A Swedish court has blocked the construction of a major new Nobel Centre in Stockholm intended as the future venue for the world’s most prestigious arts and science awards.

The 1.2bn krona (£100m) brass-clad structure, designed by the British architect David Chipperfield, would harm the capital’s picturesque waterfront, a cultural heritage site, the land and environmental court ruled on Tuesday.

The scale of the building “would affect the readability of Stockholm’s historical development as a port, shipping and trading city”, the court said, and cause “significant damage” to the preservation of the old harbour site.

The project has the backing of Sweden’s wealthy Wallenberg family and the Perssons, who control H&M. The proposed building has been designed to host exhibitions and seminars as well as the annual awards ceremonies, which are currently held in Stockholm’s concert hall.

But its numerous critics include residents’ groups, political parties, heritage organisations and even the normally reserved Carl XVI Gustaf, who told Dagens Nyheter newspaper two years ago that it would be gigantic and “too dominant”.

The Swedish king, who personally presents the Nobel prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine and literature in Stockholm each year – the peace prize is presented in Oslo – would be able to see the building from the royal palace.

Ylva Lageson of Nobelhuset, the company charged with building and running the centre, said it was “disappointed with this verdict ... We believe it will be a fantastic new place and meeting point in Stockholm, so we don’t see this as the end.”

The Stockholm city councillor Jan Valeskog said the council would appeal against the ruling. The centre was “an important project that has great cultural and economic importance for the entire Stockholm region”, he said.



The council approved a scaled-back design for the 18,000 sq metre building in 2016. Opponents lodged multiple appeals, angry that the centre would replace a 140-year-old customs house and other historic harbourside buildings next to the National Museum on Blasieholmen peninsula.

The ruling comes at a difficult time for the Nobel organisation. After becoming embroiled in a wide-ranging scandal, the Swedish Academy announced this month that for the first time since 1949, no prize for literature would be awarded this year.

The academy’s surprise decision followed a rash of resignations over reports of serial sexual misconduct allegations involving the husband of one of its members, as well as accusations of financial malpractice and repeated leaks of laureates’ names.

The Nobel Foundation, which administers the estate of the dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, said the crisis had adversely affected the literature prize and its judges, and it would “put all its efforts” into restoring its damaged credibility.