ShareThe idea of Khrushchev reconstruction is not new; it has been discussed for at least the last 20 years. And yet, such an alternative to demolition is still viable and, moreover, even slightly profitable. Associate Professor of the State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, member of the City Planning Council of St. Petersburg, Honored Architect of Russia Vladimir Linov has been studying the topic of reconstructing such houses for the past ten years. In an interview with Fontanka, he told how and how to replace the sensational idea of demolishing houses and building everything up once more.
– Do you think that in St. Petersburg today the idea of reconstructing Khrushchevs is still relevant?
– Absolutely relevant. There are economic nuances that may or may not require additional funding from the city. But in general, the very idea of reconstruction without resettlement with this kind of development is absolutely viable.
– Is it possible to estimate today how much the reconstruction of Khrushchev will cost, depending on the state in which it is?
— Firstly, there are no such final calculations. But there are preliminary calculations with an assessment that businessmen are very interested in: will it be profitable at all? I have these preliminary calculations. And they show that the profitability will be approximately 10–15 %.
— What is a cost-effective reconstruction?
– This is a two-story superstructure and the cost of it, as well as the repair of the entire house: the replacement of engineering networks, the construction of elevators, facade insulation, and so on. It is very important that all work can be carried out without the resettlement of residents. Of course, they will have to be patient and live at a construction site for a while, but it’s worth it. After all, they will improve their property and increase its value. These expenses are covered by the sale of apartments on two new floors, and there is still a small profit left. When we consulted with developers, they said that the profit is very small, unstable. That is, they were not very interested in this kind of economy.
– Adding two floors – the only way to cost-effective reconstruction?
– There is another way of reconstruction – it is called “flamingo” and consists in the fact that long columns are placed near the existing five-story building. And on these columns from above, like a bridge, not two, but five floors are being built. With accurate economic calculations, it may turn out that this method is even more cost-effective. Flamingo tested in Moscow. There are such examples.
Share– Profitability remains even taking into account the latest rise in prices for building materials?
– These were pre-epidemic calculations. Probably 2018. Now this must be recalculated, taking into account, firstly, the rise in prices for work and materials, and secondly, the rise in prices for apartments. What is the overall balance, I, of course, cannot say now. But the general conclusion regarding profitability – I think it remains.
– But we do not take emergency Khrushchev?
“Of course we don’t. There are no emergencies here. They must be demolished, there are no other options.
– If you take out the emergency Khrushchevs, which of the non-emergency ones does it make sense to reconstruct?
— It makes sense to reconstruct houses in the state in which the vast majority of such buildings are located. They have bad exterior walls with holes. They have completely rusted water and sewer pipes, their roofs are leaking, and so on. At the same time, they have sufficient strength, that is, they are not going to collapse.
– Can you estimate the percentage of Khrushchev houses suitable for reconstruction in the city?
– Here I can only say very approximately that it is quite reasonable to reconstruct 80-90 percent in this way, and it can be quite cost-effective. So far we have such an assessment.
– If you reconstruct the Khrushchev with a superstructure of two floors, how many years of operation will this add to the house?
– One hundred. Well, if you want, you can write 150. These houses do not have the problem that is often said that they are regarding to fall, that they were designed to last 30 years, and so on. This is an absolutely incompetent opinion. This building is not calculated for 30 years. When they were built, all the calculations of the designers were on the absolute strength of the structures as a whole. In addition to some situations with marriage, when there is an accident rate of structures, all the rest can stand for another hundred years.
Where did this myth come from then?
– I do not know. This is what the journalists came up with. You see, some confusion is possible here, which occurred back in the 60s. That is, for example, there is a service life of individual engineering systems. Pipes for water supply, sewerage and gas – they definitely have a standard service life, and just following 30 years they need to be changed. Maybe this term was interpreted by someone as the lifetime of the whole house. There may be another option, but these are my assumptions that some governing bodies wrote somewhere in their declarative documents that, say, citizens, live 50 years, and then communism will come, as you know, and you will move to other houses. But while researching this issue, we were unable to find a technical document, where it would be written that these houses are designed for 30 or 50 years of life.
How long does it take to renovate a house?
– Each house can be completely renovated with a superstructure of two or five floors within a year.
– What do you think, can the idea of reconstruction of Khrushchev houses become an alternative to the idea of resettlement and demolition, at least partially?
– Absolutely agree.
– It turns out that any cost-effective reconstruction is a compact building.
— Yes, in any case, this is a sealing reconstruction, even if we seal two floors. We need to complete the blocks of kindergartens and schools. And we took this into account in our calculations. This is just the money that the city might invest. So that not a private developer pays for the expansion of kindergartens and schools, but the city. This is fine.
– During this time, urban planning standards are also changing, the standards for green spaces, for children’s institutions. Is it possible today to reconstruct an entire block in this way in compliance with all standards, or will some houses still have to be demolished? After all, there was no more space.
– You know, there may be such a situation. But this will be a much smaller demolition in terms of volume than a reconstruction with complete demolition. However, it is already necessary to consider specific planning decisions of the quarter, whether it will be possible or not to fulfill all modern standards. We can talk regarding two things: regarding the norms for greenery and for areas of kindergartens and schools.
– And parking spaces?
– In terms of parking spaces, oddly enough, to a lesser extent, because during the reconstruction it is possible to build small in area, but high, multi-storey car parks. But they also occupy some land. And therefore, it may turn out that in order to comply with the standards, one house in the block will have to be demolished. But these are questions of a specific project. We had a master’s student at GASU, and then a graduate student Dmitry Ivanov, who wrote a dissertation regarding this. He took a specific block on Leninsky Prospekt and worked through all these options. Then he made economic calculations. He turned out to be profitable, in my opinion, 15 %.
– In your opinion, since the business was not very interested in such a reconstruction, might the city take it upon itself or does the city not have such structures, capacities, competencies?
— The city does not have its own contractors. After the beginning of the reform, the city got rid of it, privatized everything. But the city hires construction companies, sets tasks for them. Therefore, the city may well act as a customer or even a developer. World practice shows that for this the city, as a rule, must create a special organizational structure – an agency for the reconstruction of the territory. And this structure will act as a city customer, hire contractors, designers, at the first stage, researchers to understand the state of each particular house. All this can be organized from the city budget.
Interviewed by Irina Korbat, Fontanka.ru
