2012.11.04

Basically I was not going to write about aesthetics in the urban environment in my hometown Trondheim at the first place, but I have to write about a miserable granite setts paving.

In my 30 years as a landscape gardener, I've seen some strange setts paving. But the five rows with granite setts between the parking field and bicycle lanes when the "construction" of bicycle lanes in Trondheim, is the worst I have seen. The requirements which apply in the Norwegian Standard (NS3420-K22) is so emphatically neglected.

The flatness in the paving don't meets the Norwegian Standards. Setts shall be placed with the crunch gap. Gaps that come due variances in the stone is allowed. In this case you can put an entire hand between the setts, the stone will always be loose. This will be a big problem when cleaning the street with machine and also snow removal. As elementary as using a line is totally absence, the rows with setts looks like a slalom course.

To me it looks the entrepreneur have used a B-52 Stratofortress in low altitude when the granite setts are laid down. One thing is clear, the people who laid down the setts don't know what they were doing. What's even worse is that the client haven't stopped this madness, but I guess the reason is that knowledge of granite setts paving is zero also from the client. And I'm pretty sure that the contractor for the scandalous granite setts paving will be fully paid for the work, even it's not worth a Euro.

Update: 2012.11.08

It appears that the contractor have tried to fix some of the scandalous granite setts paving. It's also used lot of fine gravel to hide the mess, but poor setts paving is nothing but a poor setts paving.

You don't paint a rotten wooden wall, under the paint is still rotten. It's the same with this granite setts. It's one thing to do and that is to tear up this granite setts and let some professionals do the job.

Update: 2012.11.23

There have been some frantic and pathetic attempt to fix some of the granite setts. If this granite setts is the new standard in Trondheim, it is tragic. The city will look like a large dump after few years.

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