Building the Future: Euroinvest’s Recipe for Client-Oriented Development
In October, Andrey Berezin’s Euroinvest was recognized as the most client-oriented developer in the Leningrad Region. The union of construction associations and organizations of the region were the ones to give such judgment. This is objective recognition of many years of successful work, ranging across development and related.
Strictly speaking, there is no legal concept of a developer in Russia. All documents use the old Soviet term developer, which has an unambiguous interpretation in federal legislation. Despite this, the situation with word development is more complicated; there are a few variations of definitions towards the meaning of this word in Russian.
More often than not, there are two variants. The first is that the developer is a brand. This reading, carried over from Western terminology, has taken root in the Russian business environment. A developer invests money in construction and promotes his project. The second interpretation implies that the developer is often a holding company, which could include the direct construction wing and all the related productions.
In the case of Euroinvest, both interpretations are valid. The company has been in the market for over 25 years, successfully implementing its projects and investing in areas such as construction, industry, and agriculture. Only in 2017 was a separate direction allocated to this Euroinvest Development, a continuator of its predecessor’s traditions. It is a brand that is widely known throughout Northwest Russia, in equal respects to its founder, Andrey Berezin.
The second meaning of the word developer the company fully corresponds. Construction is key, but it is only one of a dozen directions that Euroinvest is engaged in. Some of them have long ago formed independent laws. Most of them help to develop the real estate development segment directly, increase the quality of projects, and support cities in developing modern public spaces.
The whole system naturally forms the environment, which means it is also a part of the customer focus. For example, suppose a developer can afford not only to build up a neighborhood as well as add new private schools and kindergartens to it and build interchanges. In that case, he will become the best possible developer for the locals.
Complex Approach
From the very beginning of its work in development, Euroinvest began to develop non-standard solutions for the market. Although it may simply be the style of Berezin’s hometown (St. Petersburg), the company immediately began to offer complex neighborhood solutions. They were among the first in the country who did not go the way of scandalous infill development but immediately began to think about how people will live in the newly acquired housing.
The company tested its ideas at the best Russian and international real estate exhibitions. In many cases, it managed to receive awards and achievements for its efforts, one example being at the ProEstate real estate investment forum and the MIPIM international exhibition in Canada.
This led to the company gaining the unique experience of participating in constructing an entire city from scratch. We are talking about complexes in Kudrovo and Murino. These settlements have recently been small villages, but they have become a central focus for St. Petersburg’s real estate developers. 12 years ago, Kudrovo only had 150 people lived there, but now it has more than 60,000. Murino had just over 5000 inhabitants, but it is now reaching 90,000 To compare, the largest city in the Leningrad region, Gatchina, has just over 94 thousand.
This experience influences every project of Euroinvest. Together with the residential complexes, public spaces and park areas are built, and residential complexes have their optional raisins, up to a spa complex on the roof. These things are not of fundamental importance, but they do allow for a profound improvement in the quality of life.
Modern Technology
The pinnacle of this approach is the new 3iD residential project. The essence of the concept lies in the name; after the purchase, the buyer gets a key to three spaces. The first area is a club; it provides access to a public space with a coffee bar, kitchen furniture, sofas, bookcases, and a small stage. This is intended as an educational area where neighbors can hold joint events and engage in shared or independent hobbies.
The authors of the concept talk about the revival of traditional neighborhood culture through this process. This space will be used for joint leisure, lectures, workshops, and co-working. The management company of the residential complex (which happens to also be a part of the vast assets of Euroinvest) will be responsible of taking care of the club and those that are interested in being involved.
The second key is in a digital space. This access to the online space includes the standard chat rooms of the neighbors, residents’ forums, and support services of the complex. It integrates essential elements of the social network with an event calendar. This solution complements the neighborhood culture that is mentioned above. The second key also opens the residents to the possibility of an intelligent home, including an integrated system with smart meters that control the costs of electricity, water, and heat supply. All of this data can be seen in a mobile app.
The third key is the physical key to the apartment itself, designed not only by the interior designer, but also by the psychologist and digital director. All apartments have integrated innovative home solutions enabling you to configure all the functions for yourself. This can include turning on and off lights with a clap, or connect the smart home appliances to a single system.
This format finds a comprehensive response from buyers, with the 4th building of the residential complex still under construction, but 98% of the apartments have already been sold. Sanctions did not affect the construction process; according to the statement of Euroinvest, almost all the technologies used domestic iron. Accordingly, there will be no complications with the service, enabling it to become a significant addition to the company’s overall client-oriented approach.
Education System
If you look at the map and connect Kudrovo and Murino between an imaginery line, on one side will be St. Petersburg, and on the other side is the Leningrad region city Vsevolozhsk. North from there is Kaselevo Microdistrict, an area with a big lake. On the shore of the lake, Berezin has planned for an extensive educational project, a new private academy for gifted children in the North-West of Russia.
