Football new stadium zenith. New stadium. Force majeure at a construction site

How a stadium in St. Petersburg became one of the most expensive football arenas in the world

Ruble devaluation prevented Krestovsky from setting an absolute price record

Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga (pictured in the center) on September 12, at the request of the city authorities (pictured left - Vice-Governor Igor Albin) and the contractor, served a prayer service at the Zenit Arena stadium for the successful completion of construction work

Journalists who gathered on September 10 to cover the visit of a FIFA inspection to a football stadium under construction in St. Petersburg were initially not allowed into its territory. The security regime at the site was sharply tightened: all entering cars were searched with dogs, the construction site was fenced with wire sections in addition to the permanent fence installed along the perimeter. Something collapses and falls there all the time, the organizers explained to journalists. It is impossible to climb the stadium bowl, since the freight elevators have been dismantled, they added.

In the end, photographers were allowed to take a few pictures of the structure, and journalists were allowed to listen to the inspectors speak.

Construction of the stadium will officially end in December. Construction deadlines are being met, says Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Igor Albin. But all the work will not be completed by this time. “This is a normal situation,” said FIFA competition director Colin Smith. FIFA hopes that the arena will host two matches of the Confederations Cup in June and July 2017, and that it will be ready in time for the 2018 World Cup games, as follows from the speeches of Smith and the head of the Russia 2018 organizing committee, Alexei Sorokin.

Back in early September, few people believed that the stadium would be built on time. The facility was 85% ready, in addition, the contractor was changed: the administration of St. Petersburg terminated the contract with the Engineering Corporation Transstroy-SPb (Inzhtransstroy) and the Transstroy Corporation, which had been building the arena since 2008. At the same time, the new contractor was owned by city, Metrostroy found many shortcomings at the facility, a company representative admitted: the worst thing is that mold has spread throughout the lower tier of the stadium, in some places about 1 meter from the floor, now it is necessary to replace the wall coverings and finishing work can only begin after They will close the roof and dry out the building. The bowl of the stadium also flooded and had to be drained.

In general, the construction period for the arena dates back to 2004, when the construction site and stadium design were selected (see inset on page 21). Then it was planned to build it in three years and 7.2 billion rubles. Why did it take four times as long and six times as much money? A comparison is now often made on football fan forums: the football stadium in St. Petersburg took longer to build than the Colosseum in Rome. It took eight years to build the ancient arena; Russian construction did not even take ten. The stadium in St. Petersburg remains the only truly problematic facility in the preparation program for the 2018 World Cup, says a person close to the Russia 2018 organizing committee.

Apparently, the main problem with this construction project is that a lot of things were done for it on the basis of agreements, not documents. And every time something changed - the ruble exchange rate, the governor of St. Petersburg, or plans for using the stadium - we had to negotiate again.

Oil and gas exchange

The project to build a stadium on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg arose from two ideas: in the early 2000s, the city authorities negotiated with Gazprom, which had been headed by St. Petersburg resident Alexey Miller since 2001, about transferring part of the subsidiaries to the city, the other - developers they wanted to build up Krestovsky Island with luxury housing, recalls a former city administration official. Valentina Matvienko, who was then the governor of the Northern capital, called “ Gazprom» strategic partner. The company carried out large projects for gasification of the city, financed social and charitable projects, and was also a minority shareholder of the football club " Zenith”, for which the governor was rooting. Matvienko supported the idea of ​​​​building a new arena for Zenit with 60,000 seats: the Petrovsky stadium with 22,000 seats, where the club played, did not meet FIFA requirements. The company's top managers caught fire with the idea of ​​construction " Open investments", part of Interros, recalls Vedomosti's interlocutor. The company is ready to invest up to $150 million in a new stadium, and in return receive the territory of the stadium for residential development. Kirov on Krestovsky Island, Sergei Belikov, who then held the position of deputy general director of Open Investments, told Vedomosti in 2004. “Zenit looked at the site and decided that Krestovsky Island would be useful to them. And to ensure that this option was definitely chosen, Gazprom decided to finance the project itself, recalls a former Smolny official. Matvienko signed a decree on the construction of a stadium at the expense of Gazprom. They decided to build according to an ambitious project by the architectural bureau of Kisho Kurokawa - the layout of the stadium in his design resembled a spaceship. In 2005, the gas monopolist gained control over Zenit and began re-registering several of its subsidiaries, including Gazprom Neft in St. Petersburg. A year later, Matvienko announced that the new stadium, under the working title “Zenith Arena,” would be financed by the city: from tax revenues from Gazprom Neft to the city budget. In the same way, the city promised to finance the construction of a new office center for Gazprom, which decided to move its headquarters to St. Petersburg.

