Lakhta center is the highest. All about how the tallest skyscraper in Europe is built. How many people will work in the tower?

The Lakhta Center skyscraper rose 35 floors (147 meters) and established new record among all the buildings in St. Petersburg.
There is one building higher - the TV tower, but that doesn't count. In addition, in 2017 the building will be 2 times higher, and by 2018 the height of the skyscraper will be 462 meters. It will be taller than the Federation Tower in the Moscow City business center in the capital and will become the tallest building in Europe.

Until now, the city record belonged to the Leader Tower, which glows in the Moscow district, which, by the way, is the tallest building in the world in northern latitudes. From historical buildings The leader is the Peter and Paul Cathedral with its 122 and a half meters, conceived as the main dominant feature of the city. But technology is stronger.

Let us recall that the construction of Gazprom’s headquarters was accompanied by battles between city defenders and the authorities, because initially its construction was planned not in Lakhta on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, but in Malaya Okhta on the right bank of the Neva. The authorities believed that this would become a new symbol Northern capital, and the residents were against the tower almost in the center. Now people and authorities have agreed. It is planned that the “mega-structure” will attract financial tycoons from all over the world. It has already been included in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest foundation in the world. It was flooded non-stop for 49 hours. Lakhta Center today
Lakhta Center as planned in 2018
Record-breaking foundation of Lakhta Center
Construction plan
Internal view of Lakhta Center according to plan
The most high building in the northern latitudes of the world - “Leader Tower” on the square. Constitution
The architectural dominant of the Northern capital until 1962 (that year the TV tower was built)

Friends, we are glad to welcome you to the Lakhta Center blog. It is likely that since you visited us, you have already heard something about the St. Petersburg “construction project of the century,” as some media outlets managed to dub our project. However, it doesn’t matter if not.

Visualization of the Lakhta Center project. St. Petersburg, Gulf of Finland, 2018

To arrive at a general starting point, let us briefly recall what we are talking about.

Lakhta Center is a public and business complex that is being built in St. Petersburg, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. It consists of two buildings - a multifunctional building and a skyscraper. The skyscraper belongs to the supertoll category, and at the time of completion in 2018 it will reach a height of 462 meters, becoming the tallest in Russia, Europe and the 11th tallest in the world.

During its construction, several more high-profile titles and records managed to stick to the tower. For example, the pouring of the bottom slab of the foundation was included in the Guinness Book of Records, and a month ago Lakhta Center took second place in the global listing of the tallest buildings with a twisting shape. Of course, collecting records is not an end in itself, it just “happened that way,” as one of our leaders put it. The project is noticeable and gets noticed.

The second building, a multifunctional building (MFZ), is also very interesting. Our engineers and builders believe that it is structurally more complex than a tower. If you've probably seen skyscrapers, then the MFZ will definitely surprise you.

We are confident that the construction of skyscrapers and modern construction is a matter of high technology, not only in the literal, but also in the figurative sense. And not necessarily the actual construction or architectural ones - the scale of the involved specialists from different fields is enormous. For example, did you know that skyscrapers are “tested” by aerodynamics experts? Or that the verticality of the tower’s construction is monitored using satellite navigation systems? Or how is the icing problem solved? (We know that snow is removed from some skyscrapers with shovels, but we definitely won’t use “shovel” technology).

There are many, many more such questions that can be found. We plan to talk about their solutions in our posts. We will try to talk about the most interesting experience gained over the four years since the start of the project. We hope you will have fun with us.

Lakhta center. Commemorative photo on the foundation slab (2014, clickable)

And some organizational information

Material for posts is provided for the most part by our technical specialists. They will prepare answers if any relevant questions arise in the comments. And since the responsibility of answering questions is pleasant, but not the main one, it may take some time to prepare. We hope for your patience and understanding.

For questions related to the project, you can contact the press service:

The high-rise business center under construction in St. Petersburg is often called the Gazprom tower. This building will be the tallest in the Northern capital and the second largest in Europe after the Ostankino Tower. The skyscraper is being built by Gazprom and will house the headquarters of this concern and its company.

Let us recall that initially the construction of a business center 400 meters high was planned to be carried out on a site of 4.7 hectares in the center of the Northern capital, which caused a sharp protest from city defenders and the public. The object fell into a protected zone where monuments included in the list of UNESCO sites are located.

Soon, the governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko, canceled the decree allowing the developer to deviate from the permitted height of 100 meters in this place.

