The refurbishment of the department store is designed to restore Steen & Strøm to its original identity and position. Over the last 10 - 15 years the department store has been transformed into a mixture of a department store and a shopping centre. Famous international department stores such as NK and Åhlens in Stockholm, Magasin Du Nord in Copenhagen, Harrods and Harvey Nichols in London and Galeries Lafayette in Paris have been used as a reference in the planning of the new department store.

The new department store will have 70 - 80 shops, compared with today's 50, distributed over seven floors. On the whole, the shops in the new department store will be different from and more exclusive than in a traditional Norwegian shopping centre. A number of well-known brands will have their own shops in the store. Many of them are not yet represented in Norway.

A large number of noticeable alterations will be made. Among other things, the areas round the escalators will be opened up in order to restore the famous seven-floor atrium in the middle of the building. The façade windows will also be opened up in order to make room for spectacular window displays as in the old days. The floor-to-ceiling partition walls on every floor will be removed, thus reinstating the big, open areas that are characteristic of a genuine international department store.

The Storebrand insurance company owns the building that houses Steen & Strøm. Storebrand and Steen & Strøm have carried out pilot study in close cooperation with a Swedish company, Strategisk Arkitektur.

The construction work starts on 7 June 2004 and the new department store will be competed by Christmas 2006.

For further information please contact:

District Manager Helge Opedal, Veidekke Entreprenør AS

Phone + 47 21 05 80 20

Project Manager Bjørn Einar Smith, Veidekke Entreprenør AS

Phone + 47 21 05 77 89, mobile phone + 47 95 72 03 90