School on a schedule

Resource: interfax-real estate

Despite the restrictions, the developers managed to put in place and open dozens of new educational institutions by September 1


Moscow. September 1. Interfax-Nedvizhimost - Epidemic is epidemic, but school is on schedule, said the head teacher of one of the capital's schools, answering a question about whether teachers expect new school buildings to open by September 1. And indeed, despite the coronavirus-related construction restrictions, developers managed to build and, most importantly, put the facilities scheduled for September 1 into operation on time. Recall, that in Moscow on September 1 this year, students will attend 18 new kindergartens and schools, which will open their doors for 2,565 preschoolers and 5,025 pupils.

"This year the situation will not be easy, we will have to guard against colds and coronavirus. Nevertheless, the education system is ready. We are building dozens of new educational institutions," the mayor of the capital said as he opened a new kindergarten as part of School № 2098 on Angarskaya str. in the Zapadnoe Degunino district.

Since the beginning of 2020, 13 educational facilities have opened. Nine more kindergartens and 19 school buildings are planned to be built by the end of the year. "Despite the restrictions caused by the spread of the coronavirus, 13 different educational facilities have opened in Moscow since the beginning of the year. In the remaining months of this year, it is planned to build another nine kindergartens and 19 schools", - told the head of the building complex Andrei Bochkarev.

He stressed that new educational facilities are being built both at the expense of investors and under city programs.

"About a third of all educational facilities in the city is being built at the expense of investors and developers under the implementation of integrated territorial development projects," Bochkarev added. For example, two schools built at the expense of investors will open their doors in the capital by September 1.

"Both schools are subject to transfer to the city property. The first of them - an educational institution for 1150 pupils as a part of the residential complex "Salaryevo Park", will be one of the largest in the city", - said the head of the department of town-planning policy of Moscow, Sergey Lyovkin.

He stressed that the school in Salaryevo with more than 21 thousand square meters is divided into zones for elementary and high school. The second school was built as part of a district developement on Rechnikov str. in Nagatinsky Zaton district. The four-story building with a total area of 9.5 thousand square meters is designed for 550 students.

Also two kindergartens built by investors will open on September 1.

"Since the beginning of 2020, 10 kindergartens with a total capacity of 1,657 places have been built and opened in Moscow at the expense of non-budgetary sources of financing. Five facilities under the terms of the contracts are to be transferred to the city. In this case, two of them will open on September 1: a kindergarten for 220 places in the residential complex "Scandinavia" in Sosenskoye settlement and a kindergarten for 220 places in the "Salaryevo Park" neighborhood, - said Levkin."Two facilities will open for children by the end of the year, and another one will take the kids probably in 2021," he added. Speaking about the new kindergarten, the press service of “A101” Group of Companies said that the kindergarten "Magic Valley" for 220 children is the seventh kindergarten built by the company in Kommunarka neighborhood and the first one on the territory of RC "Scandinavia". The building with the total floor area of 3.3 thousand square meters was put into operation in February 2020, the group's investments amounted to about 280 million rubles. In the near future next to the kindergarten "Magic Valley" “A101” Group of Companies will begin a construction of school-laboratory "Energy" for 1 325 students. The Group's investments will exceed 1.5 billion rubles. The school project was developed by the specialists of “A101” Group of Companies and the Finnish company Martela, one of Europe's recognized experts in creating effective work and educational spaces. The key specialization of the school is natural sciences. In total, since 2011 in Moscow 382 buildings of educational institutions including 284 kindergartens and 98 schools were constructed. 246 facilities were built at the expense of the city budget, 136 - at the expense of investors. It is noteworthy that educational buildings under construction in Moscow will be erected according to the developed standard, even if the building is constructed not by the city, but by a private investor.

"As city planners, we definitely take into account the current regulations for kindergartens and schools. They are fairly recent and were released in 2016-17. But since the situation changes every year, a lot of facilities are introduced, the standards must keep up with urban planning policy, so a regional norm is necessary and relevant. Moscow is developing a new regional standard for the design of social facilities, schools and kindergartens. It will allow to determine what are the surpluses and deficits in each district and neighborhood, where there is an oversupply of school places, and where, on the contrary, there is a shortage. The standard will ensure the calculation of social facilities for the future, balance the districts and reduce social tensions. This is the main innovation, which was initiated by the Department of Education of Moscow. The new regional standard has not yet been approved and has not entered into force, but, I think, by the end of the year we will move to design according to it, "- said Yulia Nurtdinova, chief project architect of the urban planning bureau Master's plan.

The northern capital is not lagging behind in school construction. According to the Committee on Education of St. Petersburg, on September 1 in the Northern capital five new schools will open: three in Nevsky district and one in Primorsky and Frunzensky districts. Schools are designed for 5 225 students. According to the press service of the government of the Leningradskaya Oblast, six schools in the region will open their doors on September 1, and three more educational institutions will be built by the end of the year.

Educational facilities are being built in other regions of the Russian Federation as well. The Komi Ministry of Education, Science and Youth Policy told Interfax that five schools will soon open their doors to children in the Republic. In September, schools will open in the Orbita neighborhood in Syktyvkar and the village of Chasovo in the Syktyvdinsky region. In total more than 2.5 thousand new places will be introduced in this way. And in the South Ural region the largest school of the region was built by September 1. The school for 1.5 thousand children will open on September 1 in a new residential neighborhood “Parkoviy” in Chelyabinsk, the press service of the city department of education told the agency "Interfax-Ural" on Monday.

"This school is the largest in the South Ural region, with an area of 29,000 square meters for 1,500 students. The uniqueness of the object is also in the creation of a forum area with a panoramic glass roof. This space is created for recreation and communication of schoolchildren and can be used for performances and other creative events", - the press-service noted. The contract for the construction of this school, that is worth more than 1 billion rubles, was signed with the city administration by the LLC "Trust Magnitostroy" in July 2018.

But not only schools are being built for September 1. Our country is long and not all children have a school near their windows. Therefore, much attention is paid to the construction and repair of access roads. Thus, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that by the beginning of the school year in Russia's regions more than 1.3 thousand km of roads leading to educational institutions will be repaired.

"Last year about 600 roads to educational institutions were repaired, this year the plan is already 800 such objects, with most of them being completed by the beginning of the school year" - the press service quotes Khusnullin. He noted that the road infrastructure will be repaired, in particular, in the Volgogradakaya and Pskovskaya Oblasts, Sochi, Republic of Udmurtia and Permskiy Kray. The press service noted that the lists of repair sites in the regions are formed with the participation of local activists, and road workers are in constant contact with the population. In the course of work at the sites they also equip crosswalks, install new traffic lights, barrier fences, road signs and apply road markings.

Speaking of which, the road should be close, but not too close.

"Schools and kindergartens should not be located near large noisy highways with unregulated traffic. From such roads they should be as far away as possible - at least 25 meters. If we are talking directly about a residential area and maintenance of this development, including social (so that parents can safely bring kids to schools and not to stand in traffic jams), necessarily the school should have an access - a street of local importance (one or two lanes). Schools can be located five meters away from such roads", - added Nurtdinova.