Haugenstua housing association has cultural heritage value. Therefore, the necessary rehabilitation will cost the residents NOK 790 million.

In the Haugenstua housing association, the need for rehabilitation has been great for many years.

Since the housing association is a cultural monument worth preserving, rehabilitation will cost NOK 790 million. This will lead to a doubling of the residents’ joint costs.

That is why Karianne Lundsbakken has launched a signature campaign to stop the process.

Karianne Lundsbakken has lived in the Haugenstua housing association since 1992. Since then she has lived in three different apartments in the same block.

She loves living there. Here, her children have grown up in a neighborhood with countless nationalities, where the neighbors have an important place in each other’s lives. Here live approx. 3,000 people, divided into 882 apartments.

But over the years it has become expensive – and it seems to be getting more expensive.

Now the housing association faces extensive and expensive rehabilitation after a backlog of maintenance. Requirements from Byantikvaren make it even more expensive.

Doubled common expenses

Haugenstua housing association is on Byantikvaren’s Yellow List. This means that the property has a cultural heritage value, which means that you must apply for permission if you want to make changes to the building.

Due to Byantikvaren’s recommendation to take as much care as possible of the original facade, the most necessary rehabilitation will be approx. NOK 150 million more expensive. The final sum will thus be NOK 790 million.

This will lead to high joint debt and doubled joint expenses for the residents.

For a three-room apartment, the costs will increase from NOK 5,497 to NOK 11,472. For a four-room apartment, it will increase from NOK 6,355 to NOK 13,263.

– People are desperate. It robs people of sleep at night – even those who manage. You love your neighbors and you wouldn’t wish this on anyone here, says Lundsbakken.

– Lucky that no one was injured

The blocks must be refurbished to make the area safe for the residents, says chairman Hassan El Messaoudi.

In 2018, several loose pieces of concrete were discovered in the facade of one of the blocks.

– There were many pieces of concrete from one to six kilos. It is lucky that no one has been injured, says Messaoudi.

To avoid just that, the board initiated a security measure for the facade. All loose concrete was removed, but the damage turned out to be greater than first thought.

The housing association found it necessary to change the facade of the blocks. When they applied for this, they were told that in that case concrete slabs corresponding to the building’s original would have to be used.

– When I saw the offer from the contractor, I got chills. It was over a billion, says Messaoudi.

NOK 170,000 in support

Then followed a long battle between the housing association and Byantikvaren. After six years Byantikvaren accepts that they can use a different facade panel on parts of the buildings.

In return, they demanded that the entire architectural expression, with details such as the size and color of stone, should be taken care of.

The price was thus NOK 790 million.

As compensation for preserving the cultural heritage, the board applied for a grant in 2022. Then they received NOK 120,000 from Byantikvaren and NOK 500,000 from the Cultural Heritage Fund. The remaining NOK 789,830,000 is distributed among the residents.

– You don’t have to be an educator to see how it affects people. All costs have increased for everyone, so they get a doubling of the joint costs on top of it all. It is inhumane.

– I am alone with the costs

Resident Karianne Lundbakken believes that it is the residents who have to pay the bill is unreasonable.

– This is a residential area, not a museum.

For her, and others with four-room flats, the joint costs will increase by almost NOK 7,000 per month. month.

– I am alone with the costs. It is not favorable. I feel like an increase eats up everything I could save, after struggling all my life.

Lundsbakken is disabled, but not the only one with a low income who lives in the Haugenstua housing association. She says that several neighbors will probably have to move because of the increased joint costs. At the same time, she points out that sales are demanding with such a high joint debt.

– A pretty facade does not put food on the table, concludes Lundsbakken.

Could defend a conservation

– If any upgrading of buildings is to be done in the cheapest way, then Oslo would look different.

That’s what antiquarian André Korsaksel at Byantikvaren says. He believes that Byantikvaren could be defended to protect the Haugenstua housing association, due to the Drabant town’s high cultural and historical value, and that it is therefore important to safeguard the architectural expression in the best possible way.

Antikvaren says that high-quality materials often cost more than other alternatives, but that Byantikvaren has not seen figures showing that the rehabilitation would have been cheaper by making other choices during the rehabilitation.

In addition, Korsaksel emphasizes that Haugenstua housing association has a large maintenance backlog, and that it would have been expensive anyway.

– Everyone who owns buildings in Norway must pay for upgrading and maintenance themselves.

He says it is sad if residents have to move because of the high costs rehabilitation will cost.

At the same time, he admits that the grant of NOK 120,000 from Byantikvaren is a drop in the ocean in view of the high costs, but points out that the housing association only applied for NOK 170,000.

– Should the municipality pick up the bill?

– I am not aware of such arrangements in Oslo municipality or the state for that matter, but they are completely free to apply for a building permit for another way of doing this, which changes the facade more.

The housing association can apply to the Planning and Building Agency to make changes to the building and go against the recommendations of Byantikvaren. In that case, however, the Planning and Building Agency will ask for an assessment from Byantikvaren, before they make their independent assessment.

– Does it have a real chance then?

– I will not speculate on that.