What is happening in the UK? Is he demolished? Is it legal?

Is it true that the UKC has already begun to be demolished, and a residential complex will be built nearby? We answer the main questions about the future of the building

Since October, the SCC has been underway to prepare for reconstruction, during which the complex can be completely demolished. Activists say that they tried to cut the dome in the building, dismantled the equipment and repelled the marble lining of the lobby columns. They consider the work illegal and are afraid that the adjacent territory can be built up with residential buildings. Officially, the largest ice arena in Europe for the World Cup in hockey should appear on the site of the SKK. However, recently, the World Anti -Doping Agency has forbidden to hold sports championships in Russia. "Paper" answers the main questions about what is happening in the CCA: is it really demolished, whether the neighboring square can build up and what locals think about it.

What is happening with SKK? Is it true that they want to demolish him?

At the end of 2017, the SKA hockey club (belongs to Gazprom), which for many years was looking for a site for the team games, announced the development of the concept of reconstruction of the SCC for the ice arena. The day before, Vladimir Putin said at that time to the governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko that local authorities were “building nothing” for hockey players. In 2018, SKA signed an agreement on the reconstruction of the SCC with Smolny. The club promised to build on the site of the complex the largest ice arena in Europe for the World Hockey Championship in 2023, investing 20 billion rubles. SKA was originally offered to completely demolish the building, but later they officially abandoned this idea. In October 2019, Smolny posted the competition documentation for the reconstruction of the complex, which involves both the demolition of the construction and construction of a new building and the reconstruction of the existing facility. Reconstruction implies the creation of the arena (in the UK or in its place) with the possibility of changing the initial parameters (heights, the number of floors, area) - superstructure, restructuring, expansion of the building. That is, a potential concessionaire will be able to dismantle and replace the load -bearing structures or legally demolish the object. It is still not clear what the SCC will look like after the reconstruction. The sketch of the new stadium was represented at a meeting of the Town Planning Council in 2018 - this is an eight -story building with underground parking, shops, a hockey school and a mass skating area. However, this option was criticized by architects and citizens, calling a "bandaged glass jar" due to appearance. After the Urban Planning Committee, he said that the Council decided to "the opportunity to support the reconstruction with a change in appearance."

SKK have already begun to demolish?

Unknown. The complex stopped working in the fall of 2019. Officially, the concessionaire has not yet been appointed reconstruction, the right to build anyone has not been transferred. Accordingly, as activists note, they cannot carry out dismantling work there. In SKA they said that the restoration of the building should begin only in 2020. Nevertheless, the SCC is working on preparation for reconstruction, and the territory of the complex was fenced. Since October, photos and videos have been published on social networks, which show the destroyed halls. Activists believe that these are the consequences of dismantling. One of the workers on his page on VKontakte posted a video on which a fragment is cut out of the complex of the complex, and wrote: “Dam the dome”. Two days later, the man called the comment with a joke and deleted the video. He refuses to communicate with reporters. As the administrator of the initiative group of defenders of the UKK Larisa Lopatkina told Paper , in the fall of 2019, according to their observations, light and sound equipment was dismantled in the complex, cut off the fasteners under the dome, acoustic panels, and the marble lining of the lobby columns, the floors, and the doors were dismantled and inside, and from the lower part reinforced concrete garbage. In prove the plans to demolish the SCC, activists give the fact that in September 2019, even before the end of the survey of the building and the publication of the Smolny reconstruction project, the Stroytransgaz company President SKA Gennady Timchenko announced a competition for partial dismantling of the building. Although then she did not have the right to dispose of city property, since the SCC does not officially belong to the company. A day later, the competition was canceled, the company was not commented on the incident.

What do officials say about work in the CCC?

Smolny claims that the work inside the complex is ordered by the operator of the site itself-the State Unitary Enterprise "Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex" (the company is now eliminated ). According to officials, the building is prepared for future reconstruction. However, who is doing this is unknown. Work outside the SCC is carried out by the only participant in the competition for the reconstruction of the complex-the company "SKA-ARENA", registered in December 2017. According to SPARK, she has one employee. The company received the right to carry out earthen design and survey work around the complex at its own expense-in order to develop design documentation for the reconstruction of the SCC. As the vice-governor of St. Petersburg said Eduard Batanov, the removal of equipment from the complex should organize the city. He also stated that in order to carry out all the necessary work in the SCC by May 2023, “this must be able to”, and that “the deadlines are very, very compressed”.

Is it true that they want to build a square next to the SCC?