The first contractor, the Sintez-SUI company, undertook to build the facility for 6.6 billion rubles. But in 2008, the project was changed for the first time - a roll-out floor and a transformable roof were added - and it turned out that the construction would cost 23 billion rubles. Due to the crisis, the city did not have enough money - the authorities refused to finance the Gazprom office complex and began to look for a new contractor for the stadium. The competition was won by Inzhtransstroy, part of the Transstroy corporation. "Transstroy" was a holding structure " Basel» Oleg Deripaska. The winner undertook to build a stadium for 13 billion rubles. It was obvious that this money would not be enough, but the administration of St. Petersburg promised that in return the Basel companies would receive other profitable projects, recall an acquaintance of Basel top managers and a former official of the city administration. For example, Glavstroy-SPb promised to give Deripaska a project to build a new multifunctional complex on the site of the historical Apraksin Dvor complex in the center of St. Petersburg, they recall. In 2008, Glavstroy won the competition for the reconstruction of Apraksin Dvor, expecting to build 300,000 square meters on its territory. m of real estate. When Inzhtransstroy “entered” the stadium project, it became clear that everything was even worse, such a complex stadium could not be built for reasonable money, and the corporation began negotiations with the city administration about redesigning and increasing the estimate, explains another former top manager of Transstroy .

Championship ambitions

In 2010, Russia won the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It turned out that the stadium needed to be improved in accordance with FIFA requirements: increase the capacity (up to 66,000 seats with the possibility of increasing to 80,000 seats), strengthen security. The project, finalized by the Mosproekt-4 Institute, began, as Matvienko admitted at its presentation, to resemble a regular spaceship instead of a spaceship - in particular, its roof became simpler: instead of a complex fan-shaped one, the usual sliding one, the stadium was surrounded by a wall, etc. How No matter how hard the institute tried to simplify the project, its cost exceeded 22 billion rubles. - and the administration accordingly increased the cost of the contract with Inzhtransstroy. In 2011, the governor of St. Petersburg changed: Matvienko left for the Federation Council, and Georgy Poltavchenko was appointed in her place. His team’s relationship with Basel did not work out. For example, he insisted that the reconstruction of Apraksin Dvor be carried out while preserving historical buildings - this made the project less interesting for Deripaska's structures. As a result, the city did not renew the investment contract with Glavstroy-SPb.

Some are more expensive

The list of the most expensive football stadiums in the world is headed by Wembley Stadium in London. The construction of an arena for 90,000 spectators on the site of the old stadium cost $1.25 billion. The complex belongs to the Football Association of England, which governs football in the country.
The Brazilian Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha in the capital with 71,000 seats cost $900 million in 2010. The arena hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympic matches.
The construction of the Olympic stadium (also known as London stadium) in London for the 2012 Olympic Games cost the city budget $775 million. Since 2013, it has been leased by the English Premier League club West Ham United for 99 years.
Arsenal's home ground, London's Emirates Stadium, built in 2009, is valued at $750 million.

In 2013, the city once again changed the project and construction costs, increasing it to 24 billion rubles. and terminated the contract with Inzhtransstroy due to a significant change in the project. However, the company won a new contract - already an annual one, and then another, and as a result, Transstroy structures carried out construction until 2016. “It was not without difficulty that we agreed,” recalls the former manager of Transstroy. The company could not withdraw from the project, which by that time had acquired national significance, without damaging the reputation of the beneficiary, Deripaska, he says. But relations with the city administration were getting worse. In 2014, Basel announced the sale of Transstroy to Deripaska’s classmate, co-owner of the Chelyabinsk Uralavtotrailer, Egor Andreev. Deripaska became disillusioned with the general contracting business, his friends explained.

