Lakhta center name. Gazprom Tower broke the height record

Encyclopedia of Plants 22.12.2023

Encyclopedia of Plants

Lakhta around the tower

The almost completed Lakhta Center business complex was connected to the street network. Roads leading to the skyscraper will begin to be built at the expense of the city. Only for the second stage of work - the overpass across Lakhtinskaya harbor - will they try to attract Gazprom's money.

PHOTO by Roman PIMENOV/INTERPRESS

Let us remind you: according to calculations, 11.8 thousand people will work at the Lakhta Center. In addition, 4.8 thousand visitors will pass through its doors every day. Therefore, you can’t just go there from the Primorskoye Highway. Back in 2015, a project for planning the territory near the skyscraper was approved. The construction of the tower was in full swing, and it had already, as we said, reached its maximum height.

Previously, new turnarounds were built on Primorskoe Highway for future employees and visitors of the business complex. As we have already reported, the procurement plan for this year included a competition to connect the Lakhta Center business district to the road network. And this tender was announced. The developer will be the Committee for the Development of Transport Infrastructure (CTDI). The starting price of the auction is about 1.4 billion rubles. Construction should be completed by November 2020. But some of the ramps will probably be completed earlier, so as not to delay the commissioning of the building.

According to the project developed by the Petersburg Roads company, streets bordering the Lakhta Center block will be built around it. In total, several kilometers of roads will be built. Thus, to the northeast of the skyscraper, on the site of the yacht club on the shore of Lakhtinskaya harbor, a square with a circular traffic pattern (three lanes) with a radius of 25 meters will be created. There will be two passes from the ring. A road will be built to the west parallel to the Primorskoye Highway along the territory of the Lakhta Center to Bobylskaya Street in Lakhta. The new road will be considered a street of district significance. Two more lanes will lead from it to the highway. To the south of the ring there will also be a dead-end passage of local importance. In fact, it will become the embankment of Lakhtinskaya harbor.

There are no plans for a car embankment of the Gulf of Finland along the Lakhta Center. It is planned to create a promenade here, that is, a pedestrian zone, as well as an amphitheater for holding open-air concerts. Let us remind you that earlier they promised to create not a promenade, but a full-fledged park near the bay. However, then the concept changed, and now they want to set aside only a narrow strip for walking. It was decided to allocate the western part of the Lakhta Center plot for a second multifunctional building 13 floors high. The permit for its construction was issued last summer, and it is valid until 2021.

In the future, two bridges will be built across the Lakhtinskaya harbor to the east of the ring. These are the southern and northern exits, which will lead, respectively, to Primorsky Avenue and Primorsky Highway. So far, no competition for these works has been announced. Moreover, this work is not included in the targeted investment program approved in the budget. The fact is that KRTI hopes to convince the gas monopolist to allocate money for the construction of these ramps. Such negotiations are already underway, the committee told St. Petersburg Vedomosti.

But a separate line in the city budget includes the construction of an underground pedestrian crossing in the Lakhta Center area. This tunnel is planned to be built by 2020. The concept of the skyscraper also includes a covered pedestrian bridge from the Lakhta Center to the Park of the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg. But the city is definitely not ready to take on this project, we were told earlier in Smolny.

Meanwhile, work is underway to build the extension of Shuvalovsky Prospekt to Lakhta. This highway is designed to improve the connection of the business complex with the Western High-Speed Diameter. They were in such a hurry to start work that they went to the site even before the development of the planning project was completed. They are just starting to do it. In addition, projects for the construction of new interchanges on Primorskoye Highway are still in their initial stages.

Let us add that the names of the new streets near the Lakhta Center have not yet been assigned. The skyscraper itself recently received a not very representative address on Lakhtinsky Prospekt (house No. 2, building 3). As the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex company previously told us, the construction of a 462-meter, 87-story tower and an adjacent multifunctional building should be completed in the fall of this year. However, its opening date has not yet been determined. As Glavgosexpertiza clarified, the Lakhta Center will house the “headquarters of the Gazprom group.” In addition to offices, the complex will include a planetarium, as well as sports and medical centers. A restaurant with panoramic views will open on the 75th and 76th floors of the skyscraper, and an observation deck will be installed at the top of the building, on the 83rd to 86th floors.

Comments

In fact, the height of the tower is 462.7 meters. How to understand the statement of city defenders that the tower will cover something? Blocking the view of Primorskoye Highway? View of residential development? Does this concern you? It will be visible against the background of other objects - I agree, but it will definitely not cover or dominate significant historical objects. If the house is beautiful, why strive to ensure that no one sees it? Our project is very beautiful, the time will come when everyone will be proud of it.

I saw one photoshopper. The picture showed our tower against the background of the Bronze Horseman and the caption: “See what the angle is, everything is ruined there, it’s impossible to take a photo.” I don’t know... I myself have photographed myself many times next to the Bronze Horseman, but I have never photographed the statue from the tail side. Why do people care?

- What is the most important difference between the Lakhta Center project and the notorious Okhta Center?

These are fundamentally different projects. A simple business center was designed on Okhta - a tower with office premises. In fact, it turned out to be a closed space, a thing in itself. An employee would come there, work, get everything he needs, and at the end of the working day go home.

The rest of the townspeople could go to the Okhta Center to visit the observation deck or sit in the revolving restaurant on the 74th floor.

It was not intended to create social infrastructure in the Okhta Center, but the Lakhta Center provides for a very large volume of additional functions, which, in terms of area ratio, will dominate the office component.

The main volume of offices in the Lakhta Center is located in the tower, and underneath it there will be a whole city for residents of nearby areas and tourists. The public component of the project includes sports and medical centers, shops, conference rooms, an entertaining science center for children and a planetarium.

- How did the idea with the planetarium come about?

Architects always strive to offer some kind of feature, a zest. We have several of them on our project. The idea of a planetarium was not born immediately. We were provided with a multi-light space, and we were all thinking about how to make the best use of it. We worked on this issue for a month and a half, and then - time! And the planetarium was born! A huge ball, which seemed to have been thrown at full force into the building, and it stuck to the facade. Very impressive. It will be visible both from the street and from passing cars, it will become another reason for people to come to us.

