Innovative and green technologies on the example of Skolkovo buildings - how modern are Russian technoparks?

Olga Shevchenko, Chief Project Engineer of the Metropolis company, and Maxim Shugaev, Deputy Chief Project Engineer of the Metropolis company, shared their opinions on that topic for CRE portal.

Construction is one of the most conservative sectors of the economy. Decades can pass from the appearance of a new technology to its implementation in the construction process.

However, everything is gradually changing, little by little new things penetrate our market. And one of the sites where modern methods are being developed is the Skolkovo Innovation Center. The very spirit of this place encourages customers, designers and builders to look to the future. And thanks to this, we get very interesting results. I would like to hope that subsequently the technologies worked out here will become more common at least in the domestic commercial real estate market.

In Skolkovo, we designed the Stratos business center (project name IT-Cluster) with a total area of ​​83,000 sq. m. The author of the idea of ​​his concept is the architectural workshop "VP" (Valode & Pistre). The customer of the object is "Corporation A.N.D." set ambitious goals for us. Among them is the reduction of the cumulative (for the entire life cycle) negative impact of construction projects on human health and the environment; introduction of innovative technologies to improve the quality of life in the Skolkovo area; efficient use of energy, water and other resources; creation of conditions for maintaining the health of residents and increasing their productivity.

Russian designers do not have to solve such problems every day. Today, such requests are much less common in our country than in Europe. Although there is some progress. In Russia as a whole, and especially in Moscow, there are gradually more innovative facilities. In particular, about 30% of the projects of business centers and business parks prepared by us are subject to LEED and BREEAM certification and successfully pass it. In the case of Skolkovo, on the instructions of the customer, the building was to receive an A+ (Very high) energy efficiency class. To achieve this level, we used a number of technologies that are still rarely used in Russia. In particular, the intelligent ventilation system of the underground car park, which is controlled by CO sensors that allow to reduce heat consumption for heating the supply air.

The office system is controlled by CO2 sensors and VAV valves. The designed system with a variable air flow allows you to maintain constantly comfortable conditions, regardless of the number of people present in the room and office equipment.

For air conditioning in the winter, a "free cold" system is provided, which allows you to turn off the refrigeration machines and save electricity. We also placed modern water-saving sanitary equipment in the building, which automatically maintains the design pressure with pumps with frequency regulation of electric motors.

In addition, to reduce operating costs, power distribution boards were installed in the centers of electrical loads, and economical luminaires with compensating devices and light sources with increased luminous efficiency were used to illuminate the building.

We also provided for automated control of the lighting installation and a unified system for dispatching and controlling building management systems (BMS).

All work on the project was carried out using BIM technologies. Design and working documentation were created in the Revit software package, which significantly reduced the time for coordination of engineering systems at the construction site.

The use of the technologies listed above is dictated, first of all, by a special attitude towards the development of the Skolkovo territory and the interest of investors. Here we can talk about a combined effect: the attractiveness of a modern innovative building, built according to world standards, as well as its economic efficiency during subsequent operation.

In particular, the green LEED standard can reduce electricity consumption by 24-50%, CO2 emissions by 33-39%, water consumption by 40%, and solid waste by 70%.

In turn, certification of commercial real estate objects according to LEED and BREEAM standards helps to increase the capitalization (market value) of objects by about 10-20%, depending on the location, type and class of the object.

The opening of the Stratos business center is scheduled for 2019. When a building is put into operation, it is expected to be certified in accordance with the international LEED system (Silver level), which will confirm that the facility is designed and built to minimize energy consumption during operation.

Read the full material on CRE.ru.