Swedish Local Architect

This is for international brands and architecture studios that have a finished concept and need a local architect in the Nordics to make it buildable, compliant and approved. We become the local counterpart to your concept architect and to the authorities.

We also act as local architect for operators expanding into Sweden, Norway, Denmark or Finland who need permit documentation and code compliance handled by someone who deals with Nordic municipalities every week.

Each Nordic country sets its own building regulations — BBR from Boverket in Sweden, TEK17 in Norway, Bygningsreglementet in Denmark and the national building code in Finland — and they are enforced locally. The areas that most often force changes to an international concept are the same everywhere: fire compartmentation and escape routes, accessibility (level entrances, door widths, accessible WC), and ventilation with mandatory inspections such as the Swedish OVK.

Most projects that change the façade, the shopfront, the signage or the use of a space need a permit. Listed or culturally protected buildings — common in Gamla Stan and Östermalm, but just as much in central Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki — bring an additional antiquarian review that has to be planned for.

Permit-bound works require a certified control role, for example the Swedish kontrollansvarig, and the process runs through a technical consultation, a control plan, a final consultation and finally a completion approval before the space may be used. Nothing opens without it, in any of the four markets.

Our role is to keep the brand experience intact while getting through all of this — proposing compliant alternatives rather than simply saying no.