- Has the tower itself become larger than the Okhta Center project?

The tower became taller, larger in diameter, changed in shape and structure. This is a completely new project. Outwardly, there are some similarities, it seems like yes, it’s the same tower, but in fact the towers are completely different.

- Are there design differences?

The basic design diagram remained unchanged, we were only able to optimize and reduce the number of technical floors, were able to abandon some columns, and simplified the beam system. And in the Lakhta project, decisions on organizing construction have changed significantly, new technologies have been applied. Currently, we have successfully completed work on the arrangement of the pile foundation of the tower and multifunctional building. In Lakhta, bored piles with a diameter of 2 meters were laid under a high-rise building, and in Okhta, foundations in the form of barettes were provided, which are much more expensive. This became possible because the soil situation in the new location is much better. Thanks to this and other optimization solutions, we achieve good financial savings per square meter.

- What are the parameters of the tower?

The office part will occupy about 120 thousand square meters, and the total usable area will be approximately 200 thousand square meters.

The tower is an office tower, and everything connected with it is the maintenance of office premises. The top of the tower was created for public functions, there is an observation deck, a revolving restaurant and a conference room area that can be rented out for short-term rent for any events. The rest are the offices of our investor.

- Do you plan to rent out space to other companies?

Currently, everything is being done to suit the needs of the investor, but perhaps some areas will be rented out to third-party tenants.

- The project on the official website involves placing a complex of apartments in the building, will these premises also not be sold?

Not an apartment complex, but a hotel with two hundred rooms, a simple four-star hotel. Can you imagine how many business trips we have? We need to place them somewhere. This is the headquarters.

- That is, the apartments will not be purchased by anyone, including the company’s top management?

No. This is a clean hotel with its own logistics solutions, delivery and cleaning of premises. If there were apartments for sale there, we would change a lot in the project.

- Tell us about the space around the tower.

On the adjacent territory of the business district there is parking for tourist buses, there is access to the berthing structure, and a museum complex “Poltava” will appear.

The entrance lobbies in the Eastern part are intended for employees; they are decorated with a very beautiful arch, a span of 99 meters, a unique engineering structure. Business and tourist life will unfold around this arch.

From the south-eastern part of our territory, a large walking area begins, stretching along a pedestrian bridge to the park of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. The walking route will be about 8 kilometers; the issue of building a pedestrian bridge to Krestovsky Island is being considered.

The pedestrian zone is not 1.5 meter wide paths, it is a space where any events could be held, up to the May demonstrations. There is an amphitheater in the southern part of our territory.

- Can you tell me a little more about the amphitheater?

The amphitheater appeared in the project by accident. There was a very complex volumetric-spatial solution for the roof of a covered parking lot. It was necessary to create a smooth transition from the highest level of the roof to the water, and our architect proposed placing an amphitheater for 2 thousand people. We happily agreed, and we had one more “trick”.

As a result, we got a space where we can hold any events related to open air and water. We want it to be possible to watch water fountains, water shows, theatrical performances, competitions from the amphitheater...

The northern part of the territory will be used to ensure pedestrian accessibility. There will be railway platforms and a metro station. We plan to hold open-air exhibitions on Northern Square.

- The lake also appeared in the project on the official website

Is the water of the Gulf of Finland not enough for you? There was no lake, there were and are expanses of water, but this is something completely different. The water surfaces did not appear by chance. We carried out aerodynamic tests to determine the wind loads on the tower itself, as well as the comfort level of pedestrian areas.

As a result of this work, we have identified areas where very strong winds are possible due to downward air currents. We marked these zones in red on the plan, and then changed the “red” to “blue” and made a water surface there. People will not walk through these zones, and the project will have decorative and protective functions for pedestrian zones.

- How will the transfer be organized?

The metro station is expected only by 2025, so the facility will have to operate for 7 years without a metro. The transfer issue will definitely be resolved, but for now the first thing that comes to mind is to use transportation from the Staraya Derevnya and Chernaya Rechka metro stations.

The project also provides for a sufficient number of parking spaces (according to the standard, one parking space should be created for 5 employees and 1 parking space for 10 visitors, but we plan to create more parking spaces), and for tourism purposes, together with the city, a project for an interchange hub is being developed - these new Lakhta railway platforms ", intercept parking. There will also be public transport stops there. All this should be operational by 2017.

- How many people will work in the tower?

In total, about 10 thousand people will be on the territory of the complex every day: more than 5 thousand office employees and about 4 thousand visitors and tourists.

- Can you name the approximate amount of investment in the project?

I'm not involved in this issue. I only determine the validity of specific decisions. For example, we calculate the efficiency of refrigeration systems. I know how much money we will save on this. And the total cost of the project is the competence of my management.

- And if you compare it with the Okhta Center project, which project is more expensive?

This cannot be compared at all - the objects are completely different, but the cost of construction per square meter in the Lakhta Center project is lower, because the situation with the soil is different here. We were just very lucky. And the amount of usable space here is much larger.

- Will the facility be introduced in stages or in one phase?

If we had it like in the MIBC Moscow City, when the entire development is divided into separate stages of construction, each building is put into operation independently - we would be terribly happy, but with us all the buildings are a single whole of one object. The design documentation was developed without highlighting queues, without highlighting launch complexes, without highlighting construction stages.

In our project, engineering support, transport accessibility and everything else are created comprehensively; one tower cannot be put into operation. We wanted to divide it into stages, but it didn’t work out, so we will introduce everything at the same time, for which the builders thanked us very much (in quotes). We will have to put into operation all 400 thousand square meters at once. This will be a feat, because in Russia it has never happened that 400 thousand square meters were introduced at once.

- Tell us what is happening at the site now? What stage is it going on?

The work is in full swing. The piles have been completed and the excavation of the tower foundation has been completed. This colossal structure is five football fields 20 meters deep. It's so beautiful it takes your breath away. There are spacer discs, a wall in the ground, everything is massive and solid... A colossal building structure. You physically feel the work of the structures. There are people working down there, they are very small, because the height still makes itself felt. There is a bay nearby, and the pit is dry. A person who is far from construction does not fully understand how difficult it is. This is simply Beautiful with a capital B, beautiful from the point of view of human capabilities, his engineering.

