There are hopeful signs that one of the most important redevelopment projects currently planned for the centre of Moscow may herald a more enlightened approach by developers towards reusing historic buildings. The Red October chocolate factory currently occupies 4.9 hectares of some of the primest real estate in Moscow, but is due to be relocated to a new site as part of the city government's ongoing plan to move industrial plant out of the city centre. Guta Development (part of the holding company Guta Group, which also owns the factory) recently invited MAPS along to two round tables to discuss the plans for the site and how to capitalise on the value of the historic factory buildings which currently occupy it. At a round table on September 15, specialists Yelena Nikulina and Stanislav Poshvykin from Mosproyekt-2 who have studied the site, the historic buildings that occupy it, their position in the cityscape and have drawn up an overall concept plan that takes account of the results of these studies, explained what is going to happen to the complex when it is redeveloped.
When the production facilities are moved out, the site is to be redeveloped as luxury housing. So far in Moscow most luxury housing has been supplied by new construction. Luxury housing projects involving historic buildings have entailed at best completely gutting the existing building and inserting a brand new substructure, or at worst, demolition of everything apart from the facade and the construction of a brand new building behind it. Guta Development, however, plans to turn the factory buildings into the first loft apartment development in Moscow. This method of reusing redundant industrial buildings is tried and tested in Europe and North America, but so far no industrial-to-residential conversions have been undertaken in Moscow, although a number have been converted to commercial uses, as can be seen in the 'New Life' section of the MAPS website.
To prove that they are serious about their plans, Guta have already converted a former boat house in the site into a function room for meetings and corporate entertainment, and also to serve a show room, demonstrating the potential of the buildings on the site for re-use. MAPS got a chance to look inside at the second round table on September 26, when we gave a presentation on the conversion of industrial buildings to a group of PR and marketing specialists in the property industry. The original roof structure has been kept intact, and although the interior has been partly partitioned off to house new functions, the additions do not impinge on the interior space, which sets them off handsomely.
Three of the monumental factory blocks, dating from the latter half of the 19th century, survive on the site, as does a yacht club at the tip of the headland from around the same date. These are to be kept intact, as does the chimney on the site, which is a local landmark, explained Nikulina, who heads the architectural and historical research office of Mosproyekt-2, at the round table on September 15th. Hearing the word 'reconstruction' used to describe the plans for the buildings, MAPS questioned Nikulina and Poshvykin, architect of the concept plan for the site, as to whether this would amount to the usual 'disembowelment' of a historic structure, such has become so common in Moscow of late. Both architects were keen to stress that this would not be the case, that this would be an own goal for the developer. "They are the raw material for lofts," said Poshvykin. Nikulina said that vaulting inside the buildings, stairwells and also original office interiors which survive in one part would be preserved. But she added that the inventory of the parts of the building covered by conservation legislation is still being drawn up. The site is to be given over entirely to housing, with the exception of two public areas and the factory museum. The Patriarch's Bridge is to be extended across the site over the Vodootvodny canal to the Kadashevskaya embankment in Zamoskvorechye, while a two-tier pedestrian walkway is to be created along the bank of the island facing the Moscow River proper.
MAPS is cautiously optimistic about Guta Development's plans. The potential of the site is enormous and its architectural heritage is the key to exploiting it successfully. It is very heartening that the developers appear to have realised this and there is every reason to believe that, if successful, it will tempt more developers to follow their lead. MAPS is very pleased and flattered to have been approached by Guta Development and believes that this is just the sort of case where MAPS can work fruitfully with developers, by drawing their attention to analogous best practice in other countries. But whether the developers prove to be as good as their word, and whether the project succeeds solely thanks to its unbeatable location or also thanks to demand for what will be an entirely new project on the local property market remains to be seen. We will be following the progress of the Red October project with great interest.
