In the near future, the Moscow Government will submit a project of graduates of the architectural school MARSH 2016, the Promcode team - the concept of creating the first Moscow scientific and industrial technopark on the basis of the All-Russian Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Engineering named after Academician A. I. Tselikova on Ryazansky prospect. This idea, if approved, will help create a platform for engineers at VNIIMETMASH (VMM) where they can gain practical skills, exchange experience and knowledge, work and live, and companies that have located their production on this territory will easily find highly qualified personnel and all the necessary industrial infrastructure. About how this idea was born, whose experience the team was inspired by and why the technopark definitely needs a pool, we talked with the authors of the project, Ilya Tokarev and Anna Budunova from the Promcode team.
How did you get to know the MARCH school and why did you decide to study there?
Ilya: Two years ago, our friends and colleagues from MARSH worked on the project "New Ivanovo Manufactory" (NIM). Among the authors was my friend Tatyana Grenaderova - we are yacht captains with her and we go to regattas together, we communicate a lot, we exchange experiences. Once she wrote that she had a question for me as an architect: she was working on a project for a plant and she needed advice.
During the discussion, we came up with the following concept. There are many creative platforms - FLACON, Artplay. What is their main advantage? Not that they have so many tenants, but what kind of companies they are. It is through these companies that you draw attention to your site. This means that in the NIM project it is necessary to gather people who create the atmosphere, and as a result, a "brand" of the manufacture will already appear. Then I went to several defenses of the NIM project, and this topic interested me more and more, coinciding with my internal attitudes.
Since the institute, my friends and I have not seen any development in architecture. Projects end in one building or block: there is always some kind of logical end. At the same time, clear restrictions are imposed on you in the form of the desires of customers, which cannot always be overcome. Often the role of an architect is reduced to drawing facades, beautiful illustrations, and then you hear: "Thank you, we will build and decide everything ourselves." This setting is not very correct. We realized that we had to move in the direction of development, but where it is not clear, because it is mainly housing construction, and this is not the answer to our question. But then I learned that MARSH has a suitable joint program with RANEPA, according to which my friends study.
Anna: I knew about this program from the very start and for a long time considered the option of additional education as part of my professional activity as an architect-urban planner.
Of the three topics that were proposed for work in your academic year, did you yourself choose the development of the BMM territory?
Ilya: We had a tight team building at the beginning of the school year. A psychologist worked with us, formulated tasks for us, and based on the results of their implementation, he created project groups, among which topics were distributed.
Anna: Initially, we got two industrial territories. But working with one of them did not work out: the owner did not need it. He has been bankrupt the plant for a long time and plans to sell all capital buildings. He is waiting for a good developer to come and offer an interesting price, and in order to sell the property as profitably as possible, he needed a development concept. And after checking his legal entity, it turned out that the owner is not clean: he has many bad stories on legal issues.
With VMM it was completely different, its owner - the Moscow Government - was interested, the general director Alexander Pirozhenko also really wanted to develop the plant. We can say that thanks to him, the ideology of the project was born. At the very first meeting with him, the phrase sounded: "I want to create an Arrow for engineers." We "caught on" for this, because urban architects have created a creative environment where movement and exchange of experience are constantly taking place, but for engineers there is no such place where the best minds "cook", alas.
When did you first meet with the CEO of VMM?
Ilya: On the fourth or fifth day after the start of the program, and then our team constantly met with Alexander to present the work on the project. He always received feedback, wishes, but there were no serious comments. Moreover, all the solutions proposed for the site were the result of an analysis of the needs of local residents, the existing development of the area, and production possibilities. Six months before us, Alexander was able to attract an experienced team of professionals - Peter Gebhardt and Rafail Gainatullin, who had already been involved in the construction and launch of industrial parks. Now they are looking for residents, have entered into an agreement with the German program of secondary vocational education, with the first foreign resident - an Italian company for the production of band saws, thanks to which it located 70% of production in Russia.
