44 projects are on the list of which schools Oslo municipality will build, expand or rehabilitate in the next few years. 39 of them are delayed compared to the initial plans. Several people point out that it is a challenge that different parts of the municipality do not talk well enough together. In the meantime, pupils have to go to school in barracks, in overcrowded schools or in schools with poor indoor climate. Three years late One of the schools at risk is a new secondary school on Økern Torg. OPEN SPACE: Planning for the new Økern square started in 2016. Still nothing has happened on the square itself. Photo: Olav Juven / news The need for a new school in one of Oslo’s fastest growing areas has been known for a long time. The school was originally supposed to be completed in 2024, but after several postponements the opening has been pushed back to 2027. The last postponement came last autumn and was due to a water main. In order to build the school, the main water main above the square must be rerouted. Last year, the municipal company that builds schools – Oslobygg – discovered that the plan to move the line did not match the plan to build the school. Then another municipal agency – namely the Water and Wastewater Agency – had pointed out since 2016 that the water main would be a challenge for the development of Økern Torg. Getting pissed off FRUSTRATED: René Brorstrøm in the action group Build secondary school on Økern. Photo: Siv Johanne Bjørkly Seglem / news – I get pissed off. It’s hair-raising that you can go on like this. They make fun of us as parents, says René Brorstrøm in the action group “Build Økern school now”. – The main problem is a crazy fragmentation of responsibility, he says. – Action paralysis Venstre’s Hallstein Bjercke believes the case is a prime example of what he believes is the main reason for all the delays. – Økern is an illustration of municipal action paralysis and governance failure. – Municipal agencies have year after year been allowed to disagree, send the matter back and forth between them and point at each other without anyone cutting through and ensuring progress, he says. CRITICAL: Deputy chairman of the city council’s culture and education committee, Hallstein Bjercke. Photo: Martin Leigland / news School needs plan When the city council presented the school needs plan for the next ten-year period in 2021, Aftenposten went through the delays school by school. news has gone through the last two updates to the schedule. The figure today is delays in 39 out of 44 projects. Bjercke says that before the red-green took over, nine out of ten schools in Oslo were built on time and at the right price. – Now nine out of ten school projects are delayed. – We have gone from being a crudely efficient municipality to almost being paralyzed in action in eight years, he says. Many chefs A number of city councils and even more municipal agencies are involved in the Økern project. A new school is only part of the plans for the square, where for many decades it was a distribution center for fruit and vegetables and a bustling life. In addition to the school, up to 1,000 homes, a nursery, a multi-purpose hall and a park will be built. Refstadbekken is to be reopened. And the main water main has to be moved, which has created a considerable headache. HOUSING: On Økern torg there could be up to 1,000 new homes in one of Oslo’s fastest growing areas. Illustration: Ghilardi + Hellsten architects Barrack schools While they wait for their own school, the Økern pupils go to Årvoll – in a barrack school. On Sunday, news told about another barracks school – at Trosterud. But neither at Trosterud is a school just a school. The planning for a new school, multi-purpose hall and cultural center started here exactly four years ago. Before that, the municipality had been working since 2016 to find out what new urban spaces and public services the Trosterud and Haugerud area would need in the future. But a new and badly needed school will not be completed until 2027. – Increasingly demanding There are many similar examples. According to the Swedish Education Agency, building new schools is becoming increasingly demanding – and exciting. There are not that many school sites left, and they are often both cramped and expensive. POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVEMENT: Bjørg Novang in the Swedish Education Agency says that the agencies should cooperate more closely. Photo: Heidi M. Skjefstad / news – Therefore, school projects must be carefully planned to ensure that we use every square meter optimally, says department director Bjørg Novang. She says that more and more projects will solve several purposes at the same time. – It requires that the municipality must work in a coordinated manner, and the agencies must cooperate more closely. Here we still have potential for improvement, says Novang. – Must speak better And that is what the city council is doing, says school councilor Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll (SV). – We are working on getting better orders for school buildings early and clarifying what kind of functions will be included early. Then we avoid that you come up with a new need at the end of a process so that it takes longer. UNDERSTAND: City council for education and knowledge, Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll (SV). Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB – And then we work on working faster and talking better across businesses, she says. She says that the most important reason for the delays is that the projects must fulfill many needs for once and that many people must have a say. – They don’t always agree, and then you have to spend time finding good solutions. – I have a great understanding that many people get frustrated when school buildings are not completed as first thought. But I would like to add that even if it takes a long time, the schools we are planning now will be really good, says Sunnuva Holmås Eidsvoll. She also says that NOK 16 billion has been set aside to build schools in Oslo over the next four years and that there is no money involved. 680,000 days For the Økern parents, that is poor consolation. – We have calculated that there are over 680,000 teaching days which will then be carried out in temporary premises far away from the local school and the local environment, says René Brorstrøm in the action group. Hallstein Bjercke does not buy the explanation that school projects have become so much more complicated. – It shows a city council that is unable to cut through and draw conclusions where the agencies only point at each other, says Bjercke.
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39 out of 44 school projects in Oslo postponed – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
