UNESCO took up "Okhta Center"

The first meeting of the leadership of the UNESCO World Heritage Center with representatives of the co -investor of the Gazprom Neft project, which took place the other day in Moscow, did not cause the expected loud scandal. International authorities expressed the satisfaction of the openness of Russian colleagues, although in the spring it was stated that the construction of Gazprom’s headquarters on the Neva could be an occasion to exclude the historical part of St. Petersburg from the UNESCO World Heritage List .

The multifunctional complex "Okhta Center" will appear by 2016 on Malaya Okhta. The height of the main building should be at least 300 meters, and the total area? 1 million square meters. meters.

At the moment, there is only an architectural concept of the Social and Verul region Okta Center. RMJM architects must complete the work on the design of the facility by the spring of 2008 and, upon the agreement reached by the parties to familiarize with its results of UNESCO experts. True, representatives of the international organization do not specify exactly what monuments they guard, the latest documents were prepared in 1989 and are very confused.

The opinion of UNESCO representatives is not yet there, but it will be expressed in writing in the near future. "So far, dear experts have only expressed satisfaction that we do not hide anything and provide detailed data,"? said the head of KGIOP Vera Dementieva. "We conveyed to international experts our vision of the problem of readiness for dialogue,"? The vice president of GAZ? Prom oil Alexander Dybal said. According to him, to preserve the historical center of St. Petersburg, it is necessary to fill the city budget. “Construction of the“ Okhta Center ”will make it possible to free the Old City from the business load. Then it will be able to harmoniously exist in the format of the open -air museum”,? He noted. In turn, the chief architect of the Okhta Center project, Philip Nikandrov, told RBC Daily that despite the conservatism of the urban planning policy, Petersburg will undergo business attacks. "The idea of ​​spires is suitable for St. Petersburg. And another spire in the tradition of high -rise dominant will not violate the harmony of the city,"? He noted.

The vice president of the St. Petersburg Union of architects Nikita Yavein adheres to a completely different point of view. According to him, the problem of Okhta Center has already become a common place. "Now, only the lazy does not scold this project. And the inclusion of UNESCO in the discussion? Is this a political case, which only complicates everything,"? He noted.

In turn, experts note that against the backdrop of the shortage and high cost of the Earth, developers simply have no other way out of "walking into the sky." As the expert of Setl City, Vladimir Kopylov, noted, "the market needs in high -rise construction will grow." "The mass construction of high -rise buildings will begin not earlier than after 3? 5 years, when a clear market demand for such objects will be formed, and the city will create conditions for high -rise buildings,"? He noted. The head of the marketing department of the Central Real Estate Agency Mikhail Vasiliev noted that long -term investments are needed to implement such projects. "And in the context of a frequent change in the political course, risks for long -term projects increase,"? The expert notes.