"Lakhta Center" - A public and business complex is being built in Lakhta, the historical part of the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, the key object of which will be the headquarters of the state concern Gazprom.

The complex includes a skyscraper and a multifunctional building, divided by an atrium into the South and North blocks. The total area of the premises is 400 thousand m. The project is planned to be fully completed in the 3rd quarter of 2018.

The skyscraper became the northernmost in the world and the tallest in Russia and Europe, 88 meters higher than the Moscow Federation Tower skyscraper, although in terms of number of floors it is inferior to it and the 100-story Grozny skyscraper “Akhmat Tower” under construction. If we take absolute height, then the Lakhta Center ranks second among the tallest buildings in Russia and Europe, second only to the 540-meter Ostankino TV tower. The height of the building is 462 meters with 87 floors, and 118 meters are for a spire made of metal structures weighing more than 2000 tons.

The architectural design of the completed Phase 1 complex, including the tower, was developed by the design team of JSC Gorproekt under the leadership of the chief architect of the project, Philip Nikandrov, who was a co-author and chief architect of the Okhta Center project (2006-2010). The interior design of the complex is being developed by the European bureau Exclusiva Design Srl, which in 2014 won an open competition to design the interiors of public areas of the mixed-use complex.

According to the concept, the interior of the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex will be designed in a futuristic style. The glazing of the tower will be smooth, without joints or edges. Thanks to this, an original optical effect will be achieved in the form of reflected clouds rising along the wall of the building. Double-glazed windows are parallelograms and triangles (in the corners). There is no window in the glazing, since the building is equipped with a climate control system. Two buildings located on the sides of the high-rise dominant will be built with a height difference from 22 to 85 meters.

The highest point of the southern building will be distant from the tower, while that of the northern one will be on the contrary, directed towards the tower and the city. In March 2017, the first three of a future forty elevators were launched. Between the elevators there will be transfer nodes from the lower zone to the middle one, and from the middle zone to the upper one. A shuttle is also planned that will transport passengers non-stop to the observation deck.

Photos

In mid-October 2018, the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex, the construction of which began back in 2012, received permission to put into operation. The opening of the first phase of the complex, which is dominated by the tallest skyscraper in Europe, is scheduled for the end of next year, and for many more months work will be carried out at the new Gazprom headquarters on interior decoration, equipment and landscaping of the vast area. However, last summer, during the broadcasts of the 2018 World Cup matches, the world was able to see a new vertical dominant forming the panorama of modern St. Petersburg.

The silhouette of the 462-meter tower, the compositional center and main accent of the complex, is the embodied energy of flame, the symbol and logo of Gazprom. The five wings of the tower rotate by floor by 0.82 degrees relative to their centers, or about 90 degrees over the entire height. As they ascend, they decrease in size, thereby creating the silhouette of a spire, the proportions and shape of which allow it to be perceived as another city spire, stylistically not competing with the existing dominants of the historical center.

Philip Nikandrov. Photo by the Gorproekt press service

The shape of the tower is based on architectural principles laid down by the builders of ancient pyramids: the entire mass of the building is visually directed upward, concentrating at the apex point. Almost all historical vertical dominants of St. Petersburg - spiers and domes - were built according to this principle. The silhouette of the skyscraper is precisely a transitional form from a dome to a spire, with a gradual increase in the radius of curvature from an arc at the bottom to a straight line at the top. The rich plasticity of the tower facades through the organic composition of volumes gives the object dynamism, symbolizing energy and development.

The architectural and technical solutions of the Lakhta Center, on which the team of architects, designers and engineers of the Gorproekt company (general designer of the complex) have been working since 2011, are innovative in many aspects not only for Russia, but also for the whole world. The project, which does not have a single repeating (standard) floor, is technically considered one of the most complex and unique even in comparison with other mega-skyscrapers on the planet; Leaders of the global construction industry, leading contracting companies and manufacturers from Europe and Asia took part in its implementation. Solving the most complex design problems became possible only through the use of the latest BIM technologies and parametric design.

The facade solutions of the complex are especially unique. Firstly, a record amount of glass was used: the area of glazed shells is about 130 thousand square meters. m, of which 72.5 thousand sq. m on the tower. m (this is 16.5 thousand double-glazed windows). In total, more than half a million square meters of glass were used in production, and glass was used not only as a translucent shell of hanging stained-glass windows, but also as a load-bearing structural material: record-high all-glass mullion stands (more than 17 m without a single seam) provide maximum visual lightness and transparency of planar stained glass windows at the level of public spaces of the atrium.

Secondly, the latest synthetic materials were used for translucent shells, for example, ETFE film, from which the pneumatic elements (“cushions”) of the skylight in the central atrium of the stylobate part of the complex are made. This solution made it possible to significantly reduce the weight of the structure of a huge lantern with a length of more than 250 m, while avoiding the risk of icing in the winter. On the facades of stylobate buildings, energy-saving double-thread glazing is used, which provides ventilation of buffer zones in a passive mode. On the tower itself, an intelligent two-thread facade was implemented, which allows (already in active mode) to automatically ventilate the buffer zones between the two threads of the facade - in the summer it will prevent heating of the premises when the ventilation valves are open, and in winter, on the contrary, it will accumulate solar energy due to the “greenhouse effect”, reducing energy consumption for heating with closed ventilation valves.

Curved in three dimensions, the stained glass window of the outer thread is assembled from huge double-glazed windows with an area of 11 square meters. m each. All 15 petal-faces of the facade look like a single shell of glass, curved in a spiral with a 90-degree rotation over the entire height. Each glass unit in plan is bent at an angle of 0.82 degrees when cold (without the use of molds and traditional heating in an oven up to 600 degrees), which allowed saving a huge amount of energy during production. Today, this stained glass window is the largest cold-formed façade in the world by area; it broke the record of our other project - in Moscow City.