A new site of 14 hectares for the construction of the Lakhta tower is located in the north of St. Petersburg at the exit of the city between the Gulf of Finland and Primorskoye Highway. The distance from the construction site to the city center is about 10 km. According to experts, now the Lakhta Tower, although it will be visible from almost all areas of the city, will not block the sights of St. Petersburg and dominate historical sites.

At the same time, the tower will be clearly visible from the sea; it will become a kind of lighthouse, welcoming those sailing into the city by sea. This will be a landmark object of the sea facade of the Northern capital.

Unlike the old project, in Lakhta Center, in addition to the office part, social infrastructure premises will be located.

The office part will occupy premises in the tower itself, and the buildings at its base will be used for social facilities - shops, sports and medical centers, a children's educational center and a planetarium.

At the top of the tower there will be an observation deck, a revolving restaurant and a conference room.

Lakhta Center Tower - brief description

The customer and investor of the project is Gazprom Neft, the construction project was completed by the British architectural bureau RMJM - Robert Matthew Johnson Marshal.

General contractor - Turkish company Renaissance Construction (created in St. Petersburg in the 1990s, founded by Turkish businessmen). Dozens of institutes and construction organizations are involved in the construction of the building.

The height of the building with the spire will be 462 meters, and the total weight of the tower with all the infrastructure, glazing and even furniture and people will be 670 thousand tons.

The area of ​​one office floor is from 668 to 2060 sq. m. meters.

From the side of the Gulf of Finland, the Lakhta Tower center will appear in all its splendor in the form of a spire soaring upward. It can also be compared to a drop of water flying upward.

Peter the Great conceived Petersburg as the sea capital of Russia. And according to the authors of the project, from afar, from the sea, the Lakhta center will look like a snow-white yacht.

The project includes several architectural highlights, the main ones being a modern planetarium and an outdoor amphitheater.

Planetarium

The planetarium, designed for 140 people, will occupy unusual place- at the height of the fifth floor of one of the buildings adjacent to the tower. It will look like a huge ball, which seems to have been thrown into the building with all its might, and it stuck to the facade. Of course, such a spectacular form of the building cannot but interest everyone who walks or drives by.

During the sessions, a variety of special effects will be used - a moving floor and illusions of lightning and rain, virtual smoke and smells.

Amphitheater

The idea of ​​​​creating an open amphitheater facing the sea is associated with the need for a smooth transition from the high roof to the water space. Here spectators will be able to admire water fountains and various shows on the water, as well as participate in theatrical performances and competitions.

• When laying the foundation, many principles were taken from nature. Thus, the piles at the base of the building, like the roots of a giant tree, go 82 meters into the ground. Above the piles, a “box-shaped” foundation 17 meters high was built, which guarantees the stability of the building
• The maximum permissible deviation of the structure from the vertical over the entire height is no more than 6 millimeters. Not to be confused with the vibration amplitude of a building during a storm wind
• Double-glazed windows have passed a variety of tests: under high pressure of water, air currents and fire. The glass is made using a special film that will not allow the glass to break into fragments
• All materials used in construction are non-flammable or fire resistant. But despite this, the evacuation of people was thought out as much as possible. In the event of a fire alarm, air is pumped into the central core, made of reinforced concrete, which prevents it from becoming smoke-filled. By moving to the central core, where there are stairs, a person is safe
• A special system will be used to wash windows, which moves along rails located on the ribs of the tower.
• In strong winds, the top of the building can deviate by 46 cm from the vertical, and at the level observation deck(at an altitude of 357 meters) the maximum deviation will be 27 cm
• To prevent birds from crashing into the windows, the double-glazed windows are edged with opaque material, and the glass itself is non-mirror. In addition, during mass flights of flocks, the lighting will be “scaring.” This way the birds will see the glass.

Adjacent territory

An entrance for office employees will be located on the east side of the building. This part of the complex will appear in the form of an arch with a span of 100 meters.

A pedestrian zone with a length of 8 km will begin on the south-eastern side. It will include a bridge and a huge space for holding mass celebrations and festive events.

The northern part of the territory will be used for various exhibitions, and in addition, in the future a railway platform and a metro station will be built here.

In addition, next to the tower there will be parking for tourist buses and the Poltava ship museum.

Transport infrastructure

In the future, it is planned to establish a transfer between the Lakhta center and the Chernaya Rechka and Staraya Derevnya metro stations. A metro station is expected to be built in 2025.

The development of transport infrastructure is primarily promoted by the World Cup. In 2018, the Begovaya metro station will be opened, one of the exits of which is located at a distance of just over a kilometer from the Lakhta center, that is, within walking distance.

The Lakhta Center Tower will become the center of the new business district of St. Petersburg, one might say Petersburg City, and the development of transport infrastructure will turn this undeveloped area of ​​the Northern capital into an example of a modern and high-quality urban environment. We would like to remind you that the facility is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018.

04/05/2017

Lakhta Center will be completed by the fall of 2018. Construction is going according to plan and will be completed on time, the company assures. But neither additional roads, nor interchanges, nor crossings necessary for transport support for the skyscraper will be built on time. How will people and cars get to it and what will this mean for St. Petersburg? – Alexander BOBKOV, executive director of JSC Multifunctional Complex Lakhta Center, told City 812.

Sh osse with a turn

I asked your press secretary how to get to Lakhta Center without a car, and heard the answer: “Let us pick you up ourselves.” How will employees and visitors get here after the opening?

After opening, you can get to us the same way as all residents of Lakhta today - by bus, minibus taxis along Primorskoye Highway. In summer, aquabuses will travel on the water. Plus, we will launch free shuttle buses to the nearest Begovaya metro station, which will open for the World Cup. And we are always happy to bring the press to the construction site.

According to official information, more than eight thousand employees will work in Gazprom offices alone. Plus service personnel, plus tourists. This is already tens of thousands of people. At least two thousand of them will go to personal cars along Primorskoye Highway. It is already busy, but it will turn into a highway traffic jam. What to do?

Look at the diagram. We will, of course, build all the infrastructure inside our block - entrances, parking exits, intra-block roads. The city is responsible for the transport infrastructure adjacent to the Lakhta Center multifunctional complex. When we were choosing a place for construction, we naively believed in the General Plan. Long before us, U-turns on the Primorskoe Highway and a large interchange near the (then non-existent) Lakhta Center were already planned (in the diagram - in the yellow oval - Ed.). With the opening of the Lakhta Center, the city must ensure the connection of our quarter to the Primorskoe Highway using an overpass through the Lakhta Harbor (in the red oval in the diagram - Ed.). I cannot say that all this will be done by the opening.

- What will be done?

By June 2017, the arrangement of two U-turns on Primorskoe Highway should be completed (green “circles” on the diagram). They were planned to be made back in 2014, then in 2015, 2016... Now fifty percent of them are ready. In one of them, you only need to move the curb and paint over the double solid line so that you can turn towards the area. The project for connecting the South Lakhta quarter (where Lakhta Center is located) to Primorskoe Highway will be sent for examination in May. But when we will see its physical embodiment is unknown. These are questions for the city. Naturally, the two existing entrances to the Lakhta Center territory will be expanded and improved. But I would like the city to implement its plans within the stated time frame.

How much will it cost to connect Lakhta Center to Primorskoe Highway? The deputies announced the figure of 12 billion.

The cost of building this interchange with an overpass, according to information from city committees, is at least three times less.

- In Smolny they say that there is no money for this.

There is money, it’s just distributed among other objects.

The city authorities sent an application for co-financing of this project from the federal budget back in the fall. Is there already a response from Moscow?

We don’t know about this, but I can assume that the first question from the feds when considering such applications is: “Do you have documentation?” And the documentation for this project will appear no earlier than May, after passing the state examination. Therefore, the decision is probably postponed and awaits delivery of documentation.

About a year ago they said that the Novaya Lakhta station would be built opposite the Lakhta Center on the existing railway line. At what stage are these plans?

Oktyabrskaya Railway ready to start construction new station right now. It will take 9-11 months. But the fact is that a station without a pedestrian crossing to the Lakhta Center via Primorskoe Highway - underground or overground - loses its meaning. Unfortunately, the city has not yet found funds for its construction. Although it is in the planning project.

Need more offices

- Near the Lakhta Center, Gazprom PJSC is implementing another construction project. What is going to be there?

Office center. It will be smaller in size than ours, but the area per workplace will be larger. Accordingly, about 1000-1200 people will still fit there.

Two years ago you said that Lakhta Center would have more public space than offices. And now you are giving two-thirds of the space to offices. Why is that?

We abandoned the hotel in favor of office space, as there was not enough of it. At the same time, all the iconic public facilities of the complex have been preserved. It should be taken into account that a significant part of the complex - 25-27% - is occupied by parking.

- How many cars is it designed for?

