Ilsur Metshin shares the secrets of successful restoration of the historical center

The Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin spoke at the plenary session of the international forum “Rebus: Economics of Construction in the historical center”, which opened today. Two thousand participants from 46 regions of Russia, as well as China, Turkey and Belarus took part in the forum. Among them, representatives of relevant federal and regional departments, developers and heads of leading architectural bureaus will discuss the issues of historical centers for two days.

The Rebus Forum opened with a plenary session devoted to construction and renovation in historical city centers. Russian Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities Sergey Muzychenko, Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin and others took part in the forum.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Marat Khusnullin and Vice-Mayor of Hangzhou (China) San Xudong addressed the participants with a video greeting. The session was moderated by Olesya Baltusova, Aide to the Rais of Tatarstan, and Ignat Bushukhin, Editor-in-chief of RBC Real Estate.

During the meeting, the speakers discussed attractiveness of the historical center, the regulations of the design works, conditions for investors and other issues.

Sharing his experience, the Mayor of the capital of the republic of Tatarstan noted that during the preparation of the city for 2013 World Summer Universiade, 300 objects in the center of Kazan required reconstruction, and the federal legislator at that time did not limit the dilapidated condition of these buildings.

Ilsur Metshin informed about work that was carried out to improve the situation. By hands-on management mode, each object in the historical center was considered by two specialized commissions. “The first one is headed by me, as the Mayor of the city, which includes a large number of specialists, - Ilsur Metshin explained. - The second one is headed by Rustam Minnikhanov. We agreed right away that we would not build high-rise buildings in the center anymore.”

The second important direction was the adoption of unified rules for all investors. General approaches were prescribed in the rules of land use and development, local standards of urban planning design. An important milestone was the development of a concept for the development of a historical settlement, which determines the parameters of construction in the historical center. Kazan became one of the first Russian cities that managed to systematize the work on the preservation of the historical center.

The mayor continued that the work is being carried out with the support of the chief architect of the capital of the republic of Tatarstan Ilsiyar Tukhvatullina. The Institute of City Development has also been created, which today determines urban planning policy, comprehends the strategy of city development. The Institute is currently developing several concepts for the development of territories within the boundaries of a historical settlement.

For reference, the Rebus forum will be held in Kazan for two days. A section devoted to the specifics of investing in construction and reconstruction in historical territories, a round table at Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering, where the economics of historical objects will be discussed, and other meetings are planned for today. The first day of the forum will end with a bus tour for participants in the center of Kazan.

Tomorrow, the participants will discuss the balance of functions of objects in the historical center, legal instruments for the sustainable development of such territories, innovations, design and much more.