The Lakhta Center tower, however, is not only the tallest in Europe, but also the northernmost mega-skyscraper in the world. For several months a year, the 100-meter spire will be hidden in low clouds, that is, in an area of increased risk of condensation on the surfaces of its facades. Anti-icing measures are extremely important here, and the task was complicated by the fact that no one before us had built such tall buildings at such a latitude and in such a humid climate.

In winter, condensation will freeze on the surfaces of the spire in the form of ice, which can threaten the fall of fragments or entire icicles, so we have developed a unique spire anti-icing system, which is designed to combat ice accumulation on large metal surfaces. In the tower spire, the glass has been replaced with stainless steel cladding with a heating system in the cold season, and a steel mesh to control the formation of dangerous ice and icicles on the shell of the upper part of the skyscraper.

A unique façade maintenance system for cleaning and repairing stained glass or replacing double-glazed windows moves along a spiral path along a rail parallel to the façade shell. Active dynamic architectural lighting and anti-icing systems are also integrated into these rails. Special sensors will monitor when it is necessary to turn on local heating in places where ice may appear. The flashing aircraft obstacle lights at the top of the spire operate 24 hours a day and are visible to pilots of aircraft and ships from many tens of kilometers away.

Based on the totality of innovative energy-efficient solutions used in the project, the facility claims a LEED gold certificate, which makes it a national leader in terms of energy saving and respect for the environment - after all, we are talking about the headquarters of the largest energy company.

Of course, Lakhta Center is not only a tower, it is a huge complex with an area of 400 thousand square meters. m, of which the tower occupies only a third. The area of the first phase is 8 hectares, and large landscaped spaces will appear on them: three public squares, an open amphitheater with a stage against the backdrop of the bay, an entertaining science museum with a planetarium, and a multifunctional concert hall. The tower is completed by a publicly accessible observation deck in the lower space of the spire, an absolute center of attraction for tourists.

“Lakhta Center” is the urban flagship of the agglomeration practically in the center of the lagoon ring of the Gulf of Finland, surrounded by the ring highway (Ring Road) - it is in its orbit that “Greater St. Petersburg” will develop in the 21st century. And the tower on the shore of the bay, in the geometric center of this orbit, like a grandiose lighthouse, forms the sea facade of the metropolis directly opposite the passenger port, which simultaneously receives 5-7 cruise ships during the summer tourist season. And they are all met and escorted by the Lakhta Center, the symbol of modern St. Petersburg.

"Lakhta Center". Photo by the Gorproekt press service

At the end of the 2000s, a project was being worked out for the construction of the Okhta Center business district in the Krasnogvardeisky district of St. Petersburg on the Okhta Cape. In December 2010, after lengthy discussions, the city leadership decided to move the project to the outskirts of St. Petersburg - to Lakhta.

Characteristics of Lakhta Center

Building functionality

Use of “green” and energy-saving technologies

When designing the Lakhta Center, “green” and energy-saving technologies were used, such as:

double façade providing a thermal insulation layer that will reduce heating and air conditioning costs;
the use of excess heat that will be generated during the operation of equipment for heating premises;
economical infrared emitters;
presence sensors to save energy and water;
systems that monitor the maintenance of optimal temperature and humidity conditions;
“ice storage facilities” that will accumulate up to 1,000 tons of ice at night for air conditioning during the day, which will allow electricity to be consumed more evenly throughout the day and reduce costs due to the difference in day and night tariffs.

In general, the project includes about 100 technological innovations that will increase energy savings by 40% compared to buildings using standard technologies.

At the moment, architects consider the use of “green” technologies to be one of the main trends in European construction. However, among Russian developers the attitude towards green construction is cool, and large buildings built using “green” technologies are still a rarity in Russia.

The Okhta Center project was included in the list of “10 most environmentally friendly skyscrapers in the world” compiled by Consumer Energy Report. Experts believe that this status can be assigned to Lakhta Center, since the new project will provide the same, and possibly greater, energy efficiency indicators.

Transport accessibility of the project and transport solutions in the Primorsky region

At the moment, the investor and the administration of St. Petersburg have taken a number of measures to ensure transport accessibility of the Lakhta Center and solve the main transport problems of the Primorsky region. In particular, the construction of the Western High-Speed Diameter, the laying of Shuvalovsky Avenue, the “punching” of Staroderevenskaya and Mebelnaya streets, the completion of the construction of Bogatyrsky Avenue will increase the number of roads connecting the northwestern and southern parts of the Primorsky district. Together with the expansion of Primorskoye Highway in the Lakhta area from two to six lanes and the construction of an interchange at the intersection of Savushkina and Planernaya streets, the capacity of highways connecting the area with the rest of the city will double. In addition, the project plans to develop new types of transport (ground rail express and water transport) and expand existing highways and interchanges, which will enable motorists to move in any direction, bypassing the city center. A modern transport interchange at the intersection of Savushkina and Planernaya streets will allow motorists to pass through the problematic intersection without traffic lights.

The construction of new highways 32 and 49 will mark the beginning of solving the problem of traffic congestion near the Lakhtinsky Razliv. Highway 49 will take over the traffic flow moving in the Vyborg direction. Running parallel to the Ring Road, it will cross the Western High-Speed Diameter and end at Suzdalsky Prospekt. The expansion of the road lane at the traffic police post by lengthening Shuvalovsky Prospekt and the construction of a transport interchange at the intersection of Primorskoye Highway and Lakhtinsky Prospekt will finally solve the problem of transport communication in this area. Free entry and exit to the territory of the new business center will be facilitated by a new transport interchange, which has access to all major highways. These measures will make it possible to create in advance convenient transport routes connecting the future business district with the administrative center and other areas of the city. The city administration's immediate plans include the launch of a light rail line along the existing railway from Finlyandsky Station to the planned business center in Lakhta, and a new tram line from the Primorskaya metro station. There are also plans to build a new metro station in this area.

"Lakhta Center" in the context of the development of St. Petersburg

Chronology

Preparation for construction

On March 10, 2011, Gazprom acquired a plot of 140 thousand m² at 2 Lakhtinsky Prospekt for the construction of an office building. In 2007, environmentalists recommended classifying this territory as a protected zone of the Yuntolovsky Nature Reserve.