All participants and construction supervisors have accumulated a lot of complaints against each other. There were also problems with city officials, recalls a person close to the Russia 2018 organizing committee. It came to this: they could add something to the stadium project and go demand money on the grounds that these changes were required by FIFA. It was necessary to arrange a confrontation with representatives of FIFA and employees of the organizing committee in order to figure out who said what to whom, he continues. The city simply wanted to build a luxury stadium with maximum and unique engineering equipment, Inzhtransstroy-SPb representative Nikita Pavlov defends officials.

How a football stadium in St. Petersburg was built and became more expensive

Force majeure at a construction site

According to the St. Petersburg Construction Committee, in 2016 Inzhtransstroy began to fall sharply behind the construction schedule. If in March the share of completed work was 67% of the plan, then in April it was only 17%, and in May - 20%. “It would be correct to talk not about a decrease in the pace of work, but about the suspension of the customer’s acceptance of completed work,” retorts Pavlov, “accordingly, the volume of financing and the pace of work production have fallen. Difficulties arose in mutual settlements with contractors and suppliers.” In fact, the general contractor was forced to work at his own expense and after two months exhausted the possibilities for independently financing the construction, he explains. Work completed but not accepted during this period accumulated to the tune of 1.8 billion rubles, says Pavlov.

All delays from the schedule were explained solely by the fact that the customer did not submit design, estimate and working documentation in full and on time, as well as due to the customer’s instructions to change individual space-planning and architectural solutions, says Pavlov.

All work provided that the as-built documentation was available was paid for immediately. Another question is that the general contractor intended to receive payment without documentary evidence of the work performed, which is not only impossible, but also illegal, Albin objects.

“Since May 2015, a number of problems have really accumulated at the construction site. They could only be resolved jointly – by the customer and the contractor. This is a budget deficit for the stadium due to the devaluation of the ruble, the economic crisis and an unfinished, constantly changing project. Construction work was carried out at 2013 prices. In the spring of this year, the budget increased. But it was late, and the money never reached the construction site. This is the overall effectiveness of project management on the customer's side. This is a constantly changing project and the lack of a complete set of construction documents. This is the absence of an agreement with the operating organization, which should have accepted the facility a long time ago. The customer chose to solve these problems belatedly – ​​and not with us,” lists Pavlov.

In July 2016, the St. Petersburg Construction Committee terminated the general contract agreements for the completion of the stadium with Inzhtransstroy-SPb and for the improvement of the adjacent territory with the Transstroy corporation. Then the FAS included both companies in the register of unscrupulous suppliers, which prohibits firms from participating in government contracts for two years.

The Committee, through the court, demanded from the first contractor the return of the outstanding advance in the amount of 2.74 billion rubles, from the second - in the amount of 861 million rubles. As follows from the documents on the government procurement website, the reasons for terminating the contract were cited by the city as violations of migration legislation, work schedules and deviations from the requirements of project documentation identified by Rostechnadzor - in particular, changes in the heating technology of the football field, technical solutions for filling the structure of the retractable field and the drainage system . "Inzhtransstroy-SPb" in 2015–2016. has never been brought to justice for violating the requirements of migration legislation, Pavlov emphasizes, and changes to the design solutions were made by the customer himself - for the purpose of operational improvements, including according to the recommendations of FIFA and Zenit.

The Construction Committee also complains about the high percentage of defects in the work performed by Inzhtransstroy. For example, according to officials, defects are now being inspected and eliminated on the retractable field, seats for fans are being dismantled and new ones are being installed, defects are being eliminated in the metal structures of the bowl, reinforced concrete structures, in the waterproofing of internal premises, etc. “Claims are being made regarding actually unfinished volumes,” Pavlov is surprised. – Such comments are removed routinely during the process of planned work. By the time the project was handed over, all deficiencies had to be eliminated. There are no complaints about the structural safety of the stadium. Rostekhnadzor has no complaints about the work of Inzhtransstroy-SPb as of August 2016.” He does not consider the mold that the new contractor Metrostroy is currently struggling with to be Inzhtransstroy’s fault: “Until the circuit [of the building] is closed, constant drainage is necessary, which was not carried out properly after we left.”

