In the photo: Ivan Vinogradov
An increase in prices for building materials, a change in the supplier market, a change in the documentation process — these are a small part of the changes that the construction industry has undergone in 2022. I must say that negative changes in the housing market began in 2020, due to the introduction of restrictions and the closure of borders due to Covid 19. What will happen to projects and developers in the near future? We talked with Ivan Vinogradov, an expert in the field of construction, managing director of Aeroplane Group, who brought more than one construction site out of the “freeze” in different cities of Russia, and during the pandemic crisis was able to develop the market for individual residential construction, which was previously discussed as an unpromising project for our country.
“SP”: — Ivan, tell us what changes are taking place in the construction market in connection with the crisis of 2022?
— What they are talking about first of all, mentioning the current crisis, is the withdrawal of European suppliers of raw materials and supplies. But, as a person who has gone through four crises in senior positions in the construction industry. I can say that the best way to overcome problems is to prepare for them in advance. The vast majority of construction materials and services in Russia is provided by domestic companies, and those who bet on them are not experiencing any fateful problems right now. And at the very moment of the crisis, it is necessary to work on the cost and prepare new projects. As practice shows, everything that is launched in a crisis becomes very, very successful in a few years.
“SP”: — It turns out that a manager must have not only professional knowledge and skills, but also certain personal qualities — not everyone can withstand the load, take a risk, believe that in the future it will “shoot” …
— This is not a question of faith, but of calculation. Well, and more experience. It is always necessary to work on the cost and analysis of the decisions made. During my work, I have seen a large number of suboptimal ideas that formed the basis of projects, which sometimes you wonder how they could have done this. Although, in fact, this is not an easy question. A project is always a reflection of the ideas of different specialists, each of whom is responsible for his own part. And when it all comes together, only an experienced eye can figure out where the problems came from. So, analysis and high-quality decision-making help to get out of crises.
“SP”: — What projects and your management decisions in them are you particularly proud of in your career?
— I was lucky, I was involved in many projects at different stages, which turned out to be iconic and well-known on the market. Many of them have received professional awards from the business community. Of course, the building of the Central Children’s Store on Lubyanka stands out for me, which has not only been revived as the largest children’s store in the world, but also as a beautiful object that has become a must-visit point for tourists to Moscow. Constantly, driving by, I am glad that I managed to implement such projects as the Heritage in Kuntsevo, the Theater House on N. Arbat. Being in In St. Petersburg, I will definitely visit the Nevsky Town Hall complex, which has become a rightfully worthy business heart of the northern capital. I am really proud of these projects and, most importantly, they are in my sight all the time.
“SP”: — In the Nevsky Town Hall project, you did the impossible: you brought it out of its frozen state and the status of “unpromising”, received permission and started construction — and all this in a few months. How did you do it? And then what was the problem with the previous project management?
– yes. This project was also started long before me in 2008, however, due to inefficient management and irrational design solutions, it had big problems with the economy and was unprofitable for the company. At the time of my arrival, the previous project team was fired. In the complex of 9 buildings planned for commissioning in 2016, 2 were built by 2017, and the Central building of the complex, which was supposed to move the city Government into it, was in a state of finishing. It took a lot of effort to review the relationship with the contractors and ensure the transfer of the government building to the city, which was opened in 2018 under my leadership.
In the future, my company planned to abandon the continuation of the construction of the complex, selling the site to other developers due to high costs. But he proved to the Board of Directors that the project should remain in the company and will be successful despite the previous negative experience. Having personally led this project and assembled a working group of architects, designers and marketers, I reviewed the design solutions of the remaining buildings of the complex and was able to reduce the cost of construction from 15 to 11 billion rubles due to the processing of the underground part, a special road in St. Petersburg.
Construction of the complex resumed in 2019, and the entire facility has become rightfully iconic for the entire city. By the way, this year the largest commercial real estate lease deal in the history of Russia with Gazpromneft with an area of 80,000 square meters was carried out in this Nevsky Town Hall complex.
“SP”: — The project of the village “Berezki” on Rublevka was also given to you as part of the anti—crisis management after the previous team. What were the difficulties there?
— Yes, I just became the director of development at Gals Development. The peculiarity of the project was the complete lack of sales, although the village was already built and had all communications. The houses stood unsold for more than 5 years and gradually fell into disrepair. When I came to get acquainted with the project in the spring of 2019 and looked at the village, it became obvious to me that there is a large disparity between the high price of objects — on average from 100 million rubles and the quality of the recreational environment and infrastructure.
Then I put forward the idea that large and beautiful houses are not the main thing, and proposed to develop a project to redo the entire landscaping and recreation of the village. I hired a project manager who specialized in infrastructure development. Within a year and a half, large-scale events were held to arrange green spaces, sports grounds, children’s playgrounds appeared, and the embankment was landscaped. We have launched a school, a kindergarten and a hockey sports center. This was what was needed: sales went up sharply and within 2 years the village was sold.
“SP”: — You mentioned the importance of specific specialists, the team that is working on the project. How do you type it?
— I have already selected teams for various projects ten times, so I understand something about this. The most difficult thing is to determine the right organizational scheme, and then fill it with people. Moreover, as they are selected, there may be certain changes to improve the effectiveness of interaction. In managing complex projects, the management system must adapt to the process, and not vice versa. All iconic projects are different, that’s a fact. And each has its own characteristics, for example, one requires work with monuments, the other requires complex work with the underground part, the third is very difficult from the point of view of engineering systems or design solutions. You can’t solve all these problems with one set of people, you need to be creative every time, which is exactly what I’ve been doing all these years. At the same time, the main principle of selecting people is basic specialized education and previous work experience and a desire to develop. If all this is there and meets the project criteria, then this person will be a member of my team.
“SP”: — Let’s hope that such teams will “pull out” our construction industry in this crisis. By the way, what is your forecast for the future, what can we expect?
— The construction industry has always been one of the key sectors for Russia in terms of influencing the economy through stimulating domestic demand. Therefore, I do not see any prerequisites for a construction apocalypse. I am sure that in the future this influence will be in demand even more, and construction will continue to be in demand by the industry. As for the product aspects of construction activities, I think there will be changes here. The demand in the residential sector will partially shift to new types of housing, such as low—rise construction and integrated housing and communal services, which will be able to give people the opportunity for a new format of life. The crisis will end like all the others. But the house and comfort will remain. And we will do our part in this.
English 
Russian 
German 
Polish