On March 18, 2011, the press service of the Okhta Public and Business Center CJSC reported that the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of St. Petersburg issued the company a document stating that there are no historical and cultural restrictions on the site in Lakhta.

In April 2011, it was announced that the architectural concept of the “Lakhta Center” will be created on the basis of the Okhta Center project, and the soils in Lakhta allow the construction of a high-rise building of a public and business center, the height of which will reach from 300 to 500 meters, significantly optimizing engineering solutions on foundations.

On June 24, 2011, the administration of the Primorsky district held public hearings on the Lakhta Center project. During the discussion of the project, Tony Kettle, director of international project design at RMJM, presented preliminary studies of the architectural concept of the Lakhta Center, as well as research data on the possible impact of a high-rise building on city panoramas. At the hearing, in addition to justifying the request for deviation from the maximum construction parameters, the possible impact of a high-rise building, when located on a site in Lakhta, on city panoramas was discussed. Most of the questions to investors were devoted to the possible impact of the high-rise dominant on the historical panoramas of the city, solving the problem of traffic jams and the development of transport infrastructure; the topic of the environmental situation in the construction area and the possible impact on the migration routes of migratory birds was also raised. According to Kommersant, participants in the hearings actively protested against the project. At the same time, many comments were submitted to the final protocol of the hearings, including on procedural violations of their conduct and the documentation presented at them.

The investor requested 500 meters for the future high-rise building. As the chief engineer of the project, Andrei Nikandrov, explained to the audience, the authorities placed heavy burdens on a plot of about 14 hectares, the possible development area of the plot was significantly reduced, so the implementation of the project is only possible upward. According to the investor’s representatives, the outlines of the tower will be visible in separate panoramas, but due to the distance from the center of more than 9 km, the silhouette of the building will not stand out among other dominant features, for example, the television tower. In addition, the investor is convinced that the impact on the ecology of the area during the implementation of the project will be minimized through the use of environmentally friendly technologies and the creation of extensive park areas. According to him, it is planned to implement a pilot energy-efficient district model at the site in Lakhta.

On July 13, 2011, a meeting of the Land Use and Development Commission (LCD) was held. Members of the KZZ had to analyze the package of documents submitted by the investor justifying the need for a “deviation” from the city Land Use and Development Rules and proof of its safety for historical city panoramas, as well as evaluate the results of public hearings. Of the 13 commission members, 3 opposed the approval of the project, 10 voted in favor. According to Kommersant, none of the commission members doubt that the investor will receive formal permission in the coming days. Commission member Sergei Malkov said that “city defenders are already ready to take legal action.” UNESCO experts have already declared the dangers of the project, and Russian experts and the public have already sent open letters of protest against the Lakhta Center to the governor, prime minister and president. The head of the Ekom center of expertise, Alexander Karpov, said that Gazprom once again openly “neglected the historical and cultural values of St. Petersburg and, together with the authorities, demonstrated an open mockery of the law.”

On October 5, 2011, it became known that Okhta ODC had identified a contractor for the development of design documentation for Lakhta Center. It became CJSC City Design Institute of Residential and Public Buildings (CJSC Gorproekt). The general design contract was concluded following open competitive negotiations. In accordance with the schedule presented by Gorproekt, a high-rise building and auxiliary structures will be designed in the spring of 2012, and two stylobate buildings will be designed in the summer. On January 26, 2012, it became known that Gazprom plans to build new marinas in the area of Lakhta Center and Krestovsky Island. A special company will be created to manage these offshore assets.

On March 16, 2012, it became known that a new Lakhta metro station is planned to be located near the Lakhta Center. According to Mikhail Petrovich, director of the Bureau of Territorial Information Systems and Urban Modeling of the city NIPIGrad, this construction was provided for in the General Development Plan of Leningrad in 1980, but is only being updated now in connection with the construction of the Lakhta Center. At the moment, the design is at an early stage, the developers expect that the exit project will be completed during 2012.

On July 4, 2012 it became known that by October 2012 the road interchange located in close proximity to the Lakhta Center will be completed. Chairman of the Committee for the Development of Transport Infrastructure Boris Murashov announced this during a press conference.

On July 18, 2012, the companies that the investor chose for engineering-geodetic and engineering-ecological surveys on the territory of future construction became known. They were OJSC Trest GRII (engineering and geodetic surveys) and LLC Design Institute Petrokhim-Technology (engineering and environmental surveys).

On August 3, 2012, the head of design at the Okhta ODC, Yulia Gulyak, stated that office space would occupy only 43% of the total area of the Lakhta Center. About a third of the area will be allocated for social facilities.

On August 17, 2012, the State Construction Supervision and Expertise Service of St. Petersburg issued Okhta ODC a permit for the construction of the first stage of the Lakhta Center, which includes a high-rise building and the adjacent stylobate part.

On August 27, at Khvoinaya St., 35, a meeting of residents of the Lakhta-Olgino municipality took place with Yulia Gulyak, head of the Lakhta Center design department, and Svetlana Gazizova, project manager for the preparation of design documentation. Representatives of the investor answered questions from meeting participants about the project itself, its layout and functionality.

On August 31, 2012, the administration of the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg held public hearings on the project for planning and surveying the Lakhta Center territory. The objects were presented to the public at the hearing. that are planned to be located on the site, a scheme of communications and transport infrastructure. In addition, representatives of the Okhta ODC answered questions from the public.

On September 12, 2012, ODC Okhta entered into an agreement with the Dubai company Arabtec Holding to perform part of the work on the zero cycle of the Lakhta Center. The company will carry out the construction of a wall in the ground and a pile field for the tower, as well as on-site work. The duration of the contract is 28 months, the cost is 95 million euros.

On October 1, 2012, the director of the Okhta ODC, Alexander Bobkov, said in an interview that the Lakhta Center will require less investment than at Okhta due to the lower cost of zero-cycle work, as well as a more favorable soil structure than at Okhta, so additional no strengthening or soil formation is required.