Perhaps the administration of St. Petersburg simply decided to complete the construction of the stadium, where some of the most complex work remains, by a city-run organization, suggests a person familiar with the managers of Inzhtransstroy. The organizing committee did not demand to change the contractor; at this stage it is a mega force majeure, says a person close to the organizing committee. The organizing committee did not comment on this officially.

In August, the ex-contractors filed claims against the FAS (the third party is the St. Petersburg Construction Committee), and then against the Construction Committee. The companies hope to recover 1.8 billion rubles from Smolny. for work performed but not accepted, and also to challenge the regulator’s inclusion in the register of unscrupulous suppliers. The third parties in the claim against Smolny are the bank VTB and the Capital Construction and Reconstruction Fund.

VTB, taking into account the Bank of Moscow, issued Inzhtransstroy-SPb guarantees for stadium contracts for 3.8 billion rubles. until January 17, 2017

VTB President Andrei Kostin told Interfax in early September that VTB is ready to pay the guarantees through the court, which will decide who owes whom and how much. He has already discussed the return of guarantees with Poltavchenko and is going to discuss it with Deripaska, Kostin added. “Inzhtransstroy” has nothing to do with “Basel”; perhaps the statement was made “out of old memory,” a representative of “Basel” suggested. VTB guarantees were issued before the sale of Transstroy to Andreev, said a person close to Inzhtransstroy. VTB does not comment on questions about guarantees for the stadium. In a telegram addressed to Poltavchenko, Deripaska wrote in June 2016 that Basel is not the owner of Inzhtransstroy-SPb, but out of respect for Poltavchenko, he is ready to assist in the successful completion of construction.

Albin believes that the city does not owe Inzhtransstroy anything. Works worth 1.8 billion rubles were submitted for payment, but Inzhtransstroy presented supporting documents for only 328 million rubles, of which 78 million rubles. he has already been paid, and the rest will be paid, Albin says. The rest of the advance will have to be returned, even in court. “There is a lot of deceit in the actions of this organization,” Albin comments on Inzhtransstroy’s statements.

The required amount to complete construction of the arena is 2.6 billion rubles. The city administration withdrew from the targeted investment program of the construction committee for 2016 - they were supposed to build 29 social facilities, including a residential building, six schools, and seven kindergartens. The redistribution will not affect the time frame for putting social facilities into operation: the funds will be taken into account in the investment program when adjusting the draft city budget for 2017 and the draft budget for 2018–2019. at the autumn session of the legislative assembly, Poltavchenko promised.

The stadium, which received the name “Krestovsky” in April of this year by decision of the Toponymic Commission of St. Petersburg, will be transferred to Zenit for operation. The name may change, but the memorandum of transfer has been signed, the stadium has been leased with subsequent transition to a concession, Albin told Vedomosti. He did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. Poltavchenko has already written a letter to the club with a request to purchase the equipment necessary to put the stadium into operation. The current contracts do not include equipment for catering, medicine and a sports component; this will be the responsibility of the operating organization, Albin explained. The amount it will cost, as well as the terms of the lease and concession, have not yet been determined, according to the official. According to an official of the St. Petersburg administration, the operation of the stadium is estimated at approximately 600 million rubles. in year. Representatives of Gazprom and Zenit did not answer questions from Vedomosti.

The administration of St. Petersburg estimated the final construction costs at 42 billion rubles.

Of course, a unique stadium was built in St. Petersburg; nowhere in the world is there a structure of this size with a retractable roof and a roll-out field, but its cost is still too high, just like many other Russian stadiums that are being built at the expense of the state for the 2018 World Cup , says Thomas Speck, CEO of the consulting company Arena Com. A construction cost of €4,500–€5,000 per site is considered to ensure high quality, explains Speck. With this calculation, the Zenit arena should have cost no more than 400 million euros. Speck recalls that, although at the current euro exchange rate the St. Petersburg stadium is valued at less than 580 million euros, when submitting an official application to host Euro 2020 in 2014, Russia estimated the cost of the stadium on Krestovsky Island at 934 million euros. According to European experts, the real price of the stadium is at least 1 billion euros, he continues. In this case, the stadium could compete for the status of the most expensive football arena in the world with London's Wembley, built at a cost of $1.25 billion.

