Money Growing: The Square Meters of Complexes

The speed at which sports premises are now under construction in the Moscow region and other regions of Russia, suggest that they are catching up on what has been missed. Since pre-war times Moscow has inherited grandiose constructions with columns and porticoes from the Stalin epoch. Later, when the economy was supposed to become more economical, boxes of glass and concrete appeared, but with the same grandiose. Construction quickly, in large numbers, cheaply, and at the same time, decently, has only now begun. Perhaps it is because big sport as a priority has given way to physical education, which focuses on the interests of the average person, as a consumer of sports services, instead of national heroes.

The state program of development for sports and health improvement provides for government investments of more than 3 billion euros from 2006 to 2015. However, no participants in the construction of local sports premises have mentioned this financial help.

Sport by program

Of course, in the socialist past there were unique constructions in the region of the capital. For example, a bicycle track at Krylatskoye and the Luzhniki sports complex. However all these objects were developed for certain events and were built for special purposes. The bicycle track was built for the Olympics in 1980. Luzhniki was not built for a special occasion and was even built at record-breaking speed - in four years, but has since been reconstructed and updated. It is usual for the construction of a sports object to take at least 5-7 years.

Functional, inexpensive sports centers that take no more than 2–3 years to be built, have only started to be talked about in the last 10 years. Thanks to technology, the length of time of construction is not detriment to the quality.

The Moscow region is the present leader in terms of the volume of delivered square meters, along with being successful in the realization of the housing national project. It is the first region that has started to produce multiple objects for the development of sports and physical education. Under the initiative of Governor Boris Gromov, five years ago a regional program was approved, although they had started building objects for sports before that.

Now, with the governor's program everything is settled so well that sometimes reports on the opening of another sports complex in the Moscow region news, appears in mass media almost weekly. According to official Internet resources of the region’s government, the most recent developments were in Zaraisk and Kashira, where in July new sports complexes were officially opened.

The complexes have been called Zaraisk and Yubileiny (Anniversary), the opening of which coincides with the 650th anniversary of Kashira. The total area of both is 5,700 sq.m, with a capacity for 1,000 spectators. They are 2-storey complexes built from metal frameworks with external sandwich-panel walls. The complexes are intended for organized and independent sports lessons and active leisure activities for various groups of the population, and also for holding local-level basketball, volleyball, handball and mini football competitions.

Construction was carried out using proceeds from the Moscow regional budget and the local regional budget. State Unitary Enterprise of the Moscow region Mosoblstroyinvestkredit ordered the construction.

At the opening ceremony new plans were disclosed: the Moscow region authorities had decided to build a gymnasium with stands for 1,500 spectators in Khimki. Work has begun there on the construction of temporary roads and buildings. They are currently completing the design-budget documentation. It is assumed that the hall will correspond to standards and regulations to hold international competitions.

Some other plans have been made public by the head of Mosoblstroyinvestkredit, Yury Linkevich. Mosoblstroyinvestkredit, which has ordered the constructions, is realizing several standard projects: sports complexes in Protvino, Kashira, Troitsk, Pushkino, Volokolamsk, Zaraisk and Dubna. This year four have already been handed over (including the two mentioned already in Kashira and Zaraisk), and three are close to completion. The next opening ceremonies are expected in Dubna, Pushkino and Protvino. Among those mentioned most are pretty average, except the one in Troitsk, which has some special land plot details.

According to a study in 2001 the prime cost of such constructions with areas of 5,700 sq.m is 57 million rubles. Such data for this year does not exist, but in using special coefficients, economists have calculated that this figure has risen to approximately 300 million rubles. It is only approximate as each time the figure is new: even a standard project should be specific to a location, and the facades should differ so that they do not look the same.

Recently, extensions have been made to already constructed complexes. They might be halls for various classes or for holding concerts. Such extensions to sports complexes will take place in Pushkino and Kashira. Sometimes they are attached to the main building, sometimes they are connected by a gallery.

For Russian planners such work is complex as it is new. The biggest problem is multipurpose buildings where under one roof it is necessary to place various purpose premises and take into account the technical equipment necessary, say planners involved in the creation of sports complexes. Such a complex may, for example, include training halls, a sports hall with spectator stands and a swimming pool. Or training halls and an ice rink. Of course at the beginning it was not done without mistakes. For example, one of the first sports construction projects was made for Chekhov and the number of spectator stands was incorrectly calculated. It was necessary for them to correct the project, says Promzdanii, who has since successfully developed a few sports complexes.