On November 12, 2012, Smolny approved the project for planning and surveying the Lakhta Center territory.

On November 16, 2012, the zero cycle of construction work began. The zero cycle includes work on the installation of enclosing structures of the pit, the construction of walls in the ground, as well as laying a foundation with a length of piles of 65 meters and a foundation slab at a depth of 14 m.

On December 10, 2012, a representative of the Okhta ODC stated that the total amount of investment in the construction of the Lakhta Center will be known in 2013. According to her, the estimated cost of the project will be determined in the near future and will be announced after the development of project documentation.

On December 18, 2012, a meeting of experts from the Okhta ODC with the head and residents of the municipality took place in the administration of the Lakhta Olgino municipality. On behalf of the developer, the meeting was attended by the head of the Design Department, Yulia Gulyak, and environmental specialist Tatyana Obolonskaya. The experts spoke about the environmental monitoring program that will be carried out during the construction and operation of the Lakhta Center, and announced the calculated indicators for noise and air pollution during the construction period. According to the ecologist, noise loads will not exceed the upper limit of sanitary standards. If complaints are received from residents of the area and an excess is recorded, the developer will take measures to reduce the noise level. In addition, Yulia Gulyak gave the meeting participants a copy of the project documentation with the layout of the new collector that the builders are laying for the Lakhta Center site. The project provides for connecting houses in Lakhta Olgino to the collector: points for possible connection of communications were marked on the plan.

Discussions around the project

UNESCO's opinion

UNESCO's close attention to the original project on Okhta was transferred to the Lakhta Center. On May 15, 2012, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO, Eleonora Mitrofanova, stated in an interview that the issue of building a high-rise headquarters for the Gazprom group of companies after moving the construction to Lakhta is no longer relevant for UNESCO. “As for the Lakhta Center, there is no question; the project documentation is being developed. As far as I understand, “Lakhta Center” is generally located 9 kilometers from the historical center, outside the buffer zone, so there is no need to discuss it,” she said.

During the 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held in St. Petersburg from June 22 to July 6, 2012, members of the Committee noted that the decision to move the project to Lakhta is positive for St. Petersburg. This was noted in the resolution adopted following the 36th session of the Committee. After reviewing the project, the session participants concluded that Lakhta Center will be sufficiently removed from the historical center of St. Petersburg.

On July 6, 2012, during the 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, Eleonora Mitrofanova also said that the construction of the Lakhta Center will not spoil the historical panorama of St. Petersburg. “Of course, I am now expressing my personal opinion, and it seems to me that this building will not spoil anything, will not block anything. It is planned to be built, as far as I know, very far from the city center,” she said.

On August 24, Eleonora Mitrofanova stated that the decision to build the Lakhta Center should be made only by the authorities of St. Petersburg. According to her, UNESCO does not regulate this construction, since the site is located outside the protected zone. “Everyone has this mistake, journalists write all the time: Mitrofanova and the World Heritage Committee - IF allowed something or did not allow it... This is only a question for the authorities themselves. There is simply a certain procedure for the Committee to be aware - said Eleonora Mitrofanova - Publications "The fact that "UNESCO did not allow anything" brings nothing but negative imagery. UNESCO should not allow anything, because the Lakhta Center is very far from the World Heritage Site, so the authorities can calmly resolve this issue without UNESCO." .

Officials' opinion

On April 11, 2012, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said in an interview that the Lakhta Center project could become a new symbol of the city and attract business people from all over the world.

On May 16, 2012, Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, in his annual report on the work of the government to the Legislative Assembly, noted the need to create a new business center in St. Petersburg. According to the governor, he sees three location options for such a center in the Lakhta Center, in Pulkovo and in the alluvial areas of the Marine Facade.

Opinion of developers and real estate market specialists

On October 27, 2011, a round table from the series “Territories Changing the City” was held at the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg State University, dedicated to the prospects for the development of the northern regions of St. Petersburg. Developers participating in the discussion noted that the Lakhta Center project will serve as a serious incentive for the development of these territories, in particular the Primorsky district.

On November 21-23, 2011, the “Future St. Petersburg” forum took place, one of the key topics of which was the “Lakhta Center” project. Experts highly appreciated the importance of this construction due to the need to move logistics, transport and business functions outside the historical center of St. Petersburg and to form a new business district around the Lakhta Center.

On November 24, 2011, at the round table “Development of urban areas: options and alternatives” at ENGECON, the discussion participants noted the importance of the Lakhta Center as one of the “cores” of business development in St. Petersburg and a platform for international events. “The volume of business real estate that will be put into operation and, perhaps, will serve international cooperation - from this point of view, construction would be useful,” said the head of the Department of Economics and Real Estate Management ENZHEKON Sergei Maksimov.

On March 27, 2012, during the round table “Formation of territorial strategies of the city: North of St. Petersburg,” Lakhta Center became one of the projects that played an important role in uniting the efforts of developers to develop a comprehensive development strategy for the northern outskirts of St. Petersburg.

Possible obstacles to construction

In March 2011, some possible obstacles to construction were announced:

Estimated impact on city views

In March 2011, the news site Pravda.ru conducted an analysis of the visibility of the project, provided that the parameters proposed for the Okhta Center were preserved.

On June 24, 2011, at a public hearing in the administration of the Primorsky district, the results of a computer assessment of the visual impact of the tower on the main panoramas, commissioned by the investor, were presented. According to Kommersant, they confirmed that the skyscraper will be visible against the backdrop of the Peter and Paul Fortress and other monuments. However, as a source in Smolny told Kommersant, the tower is located outside the “clear visibility” zone provided for by the city law on the regimes of cultural heritage protection zones. And the authorities may well ignore the “fuzzy appearance” when considering the issue.

On July 13, 2011, at a meeting of the Land Use and Development Commission (LLC), a video prepared based on a computer model of the visual impact of the future skyscraper on key historical panoramas was presented for the first time. A member of the commission, ZAKS deputy Sergei Malkov told the Kommersant publication that the video demonstrated an even more “shocking” interference in the most valuable panoramas than in the graphic documents - including the view of the Rostral Columns on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. One of the commission members, on condition of anonymity, told Kommersant that the Lakhta Center does not look as “monstrous” from the city center as the Okhta Center, which he and his colleagues also voted for two years ago. “Then the cats were scratching their souls, but it would not be difficult to get used to the Lakhta Center - like chimneys or a TV tower,” the official said.

