news Rogaland and Stavanger Aftenblad have signed an agreement to move together into the planned media city at Nytorget in Sentrum. It became clear on Friday morning. The media city is planned to be ready for occupancy in less than three years, on 1 June 2025. However, this assumes that the zoning plan for the area is adopted as it currently stands. The plan is currently out for consultation. news’s district director, Marius Lillelien, says it is very good news that the agreement has been signed, but acknowledges that the new building will not be cheap to rent for news. – Stavanger is an expensive city to do business in, for completely natural reasons. It will be among the more expensive premises we have, but we have reached an agreement that we think is good, and with which we are very satisfied. Marius Lillelien, district director at news. Photo: Ole Kaland / news Kjetil Haver is sales and marketing manager at SVG Property, which together with Stavanger Utvikling KF owns the area where the media city will be located. He cannot say anything about the rental price in the project, but says there is a project cost of approximately NOK 400 million. SKETCH: This is where the new media city in Stavanger will be located. This image is a sketch. Illustration: Ghilardi + Hellsten Arkitekter – It’s a day of joy District editor of news Rogaland, Ragnar Christensen, is very happy that the agreement has now been signed. – It is a day of joy. I think this is great news. We have been working on this for several years, and finally it is ready. I am really looking forward to being a part of this downtown development project. news’s premises at Ullandhaug. Photo: Siri Bjelland Berven / news news has been in the premises at Ullandhaug for approximately 25 years. Christensen believes that a lot of good can come out of the move to the city centre. – Entering new, modern premises with new technology in an attractive place for employees is one thing. The big question is how we, together with the other media players, can develop further. GLAD: District editor at news Rogaland, Ragnar Christensen. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news In 2020, an agreement of intent on the media city was signed. Then the companies Mediafarm and Screen Story were also involved in the investment. They are no longer. – It is difficult for me to say what the specific assessments are, but we would like to have them with us today, says Christensen, but clarifies that both they and others still have the opportunity to become part of the media city. Wants to involve more actors Stavanger Aftenblad’s editor-in-chief, Kjersti Sortland, is also very pleased to have signed the agreement. – We are so happy about that. news and Aftenbladet will move into a new media city in Stavanger together in the year Stavanger turns 900. It will be good, says Sortland. And adds: – Then we hope that we will bring many more media and technology companies with us. AFTENBLADET: Kjersti Sortland, editor-in-chief of Stavanger Aftenblad. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news – Who could fit in here, together with news and Stavanger Aftenblad? – We then have several newspapers. I should have wanted both Rogaland’s Avis and more. We have to try to make ourselves beautiful and hope that they want to come and join us. The media industry can easily learn about communication from others, says Sortland. She cites, among other things, the gaming industry as an example. – They are not the enemy Schibsted’s CEO, Kristin Skogen Lund, strongly believes that both parties will benefit from the co-location. – It makes working there more exciting, it becomes easier to attract talent, you get an environment and can collaborate on certain things, such as technology development and innovation, even if you are also competitors. Kristin Skogen Lund, CEO of Schibsted. Photo: Silje Rognsvåg / news – During Arendalsuka you said that news tried to take the position of VG online. Why would you cooperate with the “enemy”? – They are not the enemy. We have Aftenposten and VG on separate floors in Oslo, we own both and they compete for the same readers. We have long experience with this. It is no problem to compete in the market and yet cooperate in a co-location. – Very important for Stavanger Dag Mossige (Ap) is acting deputy mayor in Stavanger. He thinks it is great that the agreement has now been signed, and says it could become an important part of a possible upgrade of the entire area. – It is very important for Stavanger and the region. It is an enormous central development project that will bring together and create jobs, says Mossige. – What do you think about the chances of this actually being adopted? – Out of respect for the treatment, I will wait it out, but I feel an enormous interest in finally getting up to speed on Nytorget. Basically, it has been falling into disrepair for several decades, so here we have the choice to seize the enormous chance that lies before us, or let it go. The regulatory plan for the media city is now out for consultation and the decision is scheduled to be made in the autumn.
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news and Aftenbladet sign agreement – join forces on media city in Stavanger – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
