Office views Renovation will create thousands of new jobs in neighborhoods

Resource: Editorial Board of Rossiyskaya Gazeta Federal State Budgetary Institution
Office views Renovation will create thousands of new jobs in neighborhoods

It is no secret that the mechanism of interaction between the city and developers in renovation has not yet been determined.

Not only to the residents of the houses to be demolished, but also to the developers and other participants in the process: the municipality, which must draw into urban circulation inefficiently used areas; the designers, who will plan these areas for comfortable living for city residents; the operating companies, who will manage the new buildings; the retailers and service firms, social organizations that will "fill" these new buildings with useful functions for people. That is, in the end, to make renovation profitable for the state.


It is no secret that the mechanism of interaction between the city and the developers in renovation has not yet been defined. I believe that it could have two scenarios. The first option: the developer could allocate a part of the site it has to the city. For example, a developer is willing to give away one hectare of the 14 hectares of the area they operate (adjacent to the renovation area) free of charge for the renovation needs. The city, represented by a specialized fund, can engage in the development of this territory in accordance with the prepared master plan.


In this way, the city gets: a land site that is ready for development, a professional project for its development, and if it so desires, a contractor for its implementation - a developer with the necessary experience and competence. This scenario allows not only to save financial resources, but also to reduce the construction period. For reference, the cost of urban planning documentation is on average 1-2 percent of the cost of the entire project. Under the renovation is designed for more than two hundred sites, their number could increase, and the cost of each project of their development runs into the billions, so the benefit is obvious.


The developer also gets the opportunity to develop the rest of the site with real estate for commercial sale: new buildings, street retail properties and others. And also, of course, all the necessary social infrastructure and places of employment. It is interesting for a professional developer to develop a project of neighborhood development - in this way he is guaranteed to load his capacities for several years ahead. And these are not just house-building plants, but also the people who work on the construction site.


The Moscow authorities announced a tender for neighborhood renovation projects. In particular, an architectural and urban planning concept was developed for the pilot renovation of the quarters on Vernadsky Prospekt. The developers' task was not only to provide for the location of new houses instead of the old ones, but also to propose to the city as the developer of this territory a model that would allow to make the project needed for the city, economically sound and quickly implementable.


The cost of urban planning documentation averages 1-2 percent of the cost of the entire project


The project plans to create about 7 thousand new jobs in the area. The architects applied the well-known in urbanism principle of "kilometer zero". To put it simply, neighbourhoods should be built according to the "work where you live" principle. And not only work, but also, for example, engage in sports - all the roads under the project provide bicycle lanes. There was even developed a special bicycle route from one district park to another. The height of the buildings is mostly 8-9 floors and in some places - up to 14 floors. The houses are necessarily provided with landscaped surroundings.

What benefits will the residents of the houses to be demolished get? Inhabitants of approximately 5,300 apartments in the blocks on Vernadsky Prospekt will be subject to resettlement. They can quickly get new housing and get rid of the construction under their windows. Having studied the site, the developers of the pilot architectural and urban planning concept found an opportunity to make four waves of resettlement instead of the originally planned five. On one of the sites will be placed not a shopping center or hotel, but another apartment building. Thus, the area of the first wave of renovation will be increased by 20 thousand square meters. For the implementation of the entire project it will take at least two years less.


30 million square meters of housing are planned to be built under the renovation program in Moscow

This decision was made after surveys of local residents who expressed a desire to move quickly. The project provides for an increase ratio of 1.4, which means that residents will receive apartments that are 40 percent larger than the ones they have now. For example, the inhabitants of a one-bedroom of 30 square meters will move into housing of 42 square meters. If they want to move into a two- or three-bedroom apartment instead of a one-bedroom, they can buy additional meters from the developer at a very attractive price.


Instead of 305 thousand square meters of outdated housing being demolished, 800 thousand square meters of quality new, modern real estate will appear in the area. In order for the project to pay off, about 30 percent of it should enter the market, i.e. for sale at market prices. If the construction of the houses for the settlers and commercial new buildings will be conducted in parallel, the project could become profitable for the city.


The second option of interaction between the city and developers is also possible. The latter could pay the city not with the land but with the built square meters. According to our calculations, without affecting the economics of the project and the beginning of the "first wave" of renovation, 10-15 percent of the total volume of planned housing can be allocated for it. At the same time the city can buy out the apartments from the developer at a price not lower than the production cost (now it is about 90-100 thousand rubles per square meter).


The city has set an excellent trend by announcing a competition to select the design of the renovation quarter. The architecture of all the pilot projects submitted to the competition for renovation is of very high quality. We believe that the apartments in the new buildings should also meet modern requirements: they should be comfortable, bright, spacious, and have good views.