As you may know, last spring, we acquired Norra Manor, which is located in Järva County. Our goal is to transform this historical heritage into a self-development-oriented school.
We have now reached a significant milestone as, after a year of paperwork, we finally have the building permit in hand! This is a major step forward in realizing the project.
We would like to extend special thanks to Heli Aade, the head construction specialist from the local government of Järva County. She supported us in navigating the requirements of various organizations and the process of obtaining the building permit, which significantly expedited and simplified the entire process!
The process of applying for the building permit began last summer. For this, we had to write various projects for at least half a year – the entire house had to be drawn up to create an architectural project, we had to think through the layout of the rooms, utilities, and take into account the requirements of the fire department.
The park is under heritage protection, as is the house itself but, in the house there is not much left to protect. At one point, we looked into whether the entire house could be exempt from protection, but since this will be dealt with on a national level in a few years, the Heritage Board currently had no motivation to take on our house individually. We, on the other hand, were not willing to wait that long – the house needs action today!
From a construction standpoint, the biggest headache is the construction of the floors and heating systems, as well as the construction of the attic space on the third floor. A big question mark arises over the lighting of the attic floor because natural light does not reach that area, and skylights are restricted. But this is already a topic for the next building permit.
If you have a good solution for that, we are happy to listen!
Last week, the ground-floor windows arrived. Ordering these turned out to be more complicated than expected. We designed them based on old pictures and compared them with windows from nearby manors to ensure they fit the building's historical style and comply with the Heritage Board's requirements. For example, the pictures showed that the windows on the first floor had 20 panels and the upper floor had 6 panels. We also did some product development and designed blackout electric blinds into the windows - a solution we have never seen anywhere else.
The special design and the decision to make them from solid wood meant we had to find a small-scale manufacturer who would make the windows almost by hand. However, since making over 60 units for one manufacturer would be a very cumbersome process, we chose two service providers, one making windows for the upper floor and the other for the first floor. This makes the whole process double in speed.
Although the focus of the construction work is currently on renovation, we plan to continue organizing volunteer work events as we did last summer. We might organize some public volunteer days to interact more with the locals and contribute together to the community. The main project for this summer is probably the renovation of the manor park.