The problem is that another “white elephant” is being created with government money, Speck worries. In order to recoup the operating costs of the arena and make money, it is necessary to hold at least 100 events a year, he believes. This is very difficult, especially considering that the stadium has several competitors in the neighborhood: indoor " Sibur arena" on the same Krestovsky Island and the sports and concert complex "Petersburgsky", the expert points out.

Bela Lauw, Rinat Sagdiev, Alexandra Terentyeva participated in the preparation of the article

The Gazprom Arena stadium in St. Petersburg, better known as the Zenit Arena, was officially opened in 2016. The main architect of the building is Japanese Kisho Kurokawa.

For a long time they could not decide on the name of the sports facility; at first they wanted to call it the Krestovsky stadium (after the name of the island where it is located), then more popular ones appeared - Zenit Arena and the St. Petersburg stadium. The final option - Gazprom Arena - was chosen only in December 2018 - 11 years after the start of construction. Over the years, residents of the Northern capital and tourists have become accustomed to calling the stadium differently, so today you can hear different versions of the name.

Even before the opening, Gazprom Arena became famous as the most expensive stadium in Russia. Indeed, a fabulous amount was spent on the construction of the facility. According to various sources, the cost of the Zenit Arena is more than $1 billion. Over the years of construction, the stadium earned the notoriety of the country's main long-term construction project, the costs of which only increased every year. However, in preparation for the 2018 World Cup, the rental was completed.

Characteristics of the Gazprom Arena stadium:

• Capacity - up to 68,000 people;
• The area of ​​all premises is 287.68 thousand square meters. meters;
• Height - 9 floors (75 meters), including pylons - 110 meters;
• The area of ​​the football field is 9,840 square meters. meters.

Today, Gazprom Arena is one of the best venues in the city, suitable for both sports and musical events. The stadium's retractable roof allows the facility to be used in any weather. The infrastructure of the building makes it possible to organize events of any scale. Tenants have at their disposal premises of various sizes, a catering service, a venue and experienced employees.

Most significant events stadium "Gazprom Arena" in St. Petersburg:

• Football tournament “Confederations Cup 2017”,
• FIFA World Cup 2018.

In 2019, the arena will host UEFA Europa League matches. Of the musical events, the most memorable was the concert of the Leningrad group at the Gazprom Arena, held in October 2018.

Schedule of matches at the Gazprom Arena stadium

Sports competitions of various levels are held at the stadium all year round. Of course, the most striking event was the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Today, Gazprom Arena is the base of FC Zenit - home matches of the most popular and beloved football team in St. Petersburg are held here. In winter, hockey competitions are held at the arena. The game calendar for the 2018/2019 season is available on the official Gazprom Arena website.

Zenit Arena layout

Top 7 most expensive football stadiums on the planet. Zenit Arena is in the top three

On Tuesday, Soviet Sport published. The St. Petersburg stadium, better known by its popular name, Zenit Arena, also took a worthy place in the ranking. One thing that surprised me was that the costs for the construction of this sports facility increased by more than 700% compared to initial estimates.

On the same day, the St. Petersburg Construction Department reported on the cadastral value of the stadium - 41.7 billion rubles. It is not known how the northern capital reached this amount, but independent international organizations came to different figures. They summarized all-state contracts for the construction of the stadium.

As a result, the amount was 47.9 billion rubles, which had already been paid under the contracts. However, some contracts have not yet been fully worked out. They didn't pay for them completely. It is expected that the final amount will be spent on the construction of the Zenit Arena.

At the current exchange rate, this is about 845 million dollars. However, the researchers did not hesitate and calculated the expenses for each individual contract, converting the costs into dollars not for today, but for the day of settlement for this contract. But the exchange rate grew from 27 rubles per dollar during the construction of the stadium almost up to 80 rubles, then dropping to 60 rubles. As a result, the final amount in dollars should be about 1.38 billion.

We decided to ask what place Zenit Arena will occupy in the list of the most expensive football stadiums on the planet. Please note that we are listing stadiums that are primarily used for football matches.

