High-rise housing on the threshold of global change

Skyscrapers for the regions are not a new phenomenon, but therefore no less controversial. Of course, here you can blame the Soviet past, when cities were more accustomed to spreading out (and what, the land is still state-owned, consider it free), while capitalist colleagues tried to squeeze the maximum out of the purchased acre and pulled the building up. However, with the change of construction and the sharp rise in the cost of land in the megalopolis, high-rise buildings did not reach for the sky like your mushrooms.

The lack of a real "skyscraper" boom, despite the fact that plans of a very different nature, from adventurous to quite adequate and feasible, arise regularly, can be explained by various reasons. But all of them, one way or another, will converge to the root point: the catastrophic obsolescence of regulations and legislation.

High-rise construction has reached its "ceiling": 75 meters for residential buildings and 55 meters for public buildings. Everything that is at least a couple of meters higher is classified as high-rise buildings, which requires the development and approval of Special technical conditions for each individual "skyscraper", according to which the facility will be designed later. 

As usual, the STU approval process takes up to a year or more, and then any suddenness generated by global economic processes or the specifics of the regional market can interfere with the process. With fewer procedures, this area would have become a successful sector of the construction business long ago.

Not to say, of course, that government agencies are sitting still: last year it was announced that Glavgosexpertiza plans to open a network of branches in major cities. Russia and thus speed up the process. 

The construction community is also not sitting idly by: the first 100+ high-rise construction forum held in Yekaterinburg in September 2014 proved several facts, including the fact that builders are ready to voice their own opinions.

As a result of the forum, a roadmap and an action plan were adopted to "Improve the business climate in the construction of unique buildings and structures, including high-rise residential and public buildings." One of the main points of this map was the creation of the Center for High–Rise and Unique Competencies, a non-profit professional organization that should contribute to improving the quality, safety and economic efficiency of high-rise construction in Russia by summarizing and disclosing the best domestic and international practices in this field. 

This was discussed with the head of the Center, Marat Sharafislamov.

– Marat, tell us how the Center can influence the practice of high-altitude

construction? 

– We want to combine the efforts of the expert community to participate in the development of a regulatory framework in the field of high-rise and unique construction. Today, the main problem lies in the complexity of the formation of regulatory and technical documents that take into account the features of high-rise and ultra-tall buildings that operate equally throughout Russia. 

– So there was no such documentation until now? 

- There are temporary regional standards for urban planning design and temporary recommendations on technology and organization of construction (MGSN, MDS and TSN), but, firstly, they are valid only on the territory of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and secondly, they are advisory in nature for other regions and do not relieve them of the responsibilities of developing and approving Special Conditions. (at least for buildings in the height range of 75-100 m).

The composition of the Interdepartmental Working Group on the formation of a regulatory and technical framework for the design, construction and operation of high-rise buildings at the Central Research and Design Institute of Residential and Public Buildings (JSC TSNIIEP Housing) has now been approved. The purpose is to determine the list and main provisions of the documents being developed for the organization of a competition for the formation of codes of practice (JV) for high–rise construction. The competition will be held in the spring of 2015, and the organizations that won the competition will develop documents within the framework of the terms of reference created and agreed upon by this Interdepartmental Working Group. It includes representatives of the Central Exhibition Center and the organizing committee of the 100+ forum. If everything goes according to plan, we can receive the first regulatory documents by 2016.

– Who else joined this working group?

– There are about 50 representatives from more than 20 organizations in total: leading research and design organizations, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, representatives of state expert and supervisory authorities.

– Are representatives of construction companies included? 

– At this stage, their participation is not envisaged, in any case, the draft documents, when they are ready, will be submitted for discussion and representatives of the construction business will be given the opportunity to make their comments and suggestions. 

– Do the representatives of the Center for High-altitude Competence already have any suggestions?

- One of the main tasks for us will be to develop regulatory requirements for monofunctional buildings (residential and public) with a height of up to 100 meters and a number of floors up to 35 in such a way as to exclude the use of the institute of special technical conditions for them. 

– Nevertheless, for buildings above 100 meters, the STU procedure will remain...

– There are plans to simplify and in some ways facilitate the process of approving the STU. At the end of 2014, the FSBI "TSNIIP of the Ministry of Construction of Russia" hosted a seminar on the development and practical application of STU for design. In order to develop a unified position of the professional community on the issues identified at the seminar, it was decided to organize an Expert Group, whose main task is to finalize existing and develop new documents necessary for the development, examination and approval of special technical conditions in accordance with the established procedure. CVC specialists, having joined this group, would be able to influence the Institute of STU in a certain way.

We plan to come up with a proposal to give the status of publicly available documents to the positive conclusions of the expert council of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation on the construction of civil facilities and post the texts of the conclusions on the official website of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation. 

At the moment, the practice of building high-rise buildings has already developed, and a certain base of practical solutions has been created, developed according to the requirements of the STU. If we summarize them and make the information publicly available, this will have a positive impact on the timing and quality of the design and construction processes. 

– Why hasn't this been done before?

– You need to understand that initially the results of the examination were not public, besides, builders with experience in erecting high-rise buildings were few and far between, everyone solved their problems in their own way. The 100+ Forum has shown the urgent need to communicate, share experiences, make joint decisions, lobby for their interests, and develop further.

– The future 100+ forum was announced at the beginning of the year, can we say something about its program now?

– To begin with, the forum changed its venue, since the Hyatt Regency venue could hardly accommodate everyone, so the new forum will be held in the Yekaterinburg EXPO pavilion. Due to the expanded space, it became possible to increase the exhibition area of the forum. 

The theme of the forum was also adjusted: since it is dedicated not only to high–rise buildings, but also to unique buildings, it was decided to include in the program a group of sections and round tables for the presentation of projects for the construction and reconstruction of stadiums, the exchange of experience of representatives of companies and authorities involved in the construction of stadiums for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. I would like to note that until now, representatives of design, construction and operating organizations have not gathered at the same site.

A source: "Megapolis. THE PROS"