What will the industrial zones of Moscow turn into?

Resource: MSK.MR7.RU

From an industrial zone to a museum and restaurant.

In the capital there are more than 200 industrial zones, they occupy 18.8 thousand hectares or 17 percent of the urban land within the old boundaries of Moscow. From a "rust belt" they turn into a "gold reserve" as there is almost nowhere to build, especially in the city center. So how are the industrial zones being developed?

Most often industrial zones are being built up with comfort and economy class housing. Sometimes, if the location allows, new business class and premium buildings can be erected.

According to Ekaterina Tein, the retail sales vice-president of the PSN Group, most of the housing (up to 20%) is built in industrial zones located in the south-east of Moscow. This is not surprising as historically the majority of Soviet industrial enterprises were located руку. The second place is occupied by the Western Administrative District where active construction processes are taking place on the former industrial areas of Ramenka district. The least amount of housing is erected in the former industrial sites of the South-West Administrative District where initially there are few such areas.

However, residential areas are not the only way to revitalize the "rust belt". Igor Pastushkov, CEO of Stadia Design Center (part of QUITE WHITE collaboration), notes that some industrial zones in Moscow were successfully reconstructed into art districts: the creative center ARMA appeared on the site of the Moscow Gas Plant, Artplay design center on the site of Manometr plant, contemporary art center Vinzavod on the site of a brewery (later - a wine factory). Even the “Golden Mile” on Bersenevskaya Embankment, where the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, elite nightclubs and restaurants have sprung up, also grew up on the site of a former industrial zone.

Another interesting feature of the development of industrial zones is the redevelopment (conversion) of industrial buildings into business centers. One of the first and most interesting such projects is the Krasnaya Roza business quarter which appeared on the site of a weaving factory. Thanks to its location, the project initially attracted enviable international tenants such as Knight Frank, Lafarge, Publicis Groupe etc. Now the territory of Krasnaya Roza is occupied by Yandex. However, it is more common for the industrial zones, if they are not built with housing and given for business or creative clusters, to attract low-paying public as tenants - development studios, artists, hipsters. They make the space popular by organizing events and exhibitions. Only after that more valuable tenants such as banks, architectural bureaus etc. come to the "reclaimed space".

According to Yulia Zubarik, head of the urban planning bureau Master’s Plan, innovative production, business incubators and technoparks are currently being developed on part of the industrial areas.

Construction is a delicate matter

Industrial land, as Dmitry Gorbik, chief project engineer at Metropolis, notes, is not the easiest to develop. Often there are contaminated soils that need to be removed, safely disposed and replaced with clean soil. It is also not uncommon for Soviet or pre-revolutionary buildings not to have any documentation which often complicates the search and relaying of utilities.

But the development of industrial zones has its advantages for construction business. It is an opportunity to develop the territory "from scratch".

– Everything that we would like to, but cannot provide for and develop in existing neighborhoods can be implemented in the industrial zone, - says Yulia Zubarik. - For us, as urban planners and architects, it is especially interesting to work with large areas.