However, many St. Petersburg architects, when assessing the impact of the future Lakhta Center on the panoramas of St. Petersburg, have a different opinion. In comments to journalists, many experts said that the high-rise building is unlikely to distort the historical views of the city.

Will postcard views get ruined? I don’t think you can see the tower from Palace Square. And in general, postcards now depend on the skill of the photographer. - says Evgeniy Podgornov, head of the Intercolomnium architectural studio.

According to architect Mikhail Kondiain, any opinion, even expressed by a professional, is subjective if it is not supported by serious analysis. This is especially true for the assessment of architectural objects in St. Petersburg in the conditions of its constantly changing weather.

Is Lakhta Center visible from the banks of the Neva? Occasionally - due to the weather - nothing is visible at all, and in clear weather the aerial perspective for a distance of 9 km is absolutely no obstacle. The main question is the adequacy of the analysis materials presented on the Internet. If everything is really so, then only a thin silhouette will be visible from the banks of the Neva. Is it terrible or not? On Okhta it was terrible. Here, in Lakhta, it is many, many times softer,” says Mikhail Kondiain, adviser to the Russian Academy of Architecture. “I don’t know a single person who would be annoyed by the silhouette of the Defense from the Champs-Elysees. In our country, not everyone is absolutely honest on this topic of city protection; they often use it for their own PR, without delving into all the details.

Experts are confident that preliminary forecasts of the visibility of the skyscraper will not be accurate enough in any case. In their opinion, in order to reasonably judge the impact of a building on panoramas, it must first be built.

Probably Lakhta is the best place for this kind of thing. To understand how it will look from a nine-kilometer distance, you need to build it - it is impossible to calculate this in advance, says Honored Architect of Russia Nikita Yavein.

Impact on airspace structure

After assessing the impact of the projected Lakhta Center on the structure of the airspace and flight safety in the area of the airfields of the St. Petersburg air hub, carried out by the scientific and technical company Aerotechnical Center, the North-Western Interregional Territorial Air Transport Directorate of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation) approved the construction multifunctional public and business complex "Lakhta Center".

According to the press service of the Okhta ODC, preliminary approvals from Pulkovo Airport have also been received; airfield "Levashovo" (Ministry of Defense, joint airfield); airfield "Pushkin" (Ministry of Defense, joint airfield); Gorelovo airfield; Kronstadt airfield (Ministry of Defense); airfield "Gorskaya" (Ministry of Defense), as well as LLC "Air Gate of the Northern Capital" and the scientific and educational institution "St. Petersburg Aviation Club ROSTO".

Public opinion polls

Public acceptance

On November 22, 2011, RBC awarded Okhta ODC the title of Company of the Year for developing dialogue between business and society. According to the expert jury, this award is the result of “the investor’s willingness to find a flexible solution that would combine the interests of the historical city, public organizations and business.” .

On April 19, 2012, in the supplement to the Kommersant newspaper “Faces of the City,” the executive director of the Okhta ODC, Alexander Bobkov, was named among the ten top managers in St. Petersburg who are most open to dialogue with the public. According to the company’s press service, this is another confirmation of conducting a constructive dialogue with the public, government and business community.

Statements about the project

Alexander Bobkov, director of the Okhta ODC: “We consider our project as an integral work of architectural art, as a single whole. You may or may not like it very much, but you cannot cut or shred it. We also hope that our object will become a symbol. The symbol is not cut. It’s like with a flag: you could probably make it without red, so that nothing would remind you of the past, but then it would no longer be a symbol. Our project is a symbol that something significant is happening in Russia, and not only in Moscow. A symbol of the fact that St. Petersburg cannot forever remain only the city of Peter the Great, and that at the same time 5 million people lived in it, and it was the fourth largest European metropolis. A symbol of the fact that, no matter how painful it may be for us, the future of our city does not lie in industry and well-deserved production, but in new technologies in non-material sectors, science and education. A symbol of what some young people still believe in: that you can live here, you don’t have to leave; Here you can work, study, there is not only a museum here. Here we have Google and Apple, Microsoft and IBM not at the level of sellers, but at the level of developers. Here the automotive industry is not at the assembly level, but at the development level. Here finance is not at the level of salary schemes and sending money abroad, but at the level of forming and packaging investment projects. Everything that is obvious, but it’s so far away if you don’t start moving in this direction.”

Sang Dae-Kim, expert of the World Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Environment: “This is my first time in St. Petersburg. Previously, I had only seen these beautiful buildings of the great architects of the past on TV and in pictures. Now I can appreciate it with my own eyes. It’s great that you have such a historical heritage, but you need to create something new that could be shown to new generations in 200-300 years. For them, what you create today will be the same history as the architecture of the 18th-19th centuries is for us today. As for the Lakhta Center, it will not be located in the central part of the city. And this reminds me of the eastern concept of “yin-yang”: on the one hand, the historical part of the city with horizontal buildings and the water surface, on the other, the vertical, which will add its charm to the city. These two eras in the city's architecture do not compete with each other, they are at a distance. When I got acquainted with the project, I saw that the building was comfortable, its shape was modern. Previously, skyscrapers were built mainly in the form of rectangles. Now architects are trying to find original shapes - everyone is already tired of rectangles. Of course, there are always many points of view on any creation of human hands, but my personal opinion about the Lakhta Center is that it is a good project. It combines an interesting shape and modern technology. I think that over time it is quite capable of becoming a new symbol of St. Petersburg.”

Georgy Poltavchenko, the new governor of St. Petersburg is not against the construction of the Lakhta Center. He sees nothing wrong with the construction of the Lakhta Center in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg. “The main thing is that the project does not spoil the image of the city,” Poltavchenko told reporters. At the same time, he emphasized that the construction of the Gazprom tower will bring investments to the city, “which are so necessary for the economy of St. Petersburg.”

