Could the Lucerne skyline soon resemble Manhattan? Not likely if you see how many people are opposed to a new high-rise planned to be built in the Kriens Mattenhof neighborhood. At 103,5 meters, it would be the 4th highest building in Switzerland; the Roche tower in Basel being the highest at 178 meters and the Allmend tower coming in at 88 meters. Usually the maximum height allowed in this neighborhood is 45 meters, the parliament has already extended that to 80 meters, but the architects are hoping to go higher. As usual it will probably be a long time before this is resolved and another high-rise „graces“ our skyline.
Height seems to be an issue even when it comes to trees. A neighborhood quarrel has been resolved between two people disputing the heights of six trees. Arguing that they had grown beyond the permitted eight meters, one neighbour asked that the landowner cut the trees down. Upon her refusal the case was taken to court. The court ruled in favour of having the offending trees felled. That trees should not be higher than eight meters isn’t a fast rule, but when buying a property it really is worth taking a good look at what has been put into the land register to avoid any nasty surprises.
Finally the Gotthard Basis Tunnel won the 2018 European Train Award. It was in tribute to it being the longest railway tunnel in the world. The tunnel took 17 years to build and is 57 kilometers long.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Saying of the day: Hopp de Bäse! Get on with it![/perfectpullquote]
