Fjällbacka Quay – Winner of Stepping up Sustainability Collaborative Project 2023

Judges’ remarks: Stepping up Sustainability 2023 winner:  Municipal Initiative

“The new Fjällbacka Quay has been created through close cooperation between the community association and the municipality – it is a 100m long, easily accessible gathering place for residents and visitors. Now, in one of the municipality’s finest locations, the opportunity for larger events and celebrations has been created and boats can continue to dock. Fjällbacka Quay is a meeting place all year round, and this has been made possible as a result of the brave and sustainable decision making by Tanum Municipality.”

Total political agreement, good collaboration with business and community associations, and not least, happy, satisfied residents. The hugely successful Fjällbacka Quay is awarded the Stepping up Sustainability Award 2023 in the category ’Municipal Initiative’.

In 2017, the municipality of Tanum decided to refurbish the quayside in central Fjällbacka, which had been closed for over 20 years. Instability had made any kind of activity on the quay impossible, and the inner quay was used only as a parking space. Now, since 2022, the residents of Fjällbacka can enjoy the 100m long public space that has already been the setting for a food market and a number of other public events.

– It feels fantastic that all the effort put in is being rewarded. We are humbled by this win and thought it was an honour just to be nominated amongst such a fine group of potential winners, says Eleonor Olofsson, business developer at Tanum Municipality.

The key to this success has been good cooperation. Tanum Harbour,s the business community and the community association have all been involved, and the dialogue has been excellent throughout the five-year construction project.

– The community said ’no’ to the first proposal that we came up with. One of the objections raised was that boats would not be able to dock at the quay. We did a review and came up with a new proposal that won support in a completely different way, said Jan Larsson, CEO of Tanum Harbours, when he and the chair of the municipal board, Liselotte Fröjd, received the award at the annual West Sweden Tourist Board conference in Gothenburg on 9th November.

Now the new Fjällbacka quay can accommodate larger boats and function as a setting for all sorts of events, as well as serving as the gateway to Fjällbacka for those arriving by sea.

– Everyone involved is honoured to receive this award. It is proof that good cooperation pays off. We could have hammered out the whole project with just the middle class majority, but the fact that all parties could agree on what we should do and that the community dialogue between businesses and associations functioned so well makes this a prize for everyone in Tanum and Fjällbacka, says Liselotte Fröjd (m ), Chairman of the Municipal Board.