Today, Kristiansand can showcase exciting office buildings, apartment buildings and student housing made of wood. “Politicians gave us clear guidelines to ensure increased use of wood in larger buildings. We have followed up on this,” says Venke Moe, Head of Planning and Building in Kristiansand Municipality.
Clear political guidelines
In 2015, Kristiansand became a member of Nordic Cities of Wood. At the time, Kristiansand lacked major reference projects in wood, and politicians called for the use of wood in buildings.
– In 2018, there were formulations in the community section of the recently adopted municipal plan that stated that all development should be based on environmentally friendly materials and low greenhouse gas emissions, but school buildings were still being planned in concrete and steel. “The politicians didn’t like that, and the political order to increase the use of wood in larger buildings was therefore tightened,” says Venke Moe, Head of Planning and Building in Kristiansand Municipality.
– “We obtained assessments from the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization to make sure that the guidelines we wanted to use were in accordance with the Planning and Building Act. The Ministry confirmed that we had the authority to mandate the use of wood in building structures in the zoning regulations,” says Moe.
Since then, a number of exciting wooden buildings have popped up in the municipality.
Visited exciting wooden buildings
As a result of the interesting developments in Kristiansand in recent years, the Norwegian Wood Cluster recently arranged a study trip to the Kristiansand area for its members. A couple of representatives from the Innotre cluster in Agder also took part. Jørgen Tycho, architect and founder of Oslotre, was responsible for the program.
In addition to meeting Head of Planning and Building Venke Moe, the participants got to see student housing, apartment buildings and office buildings in the city of Kristiansand. They also visited Aanesland Treindustri and Vennesla Kulturhus in neighboring municipalities.
Want more study tours
Everyone found it interesting to hear the city planning manager tell the story behind the conscious wood investment in Kristiansand. Participants also expressed interest in Norwegian Wood Cluster organizing new study tours.
– The Kristiansand trip was top-notch in terms of content and included prepared and educational presentations. Both useful and inspiring. I hope there will be more study tours,” says architect and partner Jørn Reiner of Kontur Arkitekter.
– “This gave us a taste for more. There is definitely value in visiting good example buildings and, not least, meeting architects, developers and contractors to hear their assessments and experiences,” says Head of Department Eivor Slåtten, Norconsult.
– “It was interesting to visit the various buildings and make contact with both builders and contractors. In addition to the professional benefits, the trip served as a useful meeting place for new connections,” says CEO Steinar Lyseng of Vyrk Innovation.