The project is big and ambitious. At the moment, Euroinvest is finishing up the designs for four buildings for future institution. The concept provides a studio for 3D modeling, a sports unit with a swimming pool, an assembly hall, a greenhouse for biology lessons, a private quay, and a pier. Additionally, the academy is designed for permanent residence of both students and teachers: the project includes educational and residential buildings.
As for the curriculum, Berezin recalls on his own experience. He is a graduate of the Presidential Lyceum of Physics and Mathematics, which four times won the title of the best educational institution in our country according to the rating of the Ministry of Education. Moreover, it was the only school with the President’s status for seven years. Berezin himself graduated with an honors degree and repeatedly spoke about the high importance of education both in his life and in the life of the whole country.
The new project pays special attention to teachers, and a support program has already been formed for them. The staff is also assembled in full. The only thing left to do is to get budget support because the financial model involves a public-private partnership mechanism.
“Things are moving much slower than we would like, but Euroinvest will pay for the design and support the teachers,” says Berezin regarding the project. At this point, we can only add that no developer in the region will ever be able to provide such extensive infrastructure for its residents. However, the elite academy will seriously complement the primary institutions; a school and a kindergarten have already been designed for Kudrovo, and a kindergarten for Murino.
Infrastructure
The businessman has always managed to protect his interests and projects at the highest level, so it is very likely that the project will be realized soon. This project specifically concerns the private-public partnership.
At the recent XXVI practical conference “Development of building complex of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region,” Berezin was a speaker on the development of PPP mechanisms in the region. At this conference, he spoke about the transport infrastructure and its comparable details in citing a big project in Murino; constructing a transportation interchange that connected the city with the Ring Road of St. Petersburg. Euroinvest coordinated the work of the developers and the regional Department of Transportation Road. As a result, every resident of Murino enjoys the result in their daily livelihoods. It is also a rare example of customer focus when a developer copes with such a large-scale task as highway interchange construction.
It is worth stating here that such projects are established for the benefit of the whole of St. Petersburg. Berezin’s speech at the conference cemented this viewpoint: “such agreements not only contribute to the dynamic development of new districts of St. Petersburg agglomeration but also allow to create a comfortable and affordable living environment there.” He then went on to announce that a similar project would be implemented from the opposite, southern side of Murino to continue Piskaryovsky Avenue.
In addition to this topic, it is worth adding the work of Berezin as an urban protector of St.-Petersburg. This is part of a more significant effort to create and preserve a comfortable living environment: it is clear that the suburbs also benefit from St. Petersburg’s cultural and public infrastructure. Furthermore, these efforts have also been directed at cleaning and reintegrating architecture in urban landscapes, clearing Soviet-era buildings and redeveloping neighborhoods, most notably in the region of Svetlanovsky.
The Builder Stays Behind the Ring Road
Andrey Berezin is the leader of the construction community that created the new Leningrad suburbs. The company’s total investment in the development of the ZaKAD is over 12 billion rubles, which is only one part of the funds that were directly spent on the construction of residential complexes. The total area of commissioned housing is around 250 thousand square meters. In the future, the company may also enter St. Petersburg itself, but for now, it is only a story in the Leningrad region.
Berezin designed, coordinated, and supervised the construction of new cities, a rare experience that allows him to feel responsible for what has been created and to continue working on the development of his region. Through his efforts, organic production in the neighboring Pskov Oblast, from where products will soon be supplied to the Leningrad Oblast, is being developed. It is not too difficult to guess about the first places of distribution of Red Banner dairy products from the Dnovsky district.
In addition, the public environment is another area that is being supported. Public organizations, such as the Euler Foundation, widely help Euroinvest’s assets. This is the largest organization in the North-West region specializing in developing mathematical education and science: schoolchildren, students, teachers, scientists, and their families. Berezin’s company supports the foundation financially, and in return it receives a corresponding attitude; the foundation has announced that it will keep the businessman’s idea of building a new academy. Berezin supports society, which, in return, helps him.
The company also launched scholarship support for the students of Voenmech, which is another educational institution, from the personal biography of the Euroinvest founder. He graduated with a red diploma in engineering, and now he is returning his gratitude to his alma mater in the form of a new scholarship for talented students. In other words, a resident of the Leningrad Region has good chances to spend his life side by side with Berezin’s heritage.
Berezin’s work is all in the name of development, of which is encompassed by this task: developing an environment for a comfortable life, study, and work. The title of the most client-oriented developer was given to a person for whom his small motherland became a place of realizing not only his entrepreneurial potential, but also his town planning. Although it sounds loud, he can safely use the naive slogan of the previous century: “Not everyone can live so generously to give his friends in memory of the city.”
The only pity is that the builder himself is very often left out of the picture. It is difficult to find his detailed interviews or a description of his biography on the Web, except for the essential things related to education and professional activities. Probably, this small detail will be corrected in time, especially as Berezin’s biography is full of exciting projects and brilliant victories.