7. Emirates Stadium, England –$705.9 million

At the beginning of the 20th century, London's Arsenal started thinking about building a new stadium. The old Highbury no longer suited the team - it was small and outdated. As a result, in 2006, a stadium called the Emirates was opened, which became the third largest stadium in England - 60,432 people. Construction costs amounted to 390 million pounds sterling, which in 2006 was approximately equal to 705.9 million dollars.

6. Olympic Stadium, England -$763 million

The Olympic Stadium in London, as the name suggests, was built for the 2012 Olympic Games. It hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics competitions. Capacity – 60,100 people. After the end of the Olympics, the city authorities could not decide the fate of the grandiose building for a long time. As a result, it went to the local football club West Ham, which holds its home matches on it.

5. Fisht Stadium, Russia –$834 million

The Fisht Stadium in the Russian city of Sochi was built in 2013 for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The cost of construction was $779 million. However, after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, the stadium was closed for reconstruction. It took another 3.3 billion rubles, or 55 million dollars at the current exchange rate, to adapt the structure to host football matches of the 2018 World Cup. As a result, the total cost of the stadium was about $34 million. It is not yet known how the stadium will be used after the 2018 World Cup, because there is no professional football team in Sochi.

4. National Stadium, Brazil –$900 million

The stadium in the capital of Brazil, the city of Brasilia, which was decided to be named “National”, was built for the 2014 World Cup. The cost of constructing the arena was about $900 million. This caused a wave of indignation from local residents. They considered it unnecessary to build such a large and expensive arena in a city where no one needed it. In Brazil, there is a local team of the same name, which plays in the second league and does not claim titles.

3. St. Petersburg Stadium, Russia –$1.37 billion

The St. Petersburg Stadium, which is being built in the city on Neves in 2006, is well known to all of us. From the initial approximate cost of 6 billion rubles, the price tag jumped to a total of 50 billion. Construction lasted more than 10 years. But Zenit will have at its disposal the most modern football stadium in Europe, if not the world. This arena will host matches of the 2017 Confederations Cup, the 2018 World Cup, and the 2020 European Championship. Capacity – 67,800 people

2. KingFinal Arena, Canada –$1.44 billion

Previously, this stadium was called “Olympic”. It was built in Montreal for the 1976 Olympic Games. In 2012, the obsolete building was closed for reconstruction, which was completed in 2015 and cost the Canadian budget $1.44 billion. The new stadium was named KingFinal Arena. It hosts home matches of the Canadian national football team, as well as the most important games of the Canadian Football League. Capacity – 61,004 people.

1. Wembley Stadium, England$1.59 billion

The most expensive football stadium on the planet continues to be London's Wembley, which opened after a lengthy reconstruction in 2007. This giant seats 90,000 spectators. This is where the England national football team plays its home matches. In 2017, London's Tottenham will play here while the team's arena is closed for reconstruction. The cost of reconstruction of Wembley, which was essentially the construction of a new stadium on the old site while preserving one historical wall, cost the English budget 798 million pounds sterling. At the exchange rate for that year, this was about 1.59 billion dollars. However, this amount included the reconstruction of several blocks adjacent to the stadium - a condition of the city. So we are unlikely to ever know the real cost of constructing the stadium as a separate structure.

source: "Soviet Sport"

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From 1950 to 2006 in St. Petersburg on Krestovsky Island there was a stadium named after. Kirov. It was one of the largest stadiums in the world - it was the largest in the entire Soviet Union, Russia and Europe.

The last official match on that field was played on July 6, 2006, and by the end of 2006 the stadium was dismantled in order to begin construction of a new and almost the most expensive stadium in the world on the same site. The project budget is approximately 35 billion rubles.

And construction began...

During 2007, the pile field was completed and the earthworks were completely completed. In 2008, the project was ready, it passed the state examination, but due to various conflicts, construction was stopped.

In December 2008, construction work was resumed. But already in December 2009, after checking the stadium project for compliance with FIFA requirements, it became clear that, according to a number of criteria, the stadium already under construction did not meet these standards. The main complaints were made about the configuration of the stands (ensuring comfortable visibility, location of hatches) and the layout of the sub-tribune rooms, which were divided by thick walls into small compartments. There were practically no halls or open spaces inside. To correct the identified deficiencies, in April 2010, a new general designer was brought in - Mosproekt-4, which has extensive experience in designing sports facilities (for example, the Lokomotiv stadium in Moscow).

