The winner of the competition for the development of the concept and general plan of eco-district was announced in Kazan

(KZN.RU, November 7, Alsu Safina). Today, the name of the winner of the Open International Competition for the development of the concept and general plan for the eco-district in Kazan was announced in the Kazan City Hall. The winner was the Russian-French-British consortium under the leadership of Knight Frank (Russia, United Kingdom). They developed the project “Ecopolis. Two forests”. The consortium includes XTU Architects (France), OXO Architects (France), John Thompson & Partners/JTP (United Kingdom), “Architecturny Dessant” (Russia, Republic of Tatarstan), Terra Scape (Belgium). Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, presented diplomas to the winners.

The Russian-British consortium led by the architectural bureau ASADOV and partners (Russia) and Prospecta (Russia), HPBS (Russia), Bioregional Consulting Limited (United Kingdom), LDA Design Consulting Limited (United Kingdom), KPMG Limited (Russia) are on the second place.

The third place was given to the Russian-Dutch consortium under the leadership of Buromoscow (Russia), the members of the consortium are NL Architects (Holland), OKRA Landscape Architects (Holland).

The Mayor noted that the world's best players in this field were represented at the competition. “We saw new approaches to design that are not typical for Russia”, said the Mayor. “We saw what Kazan of tomorrow would look like”. Ilsur Metshin thanked all the participants and members of the jury. He marked that the competition allowed him to gain extensive experience in the field of town-planning.

Airat Nurutdinov, an assistant to the President of the RT, the chairman of the Council of the Republican Fund for Support, noted that the territory of the future eco-district is complex in terms of transport accessibility and the ecological framework. “I am glad that all our hopes were justified. All three works are worthy and of high quality and reflect different approaches”, said Airat Nurutdinov.

The open international competition started on July 5. 122 applications from 20 regions were submitted for participation in the competition. 47 applications from 22 individual participants and 25 consortia passed technical expertise. Following the meeting, the jury headed by Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, selected three finalists. They had to develop an architectural and town-planning concept and a general plan for the eco-district, a framework financial and economic model for implementing the concept until 2030, and a detailed architectural and town-planning concept and a preliminary design of the territory of the 1st stage of implementation.

The final meeting of the jury chaired by Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, took place this morning. At the event, consortia-finalists presented their concepts to the President and members of the jury.

The first eco-district in Kazan will be created on an area of 759 hectares on the territory of the former artillery base in the Kirovsky district. In 2017, on behalf of Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, the Ministry of Land and Property Relations of the RT transferred land to the Republican Fund of Support for the performance of statutory tasks. Before the start of the competition, a comprehensive inter-sectoral study was conducted in order to select the optimal model for the development of the site. The idea of creating an eco-district in this territory was born as a result of the research. The concept was approved at the June meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of the RT.