Alabuga SEZ raises Soviet aircraft designers to the wing

Alabuga will take off through aircraft designers

Alabuga SEZ, which became famous with the arrival of European industrial brands, seems to have begun redirecting the focus of marketing strategy to famous personalities of the Soviet era. The main focus is on the names of great designers of aviation equipment and artillery weapons of the USSR — Sergey Ilyushin, who created the country's first long-range bomber and flying “tank” Il-2, Alexander Yakovlev, who created fighters and the first drones, and Vasily Grabin, the creator of artillery weapons. He is called the “designer of Victory weapons”.

The production buildings No. 27 and No. 21, which are being built as part of the expansion of the Synergy Industrial and Technological Park in the Alabuga SEZ, are named after two famous aircraft designers. The name “Grabin” is assigned to an office and residential complex (building 22, stage 5), which will combine a dormitory under construction for nonresident employees and an administrative building. Information about this is in the notices of the tender for the selection of contractors, which are published on the electronic procurement platform b2b-center.ru. In the documentation, they are referred to as follows: “ITP Synergy building No. 27 Ilyushin”, “ITP Synergy. Building 21. Yakovlev”, “Synergy Industrial and Technological Park”. Building No. 22 Grabin”.

The enumeration of three surnames leaves no doubt that it is about Soviet aircraft designers. Alabuga Development PLC confirmed to Realnoe Vremya that the buildings were named at the initiative of Timur Shagivaleev, CEO of Alabuga SEZ. According to the interlocutor, the head of the SEZ has always admired the work of the great designers of the Soviet era, so this year it has been decided to perpetuate their names on the territory of the special economic zone.

Synergy without airline component suppliers

The renaming of the buildings of the Synergy Industrial Park has nothing to do with the profile of their activities. As the developer of the technical task to support the construction of ITP Synergy building No. 27 Ilyushin told Realnoe Vremya, a plant for the production of volumetric reinforced concrete structures will be located in it. A test stand will be built next to it. Currently, proposals for the service for the assembly and installation of a test stand for reinforced concrete structures are being studied, it follows from the notice on the procurement portal b2b-center.ru. The total cost of the purchase is 90 million rubles.

According to the technical developer, the delivery of the test stand will take place in the near future, work is underway with the contractor:

“The stand has not been delivered yet, but it is there. Its dimensions are 3 by 8 metres. It was created at one of the Russian factories. A reinforced concrete structures plant will be built inside the building at the expense of the general contractor Alabuga Development PLC. This is a volume-block housing construction enterprise, the test stand is part of its structure. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of this year.”

However, the developer of the technical task did not know who Ilyushin was and why building No. 27 was named after him. “What does Ilyushin have in common with the production of reinforced concrete structures? It's hard to say. I came at the time of the project implementation, the history of the name is unknown to me," he was slightly confused. Having learned the meaning of the name, he said that there are definitely no plans to produce airline components here.

A similar picture is with “ITP Synergy. Building 21. Yakovlev”: the developers of the technical task refused to disclose the purpose of the case, and the name of Yakovlev is also unknown to them. Now there is a request for proposals for the performance of interior finishing works with a total cost of 36 million rubles.

Alabuga SEZ is expanding by 10 billion rubles

The construction of the Grabin office and residential complex is at the final stage, the developers of the technical task told Realnoe Vremya. Unofficially, it is called a “construction town”, since it will house a hostel for nonresident workers and an office centre. The one-storey administrative and household building has an area of 5184 sq. m., and the dormitory is about 37 thousand sq.m. The complex is being built in stages. At the end of last year, the Gosstroynadzor inspection went to conduct a final inspection of the 2-4 stages of construction. Now the construction of the 5th stage is underway. “A contractor has already been selected to perform electrical installation work on sections of the project documentation with a total cost of 22,5 million rubles," the developers of the technical task reported. It is expected that it will be fully commissioned at the end of 2024.

It should be noted that the construction of new buildings of the industrial and technological park Synergy resumed after the opening of financing for a huge amount. At the board of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan, it was mentioned that Alabuga SEZ received resources for 10 billion rubles. In January, the head of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Tatarstan, Fanil Agliullin, reported on the receipt of 10 billion rubles of taxes from Alabuga SEZ to the treasury. “For three years, I have traded the lease of land plots [to residents]. Therefore, such a large receipt, almost 10 billion rubles," he rejoiced at the results of the zone.

The head of the Tatarstan Investment Development Agency, Taliya Minullina, mentioned that Alabuga SEZ took loans for infrastructure expansion. One way or another, but the zone is actively building new production areas for future residents. Last April, Deputy Minister of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Communal Services of the Republic of Tatarstan Rafar Shakirov visited the place. He inspected the communal structures of the KNS-6, KNS-8, which reconstruction is being carried out with the involvement of the funds of the GC Fund for Assistance to the Reform of Housing and Communal Services, and then the buildings. Realnoe Vemya asked whether they are being built with an eye on the suppliers of airline components. Alabuga Development company denied this possibility.

Yakovlev Design Bureau: if you take one or two out of context, then it's not very clear why

“Why is Alabuga suddenly interested in aircraft designers” they were sincerely surprised at the bold initiative of the Yakovlev Design Bureau. “We assess it positively. The main thing is that it should be appropriate from the point of view of products. I would like it to be somehow linked. If they just called it that, it's good. It is unclear why to call this object the name of the general designer if this product or object does not carry at least a shade of aviation. It will even be difficult to understand for the uninitiated. It is possible to do so that all the production buildings get the name of other aircraft designers. Then the names of Myasishchev, Sukhoi, Mikoyan, etc. should still appear. Then it will be clear that this block goes as an aviation one, and the buildings bear the names of the general designers. And if you take one or two out of context, then, it seems to me, it is not very clear.”

The CEO of Artpatent company, Grigory Busarev, does not see commercial use in this. “This technique is most likely aimed at popularising the profession of a designer, which corresponds to the spirit of the technopark concept," he is sure.

In his opinion, “it's a good thing here — they showed respect to the great designers of the Soviet era, who have already been forgotten in society, and why not once again remind them of them.” According to him, it has long been fashionable to give names to conference halls — Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Lermontov. And the names of aircraft designers have not been replicated yet, this is a new creative technique. Now designers are coming to the fore, it popularises the profession. Moreover, the technology park meets this idea.