For 2000 cars. Plus there will be approximately 890 more places on the adjacent site.

- Is this enough?

More than. I hope that not all employees will drive to work. According to the regulations, there is one parking space per 100 square meters of offices. We have one parking space per 60 square meters.

- Will parking be paid?

Most likely it will be some kind of mix. Those who come to our concert or to the planetarium will be able to leave their car for free.

What besides offices will appear in Lakhta Center? How many non-Gazprom visitors do you expect to come and why?

We believe that we are guaranteed a flow of tourists of 400-600 thousand people annually. Because everyone will want to come to the observation deck. A long atrium promenade will appear between the two buildings of the multifunctional building. It will house the entrance to the planetarium, a children's science center, a transforming hall, street retail, cafes and restaurants, as well as elevators to the office floors. We want to make this public area as comfortable as possible, but at the same time complementary to the business area.

- Already have an agreement with the tenants? What kind of public catering and what kind of trade will appear?

There are many applications, and there is a short list (in fact, a long list) of companies with which negotiations are underway. We want to get tenants who, like us, understand what it is non-standard place and a unique environmental object. We will not have full-fledged trade, and we would not like to see standard fast food here. A panoramic restaurant will be located between the 74th and 76th floors of the tower. The operator has not yet been chosen, but all the leaders in this industry - name anyone! - show interest.

The weather is very disappointing

- When will Lakhta Center be completely ready?

Commissioning is scheduled for autumn 2018.

- What, in your opinion, is the most difficult thing on a construction site?

Communicate with the press. A crooked metal structure can be removed and replaced with a new one. But “what is written with a pen” cannot be erased... with anything. You have to be extremely careful in your statements. Seriously, the hardest part is administering thousands of disparate processes. We practically do not use standard solutions. Of the 200 thousand large structural elements of the tower, only two are identical. Two beams. Manufacturers of metal structures suffer and cry: as soon as they manage to set up the equipment and make one element, we bring an order for the next one - something completely different. This makes the process very difficult. The weather also really lets us down. It seems that over the past two years she has deteriorated greatly in St. Petersburg. Storm warnings come literally every other day. Here are the statistics. In 2015 there were 159 storm warnings, and in 2016 - 258! Because of this, all work at height has to be stopped. Previously, we built one floor within a week. Now, in order to make up for the time lost due to storms, we will build the floor in 6 days.

-What are you most worried about?

We are worried about the transport infrastructure. For the feeling of friendliness that visitors to public spaces should get from the complex.

- What is the total cost of construction?

The unit cost per meter will be lower than the estimated cost of building a skyscraper on Okhta, which we abandoned. If we compare it with the Federation Tower in Moscow, I think they are comparable in cost to the Lakhta Center. But “Federation” has all the floors as standard. And we don’t have a single one that’s the same O.

The builders of Lakhta Center, together with Fontanka, talk about the technological myths and legends that have developed around the skyscraper.

Mikhail Ognev

They say that skyscrapers are to blame for the world's economic crises. The 462-meter Lakhta Center, which is under construction in St. Petersburg, was also accused of destroying rare bedbugs, marsh waxwort, migratory geese and a possible tsunami in Gulf of Finland. Even neotectonic risks from the construction of a high-rise were discussed.

Some fairy tales and legends have sunk into oblivion. But as the Lakhta Center was being built, technological myths and legends appeared. The builders of Lakhta Center, together with Fontanka, are ready to talk about them.

1. Skyscrapers cannot be built on St. Petersburg soils.

Yes, it is believed that St. Petersburg soils are very difficult, even capricious. However, modern engineering science and geotechnics can build buildings of any height and in any place, on any soil, even on sand or in the sea.

Research by the country's main institute for underground exploration, NIIOSP named after. N.M. Gersevanov proved that only the upper 20 meters are weak, and then there is a layer of Vendian clays of Proterozoic age. Vendian clays have similar characteristics to rocks.

Architecture “copies” a lot from nature. The underground foundation of a building is a kind of root system. The colossal piles of the skyscraper, like roots, go to a depth of up to 82 meters, and the total length of all the piles that support the skyscraper is more than twenty kilometers.

Above the piles is a monumental “box-shaped” foundation 17 meters high, including two monolithic reinforced concrete slabs with a total thickness of 5.6 meters (three times the height of a person). Stability guaranteed!

