V1 and V2 Mapping: What They Mean for Your Project

A site can look clean — solid paving, mown grass, no visible trace of former operations — and still be registered as contaminated in the region’s mapping. That isn’t a contradiction. Mapping isn’t about what you can see today; it’s about what the land has historically been used for, and whether contamination has been confirmed by an actual survey. That’s why a visual inspection is never enough to determine whether a site carries a soil-contamination risk.

The decisive distinction is between V1 and V2. The difference between a suspicion and confirmed contamination sounds academic, but it changes your survey requirements, your permits, and your numbers. Get it wrong and you either budget for a cost that doesn’t exist — or overlook one that does. Here is what the two categories actually mean for a development project, and how to look up a site before you bid.

V1 vs V2 mapping: the two levels in brief

The regions map sites under the Soil Contamination Act at two levels of knowledge. They are not steps on the same scale — they express two different degrees of knowledge about the site.

Knowledge level 1 (V1) means there is a suspicion of contamination. The site has been used for an activity that experience shows may have contaminated the soil — for example a former petrol station, car repair shop, dry cleaner, machine works, gasworks, or landfill. V1 says nothing about whether contamination actually exists. It says the history gives reason to investigate more closely.

Knowledge level 2 (V2) means contamination has been confirmed. The region has documentation — typically from soil samples, borings, or analyses — that the soil or groundwater is contaminated to an extent that is relevant under the Act.

Rule of thumb: V1 is a hypothesis about the site’s past. V2 is a measured fact about its present. Never treat them as the same thing in a calculation.

A site can move from V1 to V2 if a survey confirms the contamination — or be removed from the mapping (deregistered) if the survey shows the soil is clean or that the contamination has been removed. Both movements happen on an ongoing basis, and that is precisely why you have to check the current status, not an old report.

What the mapping triggers in terms of requirements

The mapping itself is not a ban on building. But it activates a series of obligations and permit requirements that you have to factor in from the outset.

Section 8 permit for sensitive use and construction work

On a mapped site (V1 or V2) you must, as a general rule, obtain a permit from the municipality before you change the land use to a more sensitive purpose — housing, childcare facilities, public playgrounds, allotment gardens — or before you carry out construction or excavation work that affects the contaminated soil. This is the permit referred to in practice as a Section 8 permit. It can impose conditions on surveys, remediation measures, clean-up, and documentation. We cover the mechanics of the permit in more depth in how the Section 8 permit, sensitive use, and clean-up fit together when building on contaminated land.

The practical consequence: a Section 8 permit is a regulatory process with processing time, conditions, and documentation requirements. It belongs in the schedule and in the budget — not as an afterthought, but as a precondition for getting into the ground.

Survey and consultant needs

V1 typically triggers a need for a historical account and often an initial contamination survey that can confirm or rule out the suspicion. V2 means the nature and extent of the contamination must be clarified well enough to design around it — which substances, how deep, how large an area, and whether it poses a risk to the intended use. Both require an environmental consultant, and both take time before you have a number to work with.

Soil handling and notification duty

If you need to move soil from a mapped site, it is generally subject to a notification duty, and disposing of contaminated soil at an approved receiver is markedly more expensive than clean soil. It is a distinct line item that can add up on larger excavations. Note that moving soil can also be subject to a notification duty even without V1/V2 — for example in area-classified zones; we cover that in what area classification and lightly contaminated soil mean for moving soil.

V1 versus V2 in the calculation

For your economics, the difference between the two levels is real and tangible.

• A V1 site carries a risk premium, not a known cost. You don’t yet know whether there’s anything there. The right approach is to price the uncertainty: what does it cost to clarify it, and what is the realistic range if the suspicion is confirmed? Many V1 sites are deregistered after a survey — but you only know that afterwards.
• A V2 site carries a known or definable cost. Here it’s about getting the contamination sufficiently clarified to put numbers on remediation, excavation, or a membrane — and about establishing whether the use is even compatible with the contamination.

In both cases the same holds: never take a position on a mapped site without having the survey requirement and the Section 8 process in the schedule and budget. It is rarely the contamination itself that derails a deal — it’s the overlooked processing time and the uncalculated clean-up range.

Remember, too, that soil contamination is only one of several site-level risks. A site that is clean of contamination can still be exposed to flood risk, noise, or radon. See the full picture in the review of environmental and climate risk on a building site: V1/V2, flooding, noise, and radon.

How to look up a site in the mapping

You don’t have to wait for the seller’s information to form a picture. Mapping status is publicly available.

1. Danmarks Miljøportal (the Environmental Portal) — Arealinformation. Here you can search for a cadastral parcel and see whether the site is mapped at V1 or V2, and which registrations are attached to it. It is the natural first choice for a quick screening of the region’s soil-contamination map.
2. The region. It is the region that decides on and administers the mapping. If you want the underlying basis — the historical account, survey reports, analysis data — the region is who you request access to the records from. The map shows that a site is mapped; the region’s case files show why and how much.
3. The municipality. The municipality administers Section 8 permits and area classification, and can advise on the specific requirements for your intended use.

A few pitfalls that cost developers dearly:

• Mapping can cover part of the parcel. A site can be partially mapped. Always compare the location of the contamination with your intended building footprint — the contamination may lie exactly where the foundation is supposed to go, or entirely outside it.
• Status changes. A deregistration, or an upgrade from V1 to V2, may have happened after the report you’re holding was written. Verify the current status before you act.
• Neighbouring sites matter. Contamination — and contaminated groundwater in particular — does not respect parcel boundaries. A mapped neighbouring site can have implications for yours.

The rules, the rates for soil handling, and the specific conditions vary between regions and can change. Treat this review as a professional overview — and verify the specific site’s circumstances in Danmarks Miljøportal and with the region and municipality before you base a decision on it.

From lookup to decision — without compiling data manually

The manual exercise is manageable on a single site: look it up in Arealinformation, call the region, check off the history. It becomes heavy when you’re screening many candidates — and it’s precisely in the screening phase that an overlooked V2 or an unnoticed Section 8 obligation does the most damage to a calculation.

In Arcili, a site’s public circumstances are gathered at the parcel level in one place under Ejendomme (Properties): mapping status alongside BBR (the Buildings & Dwellings Register), planning status, the Land Registry, and the surrounding area. It doesn’t remove the environmental consultant or the region’s casework — the professional assessment of the extent of contamination still has to be made by a human. But it means you see the V1/V2 flag early, together with the rest of the site’s picture, so you know what to investigate further before you spend time on a candidate that doesn’t add up.

Arcili brings the public registers together into one decision basis. If you want to see how a site’s circumstances look in practice, book a walkthrough.