Back in 2017, SKA proposed to build up the territory adjacent to the SCC to cover the costs of reconstruction of the complex. Officials claim that they refused this idea, and there will be no residential buildings. The reconstruction project involves only the construction on the territory of the recreation park with a modern gaming complex for mass events and playing sports in the open air adjacent to the SCC. The project also refers to the need to build underground parking "if it is impossible to place a standard number of parking spaces in the adjacent territory." Activists do not believe the statements of officials and say that there are all conditions for development. Activist Larisa Lopatkina refers to the fact that in the Law on the General Plan of St. Petersburg, the entire neighboring territory is in the multi -storey residential area, and the square adjacent to the complex has been excluded from the list of green spaces, where construction is prohibited. Activists note that the territory and the new sports and cultural complex created for 55 years will be provided for use for profit. For this, the investor will have to invest about 25 billion rubles in the project, 10 of which the city will subsequently return. And, according to amendments to the Law of 2018, large -scale investment projects with investments of 15 billion rubles can receive land with purpose, without bidding, in exchange for transferring to the ownership of the city of the reconstructed object.

What do activists do to protect the SCC?

Since 2018, the initiative group of residents regularly conducts pickets at the SCC with a demand to stop the demolition of the building. Since the end of 2019, they have briefly overlap neighboring streets in protest: on December 1, several dozen people crossed Gagarin Avenue, interfering with travel, and stopped only after the intervention of traffic police officers. Activists cannot get inside the SCC - according to them, the workers reply that this is a private territory. Although officially the complex still belongs to the city. Activists act not only publicly. According to Lopatkina, they also wrote an appeal to the OFAS with a request to evaluate the corruption component of the reconstruction of the SCC (the department studies the situation until February 7), proposed amendments to the general plan, wrote an appeal to the president of the International Hockey Federation Rene Fasel. Activists also complain about illegal, in their opinion, work in the SCC in the police. According to Lopatkina, employees refuse to interfere with the builders, as the complex "officially decided to demolish."

Petersburg really needs a new hockey arena for the World Cup?

As the President of the International Hockey Federation Rene Fasel said in the spring, the new arena for the World Cup 2023 does not need St. Petersburg. According to him, the capacity of more than 20 thousand people - there are too many for hockey, and the fans would have enough places in the "anniversary" (6.4 thousand) or the "Ice Palace" (12.3 thousand). The head of the Union of Architects of St. Petersburg Oleg Romanov also believes that the SCC can be prepared for the World Cup 2023, without demolishing the building. Activist Larisa Lopatkina, citing a member of the expert group in the city of Joseph Rush, claims that the margin of safety at the building is large. Activists believe that the World Hockey World Cup is a “shirma” to destroy the building for the development of the adjacent territory. In December, the Executive Committee of the World Anti -Doping Agency (Vada) removed Russia from international sports competitions, including the Olympic Games and World Championships. The world hockey championship in 2023 may also prohibit. However, Smolny and SKA did not comment on whether this would affect the reconstruction of the SCC.

Why is the SCC important to residents?

SKK "Petersburg" on Yuri Gagarin Avenue was built for the Olympics in 1980. In 1984, for the first time, the Zenit champion became the USSR champion, in 1988, for the first time in the Soviet Union, the SCORPIONS group spoke. In 1994, “Goodwill Games” were held in the arena: inside four sports competitions were held at the same time - basketball, handball, gymnastics and freestyle wrestling. As stated on the SKK website, in 1988, the France Scientific and Technical Society included a complex in the five greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century-thanks to a flight of 160 meters, blocked by a thin steel shell. The list also included a tunnel near La-Channel, the Norwegian platform for oil production from the bottom of the North Sea and a transport overpass, connecting all the islands of Japan. At the same time, the SCC is not officially a monument. In 2019, the court refused to assign such a status to the complex, although this could legislatively protect the building from demolition. The main argument was that 40 years have not passed since the construction of the arena. In recent years, exhibitions, fairs and concerts were mainly held in the SCC: there they sold fur coats, exhibited cats and dogs. But there were large events: for example, in August 2019, Jennifer Lopez spoke there. At the same time, there were few sporting events in the UKC (3 out of 69 in 2018). Officially, the complex contained up to 13 thousand spectators. In the group of defenders of the SCC and the adjacent square there are 3 thousand people. Speaking about the advantages of the complex, the community administrators wrote that the SCC is an outstanding monument of the architectural and engineering thought of the Soviet period, and also has already become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg and the architectural dominant of the Moscow region.