Use is narrower than it looks
A plan can allow "light industry" and then limit it to environmental classes 1 to 3. If your production is class 5, the plot is out, and no register field says so. The permitted use provision is one paragraph in a PDF.
Denmark · industrial and commercial land
What can you actually build on that Danish plot?
We read the binding planning documents behind a specific plot in Denmark and give you one documented page in English: what the local plan allows, what could stop the project, and the questions to put to the municipality. Send us one plot and we check it free of charge.
- First check
- free, one plot
- Answer
- within 2 working days
- Full screening
- from DKK 9,500 excl. VAT
01The problem
The register says industry. The plan says something narrower.
Denmark publishes its planning data openly, and that is the trap. The map layer tells you a plot is zoned for business. The document behind it, a lokalplan written in Danish and sometimes adopted decades ago, is what actually binds.
The envelope is not the plot
Building envelopes, building lines, height limits and plot ratio can leave far less usable ground than the area of the parcel suggests. A hall that fits the site on paper often does not fit the envelope.
Contamination surfaces late
Danish regions map land as possibly or established contaminated, V1 and V2. Mapping triggers a permit requirement for construction and earthworks. Found early it is a negotiation point. Found late it is a delay.
We give you the plan text itself, quoted with section and page, and translated, so you can see what it says rather than what a field summarises.
02What we check
Three groups of questions, one page of answers
What the plan allows
Zone status, local plan and municipal plan framework. Permitted use, plot ratio, maximum height and environmental class, quoted verbatim from the plan with section and page, and translated into English.
What could stop you
Soil contamination mapping (V1 and V2), protected nature under section 3, conservation orders, building lines, sewerage catchment and flood risk. The things that surface late if nobody looks for them.
What it takes to proceed
Which permits the project needs, whether a rural zone permit, an exemption or a new local plan is involved, what that typically means for the timeline, and the three to five questions to put to the municipality.
Every statement carries its source and the date it was retrieved, from Plandata.dk, the cadastre, BBR and the Danish Environmental Portal. Anything we could not verify is written down as unverified rather than left out.
03How it works
Two services, one method
Free check of one plot
You send an address or a cadastral number and a line about what you intend to build. Within 2 working days you get one page in English covering the three groups above. One plot, once, no obligation.
Full screening of an area
From DKK 9,500 excl. VAT, typically 5 working days. We screen every parcel in the area you point at against your requirements and return a shortlist of 3 to 6 candidates, including land that is not on the market.
Fixed price, agreed first
The price is agreed before we start and does not depend on whether you buy. We take no commission on a transaction and we do not represent a seller.
04Send a plot
Have one plot checked, free
Write the address or the cadastral number as you have it. If you only know roughly where the land is, describe it or name the business park. The plot does not have to be for sale.
- Price
- Free and without obligation
- Answer
- Within 2 working days
- Language
- English, quoting the Danish original
- Direct
- kontakt@arealis.dk
- Phone
- +45 25 61 10 70
Arealis is an independent screening service in Denmark. We are not brokers and we do not sell land. The Danish version of this site is at arealis.dk.
05Limits
What this is not
It is a documented screening of the public planning basis, not a legal opinion and not a substitute for your advisers. Knowing where our work stops is part of what you are paying for.
Not legal planning advice
The plan document is what binds, not our reading of it. We quote it and point at what has to be confirmed by the municipality before you commit. The decision itself sits with the municipality and your lawyer.
Not a survey
No site visit, no geotechnical investigation, no soil sampling, no utility survey and no valuation. What we do is show your advisers where to spend their hours, and where they can save them.
Not an agent
We do not contact the owner, we do not negotiate and we take no commission. Ownership, price and willingness to sell are written as questions, never as claims.
06Questions
What foreign companies ask
Do you work with companies based outside Denmark?
Yes. The work is document work on Danish sources, so where you sit makes no difference. We deliver in English and quote the Danish original text, so your Danish lawyer or architect can check our reading against the source.
Can you check a plot that is not for sale?
Yes, and it is often the point. The planning basis and the registers are the same whether or not the land is marketed. A large share of the land that can carry a project has never been advertised.
What if there is no local plan for the site?
Then we look at the municipal plan framework and the zone status instead, and the answer tells you what would be required, for example a new local plan or a rural zone permit, and what that typically means for the timeline.
Is your answer binding?
No. It is a screening, not a permit. The planning basis has to be confirmed by the municipality before you commit, and the answer states where and how you do that.
Can you help with the whole establishment in Denmark?
No, and you should not pay us for it. Invest in Denmark and the regional business promotion agencies help foreign companies with establishment, and their services are free of charge. What we do is the document work on a specific piece of land, which is the part they do not do for you.
How many plots can we send for free?
One plot, once. The free check is a sample of how we work, not an ongoing service. If you have several candidates, we screen and compare them in one document at a fixed price from DKK 9,500 excl. VAT.
What happens to our information?
We use it to answer you and for nothing else. We do not contact the owner of the land and we do not pass your enquiry on. See the privacy policy, which is in Danish.
Coming across Danish planning terms in a document? The glossary of Danish planning terms explains the 57 words that keep appearing, in English.