Cultural heritage and conservation

Cultural heritage protection is about securing important cultural and historical values ​​and ensuring that historical traces are preserved – through traditional or new use. In a society that is changing rapidly, older buildings can play an important role in architectural and functional diversity, local identity, a sense of belonging, and in conveying continuity and cultural heritage to residents and visitors. We have a long tradition of working with cultural historical, protected and listed buildings. We have assisted in the renovation of some of Norway's most famous cultural historical buildings – such as the Royal Palace, Eidsvoll Building, Kongsgården and many of the country's churches – as well as many other buildings of more local value.

Green preservation = Adaptable reuse

Every day, 66 buildings are demolished and the construction industry accounts for 25 percent of the waste in Norway. Among the buildings that are demolished are also cultural historical and preservation-worthy buildings. The reason is complex, but when old buildings do not meet today's needs, the principle of "protection through use" is challenged.

We know that the most important prerequisite for preserving a building is finding a use for it. That is why we continuously work to explore the interface between development and preservation, and help our clients make decisions that provide value both for them and for society. We assist our clients in assessing how existing buildings and historic elements can be used as resources in urban development projects, using adaptive reuse or other forms of preservation. Informed decisions can contribute to financial savings, reduced material use and, not least, to creating attractive places where people thrive. When we succeed in seeing cultural heritage and the environment in context, we develop sustainable and attractive places with distinctive character and identity.

We have a broad professional community within cultural heritage protection and the cultural environment, consisting of archaeologists, architects, landscape architects and planners. Our subsidiaries LINK arkitektur and A-Lab further strengthen the professional community, with several reference projects related to the preservation, transformation and new use of listed buildings.

Our overall goal is to create value for our clients and for society, and contribute to environmentally sound and feasible solutions. Contact us, and we will tailor a team to your assignment!

Services

We work with cultural heritage and preservation at all levels, in cities, towns and sparsely populated areas. We provide a variety of services:

• Adaptive reuse
• Assessments and analyses of conservation values
• Building restoration
• Regulation plans and impact assessments
• Cultural heritage plans
• Cultural historical site analyses (DIVE)
• Technical condition assessments
• Landscape analyses – landscape character, functionality, condition, aesthetics
• Maintenance plans, conservation plans and management plans
• Communication plans
• Building practice and design guides