The layout of the premises under the stands and the configuration of the stands were brought in accordance with the FIFA requirements for stadiums of this level. Large halls and free spaces appeared, and places were found to accommodate additional cafes and bars at all levels of the stadium. Due to the changes being made, construction was stopped again in December 2009 and resumed in full in August 2010.

Since 2008, construction has been carried out by Inzhtransstroy, part of the Transstroy structure.

The new stadium will host World Cup matches in 2018. Including the semi-finals. The final match will take place in Luzhniki. It is planned that by the time construction is completed, the stadium will become one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated sports facilities in Europe. There will be no athletics tracks on it and it will be intended only for football matches.

Let's take a look at this engineering marvel. I will reveal several technical solutions that are worth focusing on:
- roll-out football field;
- a huge reinforced concrete bridge with a span of 100 meters on which the stand is located;
- sliding roof.

And stopping construction was only beneficial. During this time, the pile field has stabilized and now it no longer produces sediment. There is another story connected with him. The fact is that the first general contractor (Avant) overdid it a little with the piles, and there were more of them than necessary. As a result, the bearing capacity of the field turned out to be twice as large as planned according to the project. In general, a dark story happened to them... But then, when the project was changed, it played into the hands - the new stadium project and all the changes fit perfectly into the limits of weights and loads. It was only necessary to strengthen the grillages under the stadium bowl.

Well, enough introductions, it's time to watch!

Beautiful view from the Primorsky district. The stadium itself resembles a flying saucer. By the way, it has a specially aerodynamic shape, since wind loads especially had to be taken into account here.

In 2010, Metallica was supposed to perform at the Zenit arena

According to Mikhail Zhvanetsky, repairs cannot be completed - only stopped. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the construction of Krestovsky.

As the famous satirist Mikhail Zhvanetsky used to say, repairs cannot be completed - only stopped. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the construction of a stadium on Krestovsky Island. We present the chronology of the construction of the most high-profile football long-term construction in Russia - from the idea of ​​​​creation to the present day.

March 2005 “The Kirov Stadium in St. Petersburg will be demolished”
The first reports about the construction of a new arena on the site of the stadium. CM. Kirov, located on Krestovsky Island, appeared more than 10 years ago. Then we were talking about a stadium, the approximate cost of which would be $ 150 million, and the capacity would be 50,000 spectators.

April 2005 “Zenith’s new stadium will be built according to the Manchester model”
The concept of the future stadium has been unveiled. It was assumed that the prototype for it would be the arena project in Manchester, created by the English company Arup. General Director of State Unitary Enterprise "Stadium named after. CM. Kirov" Demid Momot later criticized the idea of ​​an open stadium in Russian climatic conditions. And then a member of the board of OJSC Gazprom Valery Golubev reported that the stadium in Dortmund could become a model for the stadium. The management of Gazprom JSC also clarified the cost of construction. Over six months, the figure grew by almost 70% – to $250 million.

January 2006 The stadium is promised to be built by 2009

According to the head of the St. Petersburg Sports Committee, Vyacheslav Chazov, he is 1,000,000% sure that the Gazprom Arena (that’s what it was supposed to be called) will appear on the site of the stadium. Kirov by 2009. However, experts predict that these deadlines will be pushed back repeatedly.

April 2006 When will construction start?
According to the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Vakhmistrov, construction of a new stadium for Zenit will begin at the end of 2006, immediately after the dismantling of the Kirov stadium, which is planned to be completed in November. “At the same time, we plan to sign a construction agreement with the general contractor,” Vakhmistrov said.

July 2006 Projects for a new stadium in St. Petersburg presented
An exhibition of developed architectural solutions (pre-design proposals) for the stadium has opened in St. Petersburg. It presented projects developed by the winners of the first stage of the competition, including Kisho Kurokawa architect & associates (Japan).

The Japanese proposed a stadium project shaped like a spaceship. The roof, measuring 200x90 meters, is made of polymer material, supported by metal masts and equipped with a special mechanism that blows hot air, which helps melt the snow. The Japanese estimated the cost of their construction at just over $225 million. It was this project that was highlighted among others by the former president of Zenit, Sergei Fursenko.

