Leaving aside the analysis of the very idea of an artificial "innovation reserve" and its relevance for modern Russia, then the scale of the project, the concentration of intellectual and financial resources (the budget of only the first phase of the project, calculated until 2015, is 130 billion rubles), a high level and the productivity of the organizational work is certainly impressive. Leading international and domestic specialists are involved in the development of the project, and the methodology of work itself is built extremely clearly and thoughtfully. On the other hand, the established deadlines for implementation are so short that it is still very difficult to believe in their realism in Russian conditions. Let us remind you that it took six months to choose an urban planning concept (from August 2010 to February 2011), and to develop a master plan - 5 months (March - July 2011). Now, in 7 months, planning projects for individual districts and buildings should be created. The construction of the first phase will begin in May 2012 and by 2015, almost 2/3 of the innovation city will have to be built. Those. in less than 5 years a city should appear in the Moscow region, and what a city! For comparison: the second stage of the Mariinsky Theater (one single building!) Has been making for 8 years already.
The representatives of the Foundation themselves consider the future city and the work on its creation as another innovative cluster, which, along with research in the field of biomedicine, space, energy-efficient technologies, information systems and nuclear energy, will be able to identify and test in Russian conditions solutions to many urgent urban planning problems. The developed methods and the experience gained, as the authors of the project plan, can be used in other Russian regions in the construction of new formations or for the modernization of existing small towns.
At the presentation of the master plan, the developers have repeatedly emphasized their desire to work with residents individually, connecting them at the initial stage to the formation of the building structure. In particular, already now, in the revised master plan, special zones have been allocated for the placement of key partners, on which buildings for specific companies will be designed. These zones will not be isolated within special privileged territories, but will be spread over three of the five main areas of the innovation city: southern (D1), northern (D4) and Technopark (D2). The exceptions are the University District (D3) and the Central Zone (Z1). In the same way, office complexes intended for start-up and post-start-up projects, as well as residential buildings and social infrastructure will be distributed across 4 districts (including the University). According to the developers, they abandoned the idea of a rigid functional division between districts into "business" and "sleeping" in order to avoid distortions in the distribution of people throughout the city during the day. By combining housing and workplaces within the same area, the developers intend to reduce the load on the internal communications of the innovation city, among which priority will be given to pedestrian traffic. In addition, inside Skolkovo it will be possible to move around by bicycles, public buses powered by biogas and electric vehicles. All personal vehicles will be focused on intercepting parking lots at the entrances to the innovation city, the capacity of which should be at least 10 thousand parking spaces.
The idea behind the original urban planning concept of AREP, according to which clusters were concentrated in certain areas of the city, also underwent a change. For example, space and computer technology in the northern region, and nuclear technology and energy in the southern. Now, instead of creating thematic "reservations", it has been decided to mix companies, thus facilitating the exchange of ideas and information between project participants from different industries, and therefore laying the foundation for increasing the pace of development of innovative technologies.
The adjustment of the functional zoning of the districts entailed a slight reshuffle among the tandems of architects - curators who were selected from among the Members of the Skolkovo Foundation's Urban Development Council. The following district curators were identified at the presentation: South District (D1) - David Chipperfield Architects (UK) and SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov (Russia), Technopark (D2) - Valode & Pistre (France) and Mohsen Mustafavi, University (D3) - Herzog & De Meuron (Switzerland), Northern Region (D4) - Project Meganom (Russia) and Stefano Boeri (Italy). In addition, curators of special zones have been appointed: Central Zone (Z1) - SANAA (Japan) and OMA (Netherlands), Green Zone (Z2), between the southern region and Technopark - Michel Devigne (France). The developers do not exclude the possibility of including Russian co-curators in the development of the plans of the University and Technopark.
According to the revised general plan of the city, the forthcoming construction volumes have been determined. In total, on the territory of a little less than 400 hectares, about 2.4 million square meters will be built. meters. Of which housing and social services will be 1 million square meters. meters, and auxiliary infrastructure - 500 thousand. sq. meters. In total, up to 21 thousand people (employees of resident companies and their families) will be able to live on the territory of Skolkovo. About 10 thousand more people will come to Skolkovo to work. Communication with Moscow will be carried out by railways (Belorusskoe and Kievskoe directions), by highways (Minsk and Skolkovskoe highways and MKAD). In addition, the option of building a separate metro line is being considered. The maximum height of buildings should not exceed 30 meters.
The construction will be carried out in such a way as to preserve the buffer, green zone around Skolkovo and level the contrast between the surrounding buildings (neighboring “sleeping” areas) and the buildings of the “city of the future”. At the same time, the territory of the innovation city will not be fenced off. The idea of free access, providing for the organization in all areas of special public and guest zones, open to all comers, will apparently lead to innovative development in Skolkovo and security systems, which will have to cope with their task in the absence of traditional means. The developers assured those present at the presentation that this issue will be resolved at the most modern level, which guarantees personal and information security to the resident companies.
As already announced, all real estate, including residential, will remain in the ownership of the Fund. So the project participants will be able to rent it, and at very moderate prices. According to the developers, the rental rate will be calculated in such a way as to cover the costs of construction and operation. But only employees of resident companies will be able to live on the territory of Skolkovo. And if a company for one reason or another (business is always a risk) closes or cannot continue to work in Skolkovo, all its employees will be obliged to vacate the space they occupy. This moment aroused great interest from the participants in the presentation. Some representatives of young companies approached the developers with a proposal to create a residential area on the territory or in the immediate vicinity of it, for employees working on various projects within Skolkovo or, after the closure of one company, moving to work in another, but again within the framework of Skolkovo. This scenario is quite common, especially in the field of IT technologies. But the developers made it clear that they do not set themselves the task of providing affordable housing for everyone who wants to cooperate with the companies participating in the Skolkovo project.
In response to a question from one of the guests of the presentation about what construction technologies will be used, the developers shared a rather provocative idea to use Western experience and abandon the Russian practice of paying advances to contractors before construction begins. Experience shows that this by no means helps to reduce the construction time and improve its quality, but if the Fund really decides to include the absence of an advance payment in the tender documentation for the selection of contractors for Skolkovo, it could seriously affect the entire construction system in Russia. Orders in Skolkovo are too prestigious for construction companies to abandon claims for them, but on the other hand, it is not entirely clear how many companies operating in our country now will be able to afford to launch construction using their own resources. This can become both a litmus test for our construction market, and a long-awaited precedent in the field of construction financing, which other large customers will certainly not fail to take advantage of.
Among other serious issues that the Foundation is now solving in parallel with the development and detailing of the general plan, the problem of coordinating the projects being developed, which, as announced earlier, can be done both according to Russian standards and according to foreign regulations, stands out. But how can projects created according to foreign standards, which differ significantly from domestic ones, be approved by Russian authorities? Especially considering that it is not so easy to carry out projects developed in full compliance with the Russian regulatory framework through these authorities! According to the organizers of the presentation, work on solving this problem has already begun, and the legal service of the Fund is considering all possible options. Although the most likely scenario for the development of events, most likely, will be the adoption of the next federal law, specially written for Skolkovo, as it was already, when it was necessary to transfer 389 hectares of land allocated for the innovation city from the category of farmland to land intended for building. Then, with a record speed, Federal Law No. 209 of 12.07.2011 was adopted. Well, perhaps, such a targeted and lobbied at the highest level, the consolidation of domestic and foreign design and construction standards into a single system will make it possible to make a qualitative leap in this area, discussions around which have been going on for more than ten years.