2. In Russia they don’t know how to build skyscrapers, even the columns in the Lakhta Center are crooked.

Lakhta Center belongs to the category of spiral skyscrapers and has a complex twisting shape. The columns that create this shape actually have bends and slopes. When they are covered by the facade, the “twisting” effect will appear even more clearly. The strict verticality of the building as a whole is ensured by the central core. The accuracy of its construction is strictly monitored by surveyors, including with the help of space technology. The maximum permissible deviation of the entire skyscraper structure from the vertical along the entire height is no more than 6 millimeters. Not every low-rise building can boast such precision in construction.

3. Glass facades are vulnerable to the elements - visitors to the complex will be in danger of glass falling on their heads.

The glass facades of the Lakhta Center are designed and manufactured specifically for the unique building, taking into account extreme winds, rain, frost and storms.

Before starting production, double-glazed windows were tested for strength and tightness under the pressure of water, fire and air currents. And they passed the test with honor. They cannot be broken into fragments, since there is a film in the multilayer structure. So in two years it will be possible to safely stroll through the squares of the Lakhta Center and admire the reflection of the city and the St. Petersburg sky in the facades with total area more than 130,000 square meters.

4. Lakhta Center will burn until firefighters reach the upper floors.

The Lakhta Center will use an innovative water mist fire extinguishing system, and all materials used in construction will be non-flammable or with reliable fire protection. And yet, the building has thousands of control sensors, and evacuation is thoroughly thought out: when an alarm is triggered, air is pumped into the stairs in the core of the building, which prevents them from becoming smoke-filled. People in the building just need to take a few steps to the nearest staircase - and they are already safe. The core of the building, where the stairs pass, is made of reinforced concrete, which is known to not burn.

5. Such a tall building can be blown away by the wind or destroyed by an earthquake.

Can not. The project takes into account hurricane winds, earthquakes (which are extremely rare and unnoticeable in our region), and even disasters. Lakhta Center has the most modern design for the stability of the skyscraper. “Inviolability” is ensured by a reinforced concrete core with walls almost a meter thick, outriggers (special floors for horizontal load distribution) and external columns. This design will also protect the tower from more extreme cases, such as an airplane strike. The design of the building eliminates the so-called “progressive collapse”. If a third of the load-bearing elements are removed, the building will remain stable.

6. To go up or down, you have to wait for hours for the elevator.

Lakhta Center vertical transport park – 100 elevators. Of these, there are 38 in the skyscraper. The waiting time for passenger elevators is no more than 40 seconds. The speed of elevators is up to 8 meters per second. This is world standard for skyscrapers.

7. It takes several years to wash the entire façade.

Of course, one person with a rag would spend several years cleaning the facades of such a complex. But skyscrapers are not washed that way. To do this, Lakhta Center has a whole team of washers and a unique system of corner and straight lifting mechanisms, which can “ride” on rails installed in the ribs of the tower, which repeat the “twisted” shape of the skyscraper. The traditional time to shine is spring and autumn.

8. On the upper floors of the tower and on the observation deck, visitors will suffer from seasickness - they will be motion sick.

Yes, skyscrapers sway. For example, the 828-meter Burj Khalifa “walks” 1.2 m to the sides, the 374-meter tower in the Federation complex in Moscow City - by 0.7 m, and the Ostankino TV tower - by 2.25 m. Lakhta Center" in strong winds can deviate at the top up to 46 cm from the vertical. And at the level of the observation deck, the deviations are only 27 cm, it can hardly be felt.

9. Birds will crash into a skyscraper.

There are cases when birds crash into buildings. Birds are disorientated by the bright light and smooth mirror surfaces of skyscrapers - trees are perfectly reflected in them.

Our St. Petersburg skyscraper does not have the main bird danger - mirrored facades. And the architecture of the building itself - the edges, the edging of double-glazed windows - makes it noticeable to birds. The lighting of the Lakhta Center is dim, and when birds migrate, a certain color scheme and intensity of the “scaring” lighting will be used.

10. “Lakhta Center” will be littered with garbage, since otherwise it will have to be removed around the clock or one of the underground floors will have to be used for garbage storage.

Yes, people litter, but it’s clean where they clean up. “Lakhta Center” has a vacuum selective (separate) waste removal, which allows reducing the volume of waste removed by about 20 times, and at the same time pneumatic waste transportation systems, or, as they are also called, vacuum waste disposal system, collect waste using air flow through underground pipeline, like a vacuum cleaner. They are then crushed, pressed and transported. Odor, dirt, noise, rats and related infections are excluded.