December 2006 The builder of the new FC Zenit stadium became known
The builder of the stadium was the St. Petersburg company SINTEZ-SUI LLC, which offered to carry out all the work for 6 billion 664 million 308 thousand 170 rubles.

March 2007 “Zenith Stadium will be built before the end of 2008”
At a meeting with the participation of the Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko It was announced that the construction of the arena on Krestovsky Island would end on December 30, 2008, and next season the team would be able to play home matches at the new stadium. At the same time, the project’s customers still haven’t decided what type of sports arena to build – retractable or non-retractable. “Based on the difficult weather conditions in St. Petersburg, experts believe that a retractable field can greatly increase the cost of the project, but not give the effect we want. We need to weigh everything,” Matvienko said.

April 2007 Matvienko: at the new Zenit stadium the field will be retractable
Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko said that the new Zenit football stadium on Krestovsky Island will have a retractable field. No comments needed.

September 2007 “Construction of the Zenit stadium is ahead of schedule”
Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Vakhmistrov told reporters that the construction of the new Zenit stadium on Krestovsky Island is ahead of schedule: “The end of the construction period has not changed, approximately December 2008. We hope that Zenit will play the first matches of the 2009 season at the new stadium.”

March 2008 “Gazprom will be asked for money for a new stadium for Zenit”
President of the RFU Vitaly Mutko reported that construction of the arena may become more expensive. To implement the project, Gazprom may be attracted as an additional investor.

April 2008 “The commissioning of the new Zenit stadium has been postponed for a year”
“The stadium is unlikely to be put into operation in 2009,” says the president of Zenit. Alexander Dyukov. - In the future, maybe in 2010. At the moment, the project to build a stadium on Krestovsky costs approximately 13-14 billion rubles, instead of the previously announced 6.67 billion. This is due to rising prices for the cost of work and materials, as well as the characteristics of the soil. In addition, the price included the dismantling of the old Kirov Stadium.”

July 2008 “The new Zenit stadium has risen in price by 3.5 times”
After the estimate was approved, the price of the new football arena in St. Petersburg increased 3.5 times to 23.7 billion rubles. It is reported that if there is not enough budget money, Gazprom, which controls FC Zenit, will join in the financing. According to the official estimate prepared by Glavgosexpertiza, the football stadium on Krestovsky Island will cost 23.7 billion rubles. Now it is planned to increase the arena's capacity to 62,000 spectators.

December 2008 “Inzhtransstroy will be engaged in the construction of the Zenit stadium”
In November last year, the St. Petersburg Construction Committee terminated the government contract with the previous construction contractor, the Avant company, and in December concluded a new one with ZAO Engineering Corporation Transstroy, owned by Oleg Deripaska. The cost of the contract amounted to 13 billion 22 million 282 thousand rubles with the original price of 18 billion 603 million 260 thousand. The reduction in the starting price was 30%.

April 2009 Metallica will perform in St. Petersburg at the opening of a new stadium"
News agencies report that the legendary American band Metallica will perform in St. Petersburg in 2010 at the opening of a new stadium on Krestovsky Island. Metallica will present their latest album Death Magnetic.

December 2009 Stadium does not meet FIFA standards
After checking the stadium project for compliance with FIFA requirements, it turned out that according to a number of criteria, the stadium already under construction does not meet FIFA standards. The main complaints were made about the configuration of the stands (ensuring comfortable visibility, location of hatches) and the layout of the sub-tribune rooms, which were divided by thick walls into small compartments. There were practically no halls or open spaces inside.

February 2010 Zenit Stadium will become larger and more expensive
Chairman of the Construction Committee of the St. Petersburg Administration Vyacheslav Semenenko announced the decision to expand the stadium. “Since the city received an offer from the bid committee to host the semi-final match of the World Cup, we asked all participants: either we continue construction with minor adjustments to the project, or we suspend work and change the project so that the new stadium meets all UEFA requirements and FIFA. But this will require additional funding,” Semenenko said. Thus, the new version of the stadium must accommodate at least 67,000 people.

April 2010 The construction time for the Zenit stadium is still increasing
Due to adjustments to the budