Construction City in Ulven

Here they hope to be joined by Norway’s leading experts in the building, construction, recycling and property sector. Ulven, which OBOS acquired almost a year and a half ago, will be one of the largest transformation projects in Oslo in recent years and key to the development of Hovinbyen. 3,000 homes and more than 200,000 square metres of business premises will be built as part of the Ulven development. It is here that OBOS and AF Gruppen intend to create an attractive knowledge park and an outstanding learning centre for the leading experts in the building, construction and property sector.

An arena for interaction
“Together with AF Gruppen we intend to create a groundbreaking, international arena for interaction with the world’s most exciting workplaces in our sector. Here we will bring together organisations, large and small, from across the industry to boost the innovative and competitive power of the entire sector,” said the chief executive of OBOS, Daniel Kjørberg Siraj.

Both OBOS and AF Gruppen will move their head offices to Construction City once it is completed in 2023.  Construction City will provide space for incubator companies, educational institutions, consultancy firms, architect offices, property developers and contractors. The two initiative takers want to create a centre for interaction with great communal areas, so people can mix and meet, both professionally and socially, such as canteens and gyms.

“Construction City will offer the office solutions of the future and be an attractive arena for learning and development. By bringing the industry together in one place we will be able to invest in facilities and technology that promote innovation and synergies for employees and students,” said the chief executive of AF Gruppen, Morten Grongstad.

Broad industry participation
A number of actors have signed up to the initiative in connection with the establishment of Construction City. They will play an active role in shaping and developing the project and, to a varying degree, base functions and jobs in the future Construction City.
• Technical disciplines: GK Gruppen AS
• Multidisciplinary advice: Multiconsult
• Research: SINTEF
• Startup companies: StartupLab
• Recycling: Norsk Gjenvinning
• Banking and finance: DNB

“We are very pleased to be getting in on the ground floor. It is important to bring together industry breadth right from day one,” said representatives of these six organisations in a joint statement.

“At the top of our wish list now is for Oslo Met to locate its teaching environment for environmental, energy and engineering subjects here. That would enable us to really create a unique cluster, including in an international context,” concluded Daniel Kjørberg Siraj of OBOS.