Among the changes that you proposed, the main point is the creation of an infrastructure for life and a comfortable stay on the site - a sports, social, educational environment. Have there been any proposals for the industrial part?
Ilya: We assessed the industrial potential, found bottlenecks in terms of current production, but expressed confidence in the need to preserve it. The industrial park is not created from scratch, there is no need to look for an anchor resident, since there is a VMM itself. Many of the ideas that we came up with as part of the concept development were proposed by both the Moscow Government and the VMM team - they all provide for the preservation of production.
That is, it is more profitable for the city to maintain industrial production on this territory?
Ilya: Housing development is unpromising due to a number of reasons: crisis, falling real incomes of the population, falling into a demographic hole - the market is shrinking, while the cost of housing does not fall. Moscow now lives in the concept of "industrial to industrial": all living production facilities are saturated with new meanings as much as possible and will certainly be preserved. Why is this done? First, these are specific jobs. Not the virtual ones that developers indicate when they build another high-rise residential complex with office floors and retail space. The number of jobs provided in manufacturing is far greater than the capacity of any residential area. Secondly, it is a matter of economics. The city spends about 150 thousand rubles a year for each inhabitant - this is infrastructure, maintenance, etc. A working resident of the city brings in taxes about 180 thousand rubles. Who is better to stimulate? The conclusion is obvious.
Anna: That's a moot point. Moscow is the capital of a big country. People tend to come here, moving with their families, and there will always be demand for housing, but the question is - to what extent and for what kind of housing? Recent analytical articles show that more than 20% of the areas in new residential complexes are empty, they have not been sold.
Ilya: There is international experience, there is Russian experience - they are completely different, and there is no single recipe for the development of industrial territories: build them up with housing and offices or save them as industrial facilities and invest in existing production. Our project is a training model, it is not an order or a subject of a tender. The results of the project formed the basis of the concept for the development of the VMM territory, which will be presented to the Moscow Government, and this is already a victory.
Tell us more about the proposed changes. What and why did you decide to bring to this territory, how did you determine the needs and justification of decisions?
Ilya: We have made several package proposals in terms of reconstruction and adaptation of facilities to the needs of VMM, residents of the future industrial technopark and residents of adjacent areas. For example, on the territory there is a landmark building "Berlin", which was built in Soviet times by the Germans. Inside is a fitness center with tennis courts and a children's kickboxing section, but the building is partially used as a warehouse. We immediately assumed that if there is a potential sports facility within walking distance from residential areas, their inhabitants may have a request for sports services, especially since the construction of a multi-storey residential quarter 21/19 is in full swing on the neighboring territory of the former Molniya plant. Conducted research: indeed, the request exists. The following questions immediately arose: what should be the functional content of fitness centers, on the basis of which the business model is built? Do you need a pool? What is the priority mode of operation?
Our team includes Dima Balykov, an architect-restorer and a professional athlete, he made an analysis: fitness centers do not work for the economy of the region, they work for the flow. Approximately 20% of visitors are residents of nearby areas, the rest are people who drive by by car every day on their way to work or home. In our case, there is such a stream - this is Ryazansky Prospect. There is a base that we can develop and a request from potential consumers. We used this principle to substantiate all our proposals: coworking, educational center, fitness center, hotel - these infrastructural facilities are mandatory today. In some countries, the requirements for a new industrial or technology park stipulate that you must have a developed social infrastructure (schools, kindergartens, an educational center).
Anna: Technoparks in Asia, Singapore, which have existed for 20 years already, are thinking about the next stage of development - the infrastructural filling of territories. They prioritize creating an environment for work, so that they can live or stay for a long time on the territory, children can study, and there are additional services: fitness centers, parks, restaurants for workers' families. Infrastructure objects that are attached to an industrial park must work both for its needs and for the external environment.
Do Russian parks already have this?
