Carl Wilhelm ''Johnny'' Örbäck (born May 29, 1952) is a former head of the

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

division of the company HSB, who was the driving force behind the construction of Scandinavia's tallest structure "

Turning Torso Turning Torso is a neo-futurist residential skyscraper built in Malmö, Sweden, in 2005. It was the tallest building in the Nordic region until September 2022, when it was surpassed by Karlatornet in Gothenburg. Located on the Swedish side of ...

" designed by

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spaniards, Spanish-Swiss people, Swiss architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stad ...

. The immense structure was beset by construction defects since it was the first attempt to build such an unusually shaped building. Due to massive

cost overrun A cost overrun, also known as a cost increase or budget overrun, involves unexpected incurred costs. When these costs are in excess of budgeted amounts due to a value engineering underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting, they are known ...

s, Örbäck was forced out as head of the company. Many people criticized his attempt to build high-priced luxurious housing in Malmö, since it went against HSB's socialist roots. He defended it by comparing it to a Formula-1 car, which is expensive and unique but creates innovations which eventually are passed on to mass-produced cars. Likewise, he hoped Turning Torso would become the new standard in the future for middle-class homes. According to a film aired recently on the LINK channel, Örbäck was eventually forced out of the project, which experienced massive cost overruns. In 2007, Johnny Örbäck was together with another former HSB executive and a former real estate agent from

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

taken to trial on charges of fraud against HSB. On 12 December 2007, all three were sentenced to 18 months in prison, having caused HSB losses of 38 million Swedish crowns. However, when the case in 2008 was reviewed in the

appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

of Sweden, Johnny Örbäck and other parties were acquitted from all charges.

References

Swedish businesspeople 1952 births Living people {{sweden-business-bio-stub