toward the media at a meeting of an oversight group monitoring the dumping of sludge in Køge Bay. Three Swedish environmental authorities confirmed the message: if Swedish officials were not less transparent, By & Havn would not share documents as openly as they had been doing.
Skovbro denied the allegation, but acknowledged that openness around the Lynetteholm project had been discussed at a single meeting. Parliamentary critics called it “grotesque” and accused By & Havn of actively suppressing criticism of the project.
Democratic deficit and “fake democracy”
A consistent and damning charge against Skovbro’s leadership is that By & Havn’s public engagement has been cosmetic rather than substantive. Critics pointed out that Copenhageners were never given a real opportunity to weigh in on Lynetteholm through municipal elections — the project was announced in October 2018, the law was passed in June 2021, and by the time of the 2021 municipal elections, construction had already been approved.
When By & Havn organised a citizen assembly of 66 members in an attempt to demonstrate democratic legitimacy, critics were deeply unimpressed. A spokesman for the group “The City for Citizens — Stop Lynetteholm” called it “fake democracy,” pointing out that participants could only make non-binding recommendations, with no real requirement that they would have any meaningful influence on the outcome.
— Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance), Copenhagen City Council
Skovbro’s communication style itself became a source of controversy. When politicians and citizens raised concerns about By & Havn’s development model, critics accused her of dismissing legitimate political opinions as factual errors rather than engaging with them substantively.
Radical liberal politician Emil Sloth Andersen accused Skovbro, along with the board chair and vice chair, of “authoritarian taste policing” — taking the political sphere of differing opinions and recasting it as a question of true versus false, presenting themselves as objective scientists while labelling any unwelcome views “incorrect information.”
The episode was compounded when Skovbro publicly invited Andersen twice for a meeting and a cycling tour to discuss the issues, but then declined her own invitation when he accepted — on the condition that a journalist be allowed to cover the conversation so citizens could follow along.
Too little affordable housing
Despite repeated claims to the contrary, By & Havn’s developments have consistently attracted criticism for failing to deliver sufficient affordable and social housing. Nordhavn, one of By & Havn’s flagship developments, had only 12 percent social housing at the time of the 2021 election campaign — well below the 25 percent target set by planning law. While Skovbro promised that future phases would close this gap, critics noted that this was the same promise given year after year.
The Amager Fælled plans — placing 2,500 homes on a beloved and protected green space — drew fierce public opposition and ultimately had to be downsized. This created a significant financial hole in By & Havn’s plans that the company then struggled to fill by other means, further undermining confidence in the long-term financial planning under Skovbro’s leadership.
Financial Losses
By & Havn ended 2023 with a deficit of 760 million DKK — the first loss in five years — driven primarily by write-downs on investment properties. The company wrote down the value of investment properties by 260 million DKK, or approximately two percent, reflecting a broader cooling of the Copenhagen property market.
Opposition politicians noted that the company’s new 2024–2027 business strategy entails increased debt-taking, and called the company’s finances “increasingly opaque” due to the mixing of projections across different business areas. They also warned that the state and municipality would likely need to contribute more to covering rising interest burdens caused by the Lynetteholm project and rental cost increases.
Sailors and Stakeholders Shut Out
Even smaller communities affected by Skovbro’s decisions felt brushed aside. The sailing club Sejlklubben Lynetten publicly accused Skovbro of not understanding the practical realities of sailing, pointing out that By & Havn’s proposed drawbridge for Lynetteholm has a maximum clearance of just 4.5 metres — making it impassable for approximately 85 percent of sailing boats in the area when the bridge is closed. The club’s secretary pointedly invited Skovbro to come on a sailing trip so she could experience the problem firsthand.
An Ivory Tower at the Heart of Copenhagen
Anne Skovbro leaves By & Havn to take up a post at Danica Ejendomme, managing a portfolio of roughly 40 billion DKK. Her board chair praised her professionalism and results. But for many Copenhageners — sailors, environmentalists, affordable housing advocates, Swedish civil servants and democratic watchdogs — her tenure will be remembered as the period when a publicly owned company pursued the largest construction project in Danish history while telling its critics they simply didn’t understand the facts.
Whether Lynetteholm proves to be visionary or a catastrophically expensive mistake will take decades to determine. What is already clear is that under Skovbro, By & Havn presided over a significant democratic and communicative failure — one that left large parts of the Copenhagen public feeling that decisions shaping their city for generations were made without them, and over their objections.
