Belgrade, Minsk announce "La Défense"-style projects

[SrbijaCG]

So, did anyone really think that Belgrade & Minsk would let Warsaw & Moscow rule the skies in our region? Think again.


Last month, within the span of a single week, two large projects in the capitals of Serbia & Belarus were practically given the go-ahead.

In Belgrade, we finally saw the results of the long running competition to design the future look of Block 25 & 26 of New Belgrade (this Belgrade district is split into such blocks, there are about ~70 of them)

The winning project, after the City government finally removed the height limits specifically to accomodate this project, foresees the costruction of four 50 floor office towers as well as many new residential units so the new district would feel alive 24/7.

Of course, the final project may not look exactly like this as in the end, it will be up to the investors.

Images courtesy of BeoBuild.net















Unfortunately, some minor, land-grabbing projects are already under construction within these two blocks - the most controversial being that new church smack-dab in the middle of it all. The Serbian Orthodox Church got the land for free in the 1990's and has now started with the foundation works, stubbornly refusing city government offers of land to relocate elsewhere.

[SrbijaCG]

Just a few days later, about 1150 kilometers away in the city of Minsk, the officials announced the creationg of new "Minsk-City", a re-development of the old Minsk city airport & aircraft service grounds. After two years of planning, the construction is expected to begin in 2009 with the centerpiece of the project being a tower between 70 and 80 floors high.

The presentation was attented by President Alexander Lukashenko himself:




This is the area that will be re-devoloped:

[R@ptor]

Well, Belgrade can pull it off as they have a booming economy and their plan looks great. It's also nice to see that this will be a mixed-use project and not only one with office towers.

But Belarus lol.

[Swede]

ditto on what Raptor said Beograd does have a bright future, but Belarus... not so much at the moment.

[Jonas]

It's about time Belgrade starts doing something serious. The project looks very realistic and not overscaled.
But Minsk... how it would be called? La Lukashénko?

R@ptor
Belarus's economy is actually doing quite well too... in fact, better than Serbia's if you look at GDP per capita and some other figures... if not one detail: it's exclusively dependent on subsidized (i.e. way under market prices) imports of oil and natural gas from Russia. If this would be changed, Belarussian economy would collapse overnight since it hardly has got any competitive industries which could match anything to the West from them. It's like living in someone else's apartment and not paying the rent or mortgage

[R@ptor]

Originally Posted by Jonas

R@ptor
Belarus's economy is actually doing quite well too... in fact, better than Serbia's if you look at GDP per capita and some other figures... if not one detail: it's exclusively dependent on subsidized (i.e. way under market prices) imports of oil and natural gas from Russia. If this would be changed, Belarussian economy would collapse overnight since it hardly has got any competitive industries which could match anything to the West from them. It's like living in someone else's apartment and not paying the rent or mortgage

I'm well aware of these facts.
Their GDP is totally bloated due to these things, take it away and they are on the same level as Moldova. Belarus has no huge international operating companies and due to their isolation (except for Russia) no one wants to do a lot of business with them. So what do they want skyscrapers for? Well, other than for Lukashenko's ego of course. That money would be better invested elsewhere in Belarus.

[SrbijaCG]

I guess its time to update this thread a bit.

Not a whole lot is yet known about the centerpiece of the project - four tallest buildings (at ~200m each) seen in the background - aside from the fact that the Israeli company CEE is the investor. Its also rumoured that London firm Foster & Partners is working on their design.

With the current financial crisis, I don't see their construction starting anytime soon.



Meanwhile, another piece of the puzzle has been revealed.
This is the building that will be built on the plot owned by local firm "Napred", providing they find a new partner for this investment as they couldn't reach a deal with Austria's "Signa Development"











That is the building that will stand in the place of the tallest structure in this photo, closest to Belgrade's Federation Palace building...



The only bit of good news is that the 2nd of the two low-rise, square-shaped office buildings that are also part of this "block", is almost complete...











Some with a sharp eye have probably noticed a church within this block...well, that too is almost complete.
Apparently, there's no such thing as a financial crisis for the Church.