A QUESTION OF SURVIVAL

Polar Nights of the House Building

Oleg Vereschagin,
Director the St. Petersburg Zonal Research
and Construction Design Institute

         Our Institute was created in 1963 as part of the national plan for zonal research and design institutes. Each of these institutes worked on a specific region of the USSR. The Institute became responsible for the oil and gas producing areas of northwest Siberia as well as for the whole of eastern Siberia up to Magadan. We planned the cities of New Jurengoi and Nadym from scratch and worked on the towns of Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk, Yakutsk, Tiksi, and Bilibino.
        Throughout the last few years our Institute has gained a great deal of experience: we learned to build houses on permafrost, on weak soils and in seismically active areas. Practically all planned development in the North has been based on the Institute's projects. We became the leading coordinators of all design planning in the North, developed the rules and standards by which construction takes place, and acted as consultants for other organizations.
        The Institute had branches in the cities of New Jurengoi, Nadym, Vorkuta, Magadan, Yakutsk, and Surgut. In Leningrad only, our staff included 1500 people. At present we have only 300 and have been forced to close all our branch offices. Because the Institute's scope of activities has decreased we now only carry out single orders. For instance, we are in the process of building a cultural center in New Jurengoi and we have several orders for construction in Nadym, but there is no cohesive order of priorities and no prospects because the state has no policies regarding the North.
        Formerly a policy did exist. Although it was a questionable one, it nevertheless existed. The state planned to build new cities in the north all the way up to the Arctic Ocean. In fact, those plans included complex capital construction through out the entire century. Back then, the seasonal work method, so widely spoken of, was not widely used. Our last major project was the development of The North - 2000 Program. The work begun in 1985 and ended in 1991. At that point, the system collapsed. Today, the documentation on past projects is piled on dusty shelves as everyone has lost interest.
        Our country is one of extremes. Formerly, only major construction was used in the North. For example, there were plans to build a large permanent settlement in the north of Yamal, regardless of its salty soils and high rising tides. Yet today, opinions have changed radically. The prevailing assumption is that we no longer need cities in the North and that only temporary settlements are justified. Rem Vyakhirev for instance, head of Gasprom actively supports the seasonal migration system. To transport people thousands of kilometers only to bring them back after a month's work is foolish. We have base cities such as Jurengoi and Nadym. Their infrastructure can be used to move deep into the North, where seasonal work shifts are truly necessary. The debate on seasonal work began 20 years ago. At that time the Institute developed pre-fabricated homes for seasonal settlement. The state ignored the project because it had already decided to use permanent major construction. The priorities are no longer clear.
        The population of New Jurengoi and Nadym is decreasing though not as rapidly as expected. People have lived there for many years and do not want to leave. These cities are well developed and comfortable. Nadym for instance, was among our Institute's best projects. We began the work on it in 1972. Gasprom was our main customer. Nadym became the outpost for the development of new gas fields and the first industrial city in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. The Medvezhye, Jurengoiskoye, and Bovanenkovskoye (Yamal) deposits were also developed using this outpost. The city now stands in the very place where the first pioneers lived in barracks during Stalin times. The Institute developed the project for the whole construction of the city of Nadym. The first houses were brought in from Armenia, Moldavia, and west Russia. It was expensive and unreasonable.
        Some time later Nadym built a construction factory and a ferro-concrete plant. The Institute prepared the project for the 112-type residential buildings that were used for the entire development of the city. This type of home is very comfortable and specially adapted to northern conditions. The residential space and ceiling height was increased by 10 percent as the region has less oxygen.
        Nadym is the only northern city in which we used comprehensive construction. In other cities, apartment buildings were built first. In contrast, all residential areas in Nadym included from the beginning kindergartens, schools, shops, communal services and entertainment. The government wanted to make Nadym a receptor of the Lenin prize for construction, but later forgot about it.
        Nadym has good highways and an excellent river port. The city is very beautiful as the architects took great care in its appearance. For instance, our Institute developed special mosaic panels for the house facades. The technique we used preserves the design for many years. There is also a beautiful lake in the center. There were plans to create fountains nearby, but as new times came, the idea was discarded.
        We had developed documented plans for Nadym for the following 8 years. At present, the local administration chooses its own project designers. Despite the great number of urban planners available, the Institute has been receiving more and more contract orders recently.
        Construction in the North has its own specific characteristics and requires specialized attention. Because of the extreme cold temperature, the distance between homes, schools or kindergartens etc. must be as short as possible. Strong winds are typical in the north and there are special techniques, which help to protect building blocks from them. Snowdrifts can be prevented through a special construction design. Northern highways need a special strip for piling snow, which is then removed. These are the engineering norms for the North. Our Institute has actively worked on their development. Specialists from other organizations often coordinated their plans with us when developing projects in the North.
        There is very little construction in Nadym and New Jurengoi today. The local administration is buying out the apartments sold by people leaving the area. Nobody knows what will happen next. If there is no more industrial development and the gas pipelines are not extended to Yamal, there is no point in developing these cities any further. As soon as the local reserves are depleted, and this will happen someday, these cities will become ghost towns. We must keep this in mind and look forward into the future. In order to develop a coherent policy we need people who know the North well. At present our Institute's vast experience is not being used. Neither the government's "Committee for the North" nor the Russian Ministry of Construction have approached us for guidance, even though our specialists know the North in depth. Today's project design quality leaves a lot to be desired. This problem is rooted in the creation of pilot workshops. For example, various architects under Ivan Silayev's government were given the rights to design development projects, regardless of their qualifications. This led to a decrease in quality and affected planning and designing organizations. The workshop's head architect hired contract builders for specific projects. However, if flaws were later discovered in the designs, these builders were nowhere to be found. In China for instance, during the period of the "big jump", everybody was allowed to make steel. The result was that several bridges collapsed and those responsible for the defects were impossible to trace. Construction requires responsibility, especially in the North. At present, when a building begins to collapse, no one can account for its designer. There is a great deal of substandard work. Potential customers are beginning to realize that it is more advantageous to cooperate with the Institute, the leading project designer for the North. We have managed to preserve our veteran staff and when northern development regenerates, young specialists will come to us.
        Construction is considered the engine of the economy because it precedes other branches of industry, from woodwork to electronics. No country can develop without construction. This includes the North as well.