UK firms win key role on massive Moscow cultural park

A clutch of UK consultants and architects are among a consortium that has won the competition to masterplan a massive tourism and cultural development outside Moscow.

Architect Feilden Clegg Bradley, engineer Buro Happold, and consultant Rider Levett Bucknall are among the firms on the winning consortium for the Park Russia development masterplan and business strategy.

Park Russia is a 1,000 hectare tourism and cultural project 30km south of Moscow near Domodedovo airport.

The consortium, led by Cushman & Wakefield includes five UK firms:

• Gillespies was the design team leader, masterplanner and landscape Architect for the competition-winning design;
• Buro Happold created an engineering framework for Park Russia to become an exemplar for green development in Russia, defining a new standard for integrated design including a strategic rail and road plan with an emphasis on public transport;
• Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios were responsible for designing the cultural and commercial heart of the Park proposal with a particular focus on the central transport interchange hub that will be the gateway to key attractions;
• Rider Levett Bucknall provided the costs and project programming inputs to the financial model;
• Fourth Street placemaking economists provided the destination economic analysis.

The winning proposals provided a masterplan and business strategy showing three main zones of the park for days visitors as well as a tourism resort destination, where visitors are expected to stay.

The plan includes strong green building credentials and intends to optimise rail access from Moscow and Domodedovo to cope with the large numbers of annual visitors ranging up to a potential 10 million per annum.

Mark Weaver, director at Rider Levett Bucknall said: ” This is an exciting large scale, long term scheme that heralds a new era of tourism and culture for Russia worldwide.

“It will without doubt further help to boost the country’s construction sector, which remains one of the key catalysts of economic growth in Russia.”

Andy Theobald, partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios said: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity of creating the first element of an extremely ambitious vision - planting a seed that will potentially grow into a sustainable and playful garden.”