Aerial view of Oslo with the fjord and the 'amphitheatre-landscape´. Right of the white new opera house the start of the Barcode-project. When finished it will stretch towards the right almost to the lake. Photo provided by Oslo S Utvikling AS (OSU).
Oslo central railway station, including the Gardermoen airport express-train terminal and the intercity bus station are located here. Most of the Oslo-region bus-, tram- and underground transport systems also interconnect in Bjørvika. Several major hotels and shopping-centres are located close by while the area is also home to many thousands of office workers.
The new development area currently under construction is located primarily between Oslo's central railway-station and the sea. Previously large parts of this area functioned as a mixture of harbours, storage-facilities and access roads. When the transformation is complete in some 10-15 years time, 7-8000 new people will be housed here. Probably more than double the number that will work there. Close to one million square-metres of new floor-space will by then have been constructed.
The area has, over many decades, been the recipient of significant levels of public investment. This, combined with its direct access to the sea and its central location, ensured that property-values in Bjørvika remain among the highest in Norway.
Most built land in Oslo is, in ownership terms, divided into relatively small plots. Contrary to patterns across the rest of the city however Bjørvika is owned by a small number of large landowners. According to their web pages, 66% of the land is, at present, owned by the Oslo Port Authority through their company HAV Eiendom AS while 34% is owned by the real-estate company and property developer Oslo S Utvikling AS (OSU). (See: www.osu.no).
OSU is a company specifically established for the development of the Barcode project in Bjørvika and is owned by three of the initiating landowners in the area; ROM Eiendom AS, Linstow AS and Entra Eiendom AS, each holding one third of the stock in OSU. Linstow is a privately owned company, while ROM (Norwegian State Railways) and Entra (Ministry for Trade and Development) are publicly owned. From 2000 onwards the Norwegian Parliament decided that public land in Norway should be developed by ordinary (publicly owned) profit-making companies.
Their landownership status makes OSU and HAV the key economic actors in Bjørvika. Through their jointly owned company Bjørvika Utvikling AS (BU) - owned 66% by HAV and 34% by OSU - they claim the "potential exists to construct approximately 900 000m² of permitted floor-space [...] within the zoning plan". OSU alone has the capability to produce 350 000m². These figures should be compared with those issued by Oslo City Council which has granted permission to build a total of 960 000 m² of new floor-space in Bjørvika.
This new infrastructure investment in Bjørvika is estimated to cost 2 billion NOK. The City of Oslo will pay 15% (300 million NOK) while the remaining 1.7 billion will be covered by the property-developers. The deal is that they shall contribute 2 500 NOK per m² of new floor-space constructed. The less they are allowed to build, the less they will contribute. If political decisions are taken which reduce the potential for new construction by more than 60 000 m2 the infrastructure agreement will lose its validity. The total level of investment in all new structures in Bjørvika is calculated to be around 30 billion NOK. Total sales-values are estimated at between 36 and 50 billion NOK (4.0 to 5.5 billion €). In other words the project displays potential returns of 20-66%.
HAV could probably sell individual building-plots for 3.5 billion NOK in Bjørvika though HAV and the Port Authority also own land in Filipstad on the western side of the city where they could perhaps make another 3.4 billion NOK (Aftenposten 09/07/07).
The sale of Sørenga, the real prime lot in the site, with regard to proximity to the sea, saw HAV reap 940 million NOK. The particular lot is 35 000 m2 or approximately one tenth of the total Björvika site. Oslo City Council gave permission to build 100 000 m² of housing on the lot.
100 000 m² of the 960 000 m² total of the new floor-space planned for Bjørvika has been set aside for culture. Norway's new national opera is already situated in the area. In addition the new Deichman Library and the new Edvard Munch museum as well as a historical museum are all likely to be situated there also.
For the remaining 860 000 m² approximately half will be made up of housing with 4500–5000 new flats constructed. Some 10% of these may be set aside for social housing. The other half will be used for offices with workplaces for 15 000–20 000 people.
The total land area in Bjørvika is approximately 700 000 m2. 40% of this will be used for covered with buildings, 20% will be for roads, tramlines and pavements and the remaining 40% will be parks and various other open spaces. The total length of the seashore will be some 3 km.
Formally speaking it is the elected City Council of Oslo that will make the final decisions on planning and building in Bjørvika while the municipal Agency for Planning and Building Services is tasked with preparing the plans and tabling the proposals.
From Barcode to gullrekke (the golden row)
The Barcode-project consists of around 10 high-rise buildings each 45-70 metres high, maximum 17 office-floors or 22 floors if housing, stretching a total length of 350 metres east-west between Oslo's Central railway station and the waterfront where the new Opera house is situated. Thus far three of the ten planned buildings have either been built or are now under construction.
The area of the Barcode-project is three times that of the opera-building. The total floor-area is 196 000 m2 of which 150 000 m2 is above ground-level. The area of the site is however 18 000 m2 or 1/11 of the total new floor-space.
By late 2008 the design of seven of these buildings was more or less finalized. The first building, the PCC headquarters (12 floors and 46 metres high) was completed in May 2008. The next, the KLP headquarters will be finished in summer 2010 – housing office space and 54 luxury apartments – (18 floors). Next in line is the Isfjellet office-building designed by Snøhetta (16 floors and 67 metres high), the Visma-building (67 metres and 17 storeys) and DnB NORs headquarters, with three towers of 15, 16 and 17 floors respectively.
One feature of interest in respect of this project is perhaps the debate on energy-reduction. In general, modern glass and steel buildings - always a popular choice for office developments – often draw heavily on energy, both for heating and cooling. To pioneer something of a counter-movement in 2005 OSU the site-owners, together with NAL, the Architectural Association of Norway, and Enova the Norwegian state's authority for energy-consumption reduction, organised a competition for the most energy-conscious new office building as a part of the Barcode-project with the added proviso that the winner should provide an example of good practice for the whole of Europe.
In the end however they appointed two winners: Norwegian architects Lund Hagem who won due to their fulfilment of the actual challenges posed but in addition the Danish architects TRANSFORM were also awarded first prize – not for their energy-solutions per se - but rather for their spectacular glass-box design! It currently remains unclear however whether either of these buildings will actually be constructed.
Sale of the first Barcode-buildings indicates that a return of up to 25% on invested capital is possible. If prices remain at this level, this could see, on the finalisation of the Barcode project, generated profits totalling 1.5 billion NOK - to be shared between the three partners in OSU namely: Entra, Linstow and ROM (Aften 11/01/07).
- Officially the Barcode-project has recently undergone a name change and should now be referred to as the 'Opera-kvarteret', explains Ellen de Vibe, head of the Municipal Planning Office.
However, when later attempting to call OSU to ask for a particular photo-montage of the Barcode-project, the receptionist replied: - Oh, you mean gullrekka - that's what we call it!
By Odd Iglebaek