The first sports constructions, says Alexei Khodyrev, the chief architect of Mosgrazhdanproekt design institute, were learnt from the Finns. They participated, for example, in the complex for winter sports in Dmitrov. Not so long ago an extension for extreme sports was made independently, without the participation of foreign companies. For this purpose it was necessary to design premises with high ceilings of up to 8 meters. They also had to provide the possibility to transform areas for other sports needs. For example, for motor sport, with the construction of tracks with big differences in height, etc.

Now, by virtue of a rise in the cost of operating services and the cost of energy carriers, more attention is spent on an energy effective system in the construction of sports premises. Energy saving materials and designs are used: triple glazed windows, heated facades, etc.

From Complicated to Simple

When the afore mentioned regional program was first put into operation it was aimed at the development of big achievements in sport (then authorities began to change the aim of the program to more democratic goals). The first sports constructions under the regional program were intended for professional teams.

Accordingly sportsmen should not only meet the standards of professional international sports associations with outstanding achievements, but also have decent equipment and resources necessary for training, which our champions lacked. In this way, for example, the Olympiisky complex became the training base for Chechovskiye Medvedi, the Russian Olympic champions in handball.

Another example is the volleyball sports center in Odintsov, which is a training base for regional high league teams Iskra and Zareche. According to the architect of the project, Valentina Gankina, similar centers (one fact: the height of the premises is 20 meters) exist only in Europe. The center houses 3,500 spectators and its general area is 10,000 sq.m.

A similar project ordered by Moscow region basketball club Khimki is located in Khimki. The need for the center to built is in connection with the necessity to correspond to international standards made by European associations for high league Basketball teams in Russia and in Europe.

According to Valery Abarykov, head of the department of complex construction at the Ministry of the Moscow Region, under the work of the above program really unique sports premises have been built. For example, the Kolomna skating center (designed by Kurortproekt). In the project many interesting engineering solutions were used. Abarykov notes the creation of a unique ice surface using Dutch technology rarely used even throughout the rest of the world.

The quality of the ice surface is in accordance with the requirements of the International Olympic Committee. These include light reflection, transparency, thickness of ice, and the use of different temperature levels. The main thing is that the surface should be absolutely level, without the slightest inclines or imperfections.

There are is nothing similar, in Abarykov's opinion, to the All-Union Mountain-skiing city and regional purpose Krasnogorsky slope, which is planned to be completed in 2007. The complex includes a mountain-ski track for all-year-round use, an administrative and sports-entertainment complex, a food center, and also a hotel and outdoor parking for 384 cars. The most complex in the designing has been a slope with a changeable incline measuring 60 meters wide and 12 meters high.

The slope is equipped with several kinds of lifts. The variable incline of the tracks will allow skiers of various experience to hit the slopes.

Sharing the cost of physical education

To build similar constructions, as a rule, says Abarykov, cooperative budgets are used - regional and local - and the funds of private investors. The first prevails. For example, in Kolomenskoye 90 per cent of investments came from the regional treasury. With the support of local budgets an external network is laid. Private businesses participate in the program with readiness, though their functions are more likely to be auxiliary: the sale and hire of sports equipment, the organization of restaurants and cafes, and also the management of the premises. The local authorities and the Moscow region are responsible for all the sports complexes.

Despite good speeds, the Moscow region’s program is still far from completion. 63 objects will be constructed in 2008, and 30 in 2007. Approximately 40 per cent of them will be standard. Apart from low budgets another advantage of such complexes is short terms of construction - under one year. Also, notices Abarykov, they will continue to equip the thousands of sports areas that already exist.

The regions catch up

Orders for building sports constructions also come from the regions. Such customers are more often local administrations, and less often sports clubs says Topflor-Invest. In particular, this general contractor has worked with orders from CSKA for the construction of a universal sports hall and an indoor skating rink in Moscow, and also to construct sports objects in Oryol and Volgograd.

New technologies, allowing for quick and rather cheap construction, correspond to the demands of local budgets. The sum of $1,200 per sq.m (the provisional prime cost of constructing an indoor skating rink in Volgograd and Oryol) was reasonable in those days for Moscow and there was no big difference between the prime cost of regional constructions and capital constructions. The reason for high costs is determined by the features of the local market: monopolistic tendencies in the regions are strong. The difference in regional practice from capital practice, in the company, are the greater complexities in preparing a site: if there is no design for the territory, if no soil research is carried out, then it will all become the customer's responsibility.