Evgeniy Elin, Chairman of the Committee for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade: Everyone has already talked about the Okhta Center and everyone knows, although this is really the path to creating a business center of the City, the path to creating a global city... We must make a transition from a compact city to some kind of more complex agglomeration. As you know, the Nevskaya Town Hall project is currently being implemented, to which the entire city administration should move. If we set the task of creating a City, and Gazprom is already building there, let’s move the entire administration there. Then City will appear automatically.

Oleg Barkov, director of Hansa SPb: Lakhta Center is the source of the city’s development as a major integrated development project for the territory. Business projects on the greenfield are a very dangerous thing, but here, again, the locomotive is Lakhta Center. Projects like the Lakhta Center in these areas must have a very powerful, strong-willed and non-offensive investor, such as Gazprom.

Mikhail Voziyanov, General Director of YIT Lentek: In my opinion, a zone is now being formed: Petrogradka, two embankments along the center of the Neva, Vyborgskaya and Petrogradskaya, then the Lakhta Center will appear. If you look along the WHSD - this is Pulkovo, then “Marine Facade” - and again we go to “Lakhta Center”. It would be reasonable to develop these two vectors as a business function. They would allow businesses to communicate normally: not travel three hours to a meeting and then three hours back.

Roman Mogilevsky, scientific director of the Social Information Agency: I think it is very important to understand who forms the request for the future. If you give the example of the Okhta Center... this is an absolutely brilliant project from the point of view of the fact that it illustrates everything that we are immersed in, our realities and problems. Nowadays, high-rise buildings are being built all over the world not because aesthetics require it, but because these are challenges to nature and society. We cannot escape the creation of an artificial environment; we will have to create an artificial environment. With this we not only offer new aesthetic values. Remember last winter, when everyone was hiding from the cold in the subway and shopping centers. This is precisely the formation and use of the artificial environment.

Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation: I would like to note that this is not an infrastructure project, but an investment project that should bring additional income to the city. The decision on it was made taking into account the results of a broad discussion among St. Petersburg residents. I hope that the optimal solution has been found. The architectural appearance of the city will not suffer, and St. Petersburg will ultimately benefit, receiving additional budget revenues to solve many social and infrastructural problems.

Mikhail Blinkin, Director of the Institute of Economics and Transport Policy, National Research University Higher School of Economics: The idea of Lakhta Center is very progressive, having many European analogues. But, really, its success lies in its implementation. Fundamentally, this should be a business center with mixed development – “mixed development”, that is, we need to try to enclose this territory so that people can live and work there.”

Gallery

Notes

Online interview with the executive director of JSC "ODC "Okhta" Alexander Bobkov - Gazeta.ru, 07.12.11
"Okhta Center" turns into "Lakhta Center"
Gazprom moved from Okhta to Lakhta
The final decision has been made to postpone the Okhta Center project
Lakhta Center will win in terms of functionality
"Lakhta Center" Energy efficiency
Creating a comfortable urban environment is the basis for the formation of cities of the future
Lakhta Center will be built using energy efficient technologies (St. Petersburg)
The English company RMJM will finalize the Lakhta Center project
The concept of the Okhta Center project is being adapted to Lakhta
Development of transport infrastructure
Developers: to transition to a polycentric development model, St. Petersburg needs a powerful pilot project for integrated business development
Developers want to build a smart city
Lakhta Center will lead the region
Expert: the sea facade of St. Petersburg will be businesslike
“Lakhta Center” - a touch of the sea facade of St. Petersburg - young architects about the Gazprom project
Gazprom acquired a new site for the Okhta Center in St. Petersburg
ODC Okhta: The parameters of the new project have not yet been determined
Environmentalists demand the creation of a protective zone of the Yuntolovsky reserve
Project for the creation of a protected area of the Yuntolovsky reserve
KGIOP allowed Gazprom to build the Okhta Center in Lakhta
The Lakhta Center will be based on a project from Okhta
The new territory for the public and business center has stronger soils, which can facilitate the construction of a high-rise dominant and reduce the cost of construction
The Primorsky District Administration held public hearings on the Lakhta Center project
He came out tall. The authorities of St. Petersburg have agreed on a 500-meter height for the Gazprom office - Kommersant newspaper, No. 127 (4668), 07.14.2011
Petersburg discussed the height of the Lakhta Center
Gorproekt will design the Lakhta Center
Gazprom will turn Lenexpo into a territory for startups and yachts
The exit from the Lakhta metro station will be located at the old traffic police post 03/16/2012 13:26
Media: In October they promise to make travel to the future Lakhta Center easier
Lakhta Center is growing on politics
Lakhta Center offices will make room
Lakhta Center was issued a construction permit
The head of the municipal municipality "Lakhta-Olgino" received a cake in the form of "corn" for his birthday.
A constructive dialogue took place at the Lakhta Center hearings
Dubai's Arabtec will be the first builder of Gazprom's skyscraper
Alexander Bobkov: Lakhta Center will cost less than Okhta Center
Smolny approved the draft layout of the Lakhta Center territory
Smolny approved the Lakhta Center layout project
The zero cycle of work begins at the Lakhta Center construction site
The cost of construction of the Lakhta Center will become known in 2013
On December 18, the administration of the municipal municipality “Lakhta-Olgino” held a regular meeting dedicated to the construction of the “Lakhta Center”
UNESCO is not inclined to change the boundaries of protection of the center of St. Petersburg
36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee
UNESCO does not see a threat to St. Petersburg in the Lakhta Center high-rise
The Lakhta Center skyscraper will decorate the panorama of St. Petersburg from the Gulf of Finland - Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO
The authorities of St. Petersburg are authorized to authorize the construction of the Lakhta Center without the approval of UNESCO - Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation
In the circle of light. Interview with Valentina Matvienko on radio "Echo of Moscow"
Poltavchenko: St. Petersburg needs a new business center and urban planning dictates
Lakhta Center stimulates the development of the northern districts of the city
Lakhta Center sets a new vector for the development of St. Petersburg
Following the business center, the administrative center may also move to Lakhta.

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