Anna: This is not the case in the Russian experience. The best, exemplary project is considered to be "Khimgrad" in Kazan. But you need to understand that a huge amount of state money was invested there. At the same time, there is the experience of the Tver and Kaluga regions, where companies built their production, multi-storey residential buildings for workers, entire villages with kindergartens, schools, infrastructure. Qualified personnel were collected throughout the country. Naturally, these people were not ready to work on a rotational basis, they planned to live there - this is a normal practice. The question is what will happen to these villages in thirty years: will they not turn into monotowns.
An industrial park and a technopark: what is the difference between them, and how important is it for you?
Anna: The Promcode team cooperates with the Association of Industrial Parks. We certainly understand the difference. For most people, industrial parks are associated with streaming production: not very modern and environmentally friendly, which is usually taken out of the city. They may contain no more than 20% of the office part, the rest is occupied by the production and warehouse function. In an industrial technopark, about 30% are non-core residents who perform the function of an additional source of income. We included an educational function, a coworking space for engineers, a children's technopark and other objects of the environment for life in this 30%. We believe that on the horizon of 10-15 years there will be no production inside Moscow, or it will become high-tech and environmentally friendly. Therefore, until now we insist on a more adaptive formulation "scientific and industrial technopark".
If we talk about the educational function, you mentioned that the VMM management wants to attract young personnel, engineers, create an attractive environment for them. Do you already have specific agreements?
Ilya: Yes, during the work we have assembled a certain educational pool. There is an agreement with Germany on the training of specialists. We met with the head of the Department of Engineering Technologies-10 of the Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman, the former dean of the faculty of MT, Alexander G. Kolesnikov, he wants to participate in the development of education on the site: MSTU is thinking of bringing its educational initiatives to the territory. We got acquainted with the management of several colleges that are ready to enter such a pilot educational project. At the moment, this pool of educational organizations "is at a low start", the participants are waiting for the city's decision on the fate of the site.
Anna: If a decision is made to create a park, to allocate funds for the development of the site according to our model, it will be possible to initiate a discussion on the creation of a curriculum for the training of engineers and managers in the field of metallurgical engineering, sales and project management. Now young people have a demand for a multidisciplinary education, when you have been studying something all your life, studying related disciplines and, ultimately, you can be both a manager in the field of industrial engineering and an engineer. Communicating with engineers trying to launch a similar format at Skolkovo, we realized that now in Moscow there is no space where engineers could exchange experience, constantly receive education, and develop professionally.
What is the approximate cost of the project, as well as the terms of implementation and its main stages?
Anna: For a year and a half, three teams have calculated a consolidated financial model of the industrial park. VMM itself, the Promkoda team and the State Unitary Enterprise Agency for Industrial Development of Moscow are a structure whose tasks include the development and support of industrial facilities within the city. Everywhere the payback horizon is beyond 10 years, since this is a production site. For the complex development of the territory, investments of 6 billion rubles are required - with a full production load and fully leased premises.
Ilya: This is if the production of VMM becomes more efficient, and the premises of the complex are profiled and adapted, increasing the attractiveness of the site for new residents who will come for the sake of the status of a resident of the industrial park.
Anna: According to the roadmap, there will be two stages of development. The first is the implementation of the concept for the development of VMM production until the beginning of 2018, the approximate investment is 660 million rubles. Among the tasks: loading production to order, registration of a land plot (since half of the territories are not registered in ownership and are not even registered in the cadastral register, and this is a rather long process), clearing of territories, reconstruction of the Moscow experimental plant, construction of a full-fledged production complex with a service building and new premises for residents. Due to relocation to new buildings on the vacated territory, the demolition or reconstruction of existing facilities will take place.
The second stage is the implementation of the industrial park concept, which will begin in the second half of 2018. The main tasks there are attracting investments and residents, preparing infrastructure and equipment, building commercial and other facilities, the second stage of demolition and construction of buildings. By 2021, full exploitation of the newly built commercial space is to begin.
Tell us about the "Promcode": who did what, how was the teamwork organized?
Ilya: I am an urban architect, Anna Budunova is an urban planner: in fact, we both acted as project managers. Alexander Egorov, engineer - graduate of the Moscow State Technical University named after N. E. Bauman, profile department of VMM. His father studied and worked here, we can say they have a dynastic connection with the VMM. Sasha acted as an expert in the field of mechanical engineering, industrial engineering. Without it, it would be difficult to get all the necessary information inside the VMM. He worked on the educational part in the field of engineering. Dmitry Balykov, an architect-restorer, was engaged in a sports block within the framework of the project. He is also the author of the architectural concept of the appearance of the entire territory and the reconstruction of buildings. Anastasia Vorotnikova, PR specialist, collected analytical data, processed information. Later, her father, Alexander Vorotnikov, an advisor at the Ministry of Economic Development, joined the team. A closed group dedicated to our project still "lives" on Facebook, where he constantly shares useful information and advice. He suggested in which direction the metallurgical industry was developing, what types of qualifications were emerging, and what specialists would be needed. Pavel Surkov, an engineer of transport systems, was engaged in the development of transport infrastructure, made a large block of analytics for the educational program.
Anna: The distribution of tasks took place during the discussion. Together we came to a common concept, then we looked at who could most effectively perform this part of the work, tried to use some applications. Naturally, we started from the curriculum: there were tasks that we had to solve on time.
– Will you be implementing this project?
Anna: There is no such agreement yet, but we are trying to keep our finger on the pulse, since we are not indifferent to his fate. As soon as an offer of cooperation is received, we are only "for". Now we are preparing a graphic layout with a demonstration of the development of the territory and an indication of the functional content. Let's try to convey to the mayor his ideological component associated with continuous training of personnel at all stages of education - from kindergarten to the first job. This project would become an image for the Moscow Government and the city as a whole, despite the fact that from the point of view of investments it is less attractive than the construction of new housing.
How has the experience of working with industrial territories reflected on your personal "development paths"? Do you see further work in this area for yourself?
Anna: Experience came in handy and now continues to help. For example, there was a period of cooperation and direct work with the Industrial Development Agency, the Association of Industrial Parks. Then we will continue to work as a team and adhere to the ideological component that was originally laid down in the "Promcode".
Were you satisfied with the MARSH program in the end?
Ilya: Yes, first-class experts. Of the three issues that were already in MARSH, we were the first to recoup the money spent on training (laughs). We have acquired many useful contacts and acquired skills and abilities that allow us to solve problems in the field of integrated development of industrial territories.
There are at least five principal scenarios for this development. The first one solves the problem of industrial territories through preservation and development. We find bottlenecks in the existing production, give recommendations, improve the environment, but keep the original functionality of the site - the case of VMM.
The second case is repurposing and adaptation. For example, there is a production and industrial area around it, which are in poor condition due to changes in the industry's economy. On its basis, we are creating a new production cluster that meets modern requirements, most likely of a different profile, and we form a resident policy. For example, we were producing mills, but we will be making robots.
The third type is the conditional FLACON, a creative cluster. Similar companies, gathered in one place, interact with each other and provide complex services to the client or produce products with high added value, attracting other residents with a similar unity.
The fourth option is production creative clusters. There is a similar experience in Russia, but it is still in its infancy. For example, the concept of development of the Kristall plant as a creative platform for furniture and clothing manufacturers, jewelry workshops, craft shops, and theater schools. The guys did it, about four or five companies that came there at the beginning and are relatively successful, gradually capturing more and more space. At the same time, the territory of "Kristall" is developing as a production cluster independently of the residents.
The fifth scenario is the museification of an industrial area, which is quite popular in the world today. There are many approaches to preserving industrial historical heritage. For example, the creation of a park based on, as a rule, abandoned production, which becomes the center of a new urban area and retains the history of the country's industry as picturesque ruins.
It should be noted that these are not the only options for the development of industrial zones. There are many approaches that work for the benefit of all participants: investors, bringing additional profits; municipal authorities, creating new jobs or relieving social tensions; citizens, creating a comfortable environment with the same places of work and rest.
