TECHNICAL OVERVIEW
The Piter-Raduga shopping centre is located on 25 hectares to the south of the Saint Petersburg city centre, close to the Sport Kultur Komplex complex where sports activities and shows take place. The centre is ideally located midway between the city centre and Pulkovo International Airport.
This was a design-build project for a multifunctional shopping centre that also included commercialisation of the infrastructure.
On a 25-hectare ground, the 84,600-m² built space has 8,000 m² of mezzanines and includes a 17,000-m² hypermarket, a large 12,000-m² home improvement shop, this same shop’s 5,000-m² winter garden, a 10,000-m² multiplex with 14 cinema halls and 16 bowling lanes, a 3,500-m² food court with a total of 17 restaurants, 133 shops and supermarkets, a 7,000-m² promenade and four security entries, a total of 1,900m² in administrative and technical premises, a car park with 3,500 spaces, a building for a medium-voltage transmission substation and a 11,000-m² children’s play area with green spaces.
One of the challenges of this project was building in a harsh climate. In fact, winter 2005/2006 was particularly severe. Temperatures fell to 35 degrees below zero. Excavation to lay the foundations and underground pipes was made possible with the use of hydraulic breakers fitted to excavators. Around ten of these breakers were pressed into service so that work could be carried out without interruption and 1.20 metres of frozen ground could be broken. As a project funded in part by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the construction site was visited by its representatives who paid particular attention to environmental protection. Anti-pollution kits distributed on the construction site were used effectively, in particular when there were oil or fuel leaks from aerial work platforms.
