INNOPROM-2015: about high-rise construction

The Center for High–rise Competencies together with the Non-profit Partnership SRO "Guild of Builders of the Urals" held a round table on the development of high-rise construction at the international industrial exhibition INNOPROM - 2015.

To date, 2,517 skyscrapers have been built in the world, of which only 1,410 have been built in the last 15 years. Such statistics were provided in her report by Elena Shuvalova, regional representative of the World Council on High-Rise Buildings and the Urban Environment (CTBUH, Russia). She divided the history of high-rise construction in Russia into three periods. The "Stalin Era" was the construction of Moscow's first skyscrapers in the middle of the last century, and the "Yeltsin Era" was the beginning of the Moscow City project in the late 90s. And the present period is the birth of new ambitious projects, the active construction of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings in the largest cities of the country.

The construction of high-rise buildings is most actively carried out in Moscow, and Yekaterinburg occupies a leading position in this area outside of its borders. High-rise projects have also been implemented in many major cities: Volgograd, Kazan, Grozny, Samara, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk. Why did Yekaterinburg become a kind of center for high-altitude competencies, which not only raises these issues, but also unites all participants in this market in their solution? The answer to this question was voiced in a comment by Denis Konin, an expert on high-rise construction, head of the sector of high-rise buildings and structures at the V.A. Kucherenko Central Research Institute: "Yekaterinburg is one of the few cities where a high-rise complex was designed and built entirely by local specialists. This is a very important point, because in Moscow, iconic skyscrapers are designed and built by foreign companies. And we often encounter problems in their implementation: even very good architectural concepts in construction reveal flaws in calculations. Ural builders really have high-altitude competencies, and the Center for High-altitude Competencies created in Yekaterinburg fully justifies its name. The initiative taken by the Central Exhibition Center to assist in the adoption of the regulatory and technical framework for high-rise construction in Russia will soon give the first results."

According to Sergey Lekomtsev, president of the NP SRO "Guild of Builders of the Urals", the adoption of regulatory documents will serve as a new impetus for the development of high-rise construction in the regions. The city has created the only discussion platform in Russia where industry professionals gather and share experiences. This is the International High-rise and Unique Construction Forum 100+ Forum Russia, which will be held in Yekaterinburg in September."

Summing up the meeting, Timur Abdullaev, Deputy Head of the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Land Relations Regulation, Chief Architect of the Yekaterinburg City Administration, stressed: "The most important of the practical tasks that this forum solves is the development of a regulatory framework that is currently missing so that such projects can be systematically implemented in Yekaterinburg and all over Russia."