[jalla]

In Norway, the government protects heritage building's facade but allows for the internals to be rebuilt to modern standards.

Sometimes this makes sense as the old buildings were extraordinarily energy inefficient and preservation rules make it near impossible to insulate using modern materials. Some buildings are uninhabitable or cannot meet modern standards for environmental control yet are protected from demolition for historic reasons.

Unfortunately, the loop holes are exploited to the maximum, making a mockery of culture heritage preservation intentions. The government is responsible for many of the re-development decisions, causing the arbitrariness of architectural styles in some parts of the cities.

We've seen several buildings, in choice locations, be destroyed by "accidental" fires because of cultural heritage preservation rules.

[andrewjrhill]

I live in Oslo and I am genuinely shocked at the quality of construction here - so many corners are cut it is insane. They are not cheap either - we're talking 15k to 25k NOK per month.

My offices are in a beautiful modern well known office district / tourist hotspot and just yesterday one of the doorframes fell off the wall in the kitchen.

My own apartment is 90sqm, modern and in a well known central "expensive" part of town, was built only a few years ago, and the floor is so noticeably slanted that my bedroom cupboard door will slide open on its own from time to time.

The floorboards (whilst stunning) feel like they are built on-top of roots and boulders - the cement was clearly not levelled properly before the boards were placed.

I put a level on the kitchen counter and the bubble is obviously not centered.

On more than one occasion I have viewed apartments in Oslo where the master bedroom is so small that the property owners have to put a door on either side of the bed so you don't have to step over the bed to get out of the room. These apartments were also in the 20k NOK range.

1 in 10 apartments have ceiling lights. Apparently Norwegians really like standing lamps?

[kwhitefoot]

I have no ceiling lights in my house except for the kitchen and bathroom. Free standing lights give me a lot more flexibility and a powerful uplighter gives much better shadowless light than any ceiling light I have ever had.

I don't live in Oslo though, I don't think I could afford it. And though I work for StatNett at the moment I work remotely and only have to go in once a week or so for meetings so I don't have to deal with rush hour trains every day. But if you can put up with commuting you can find much cheaper, much bigger, places to live within quite easy commuting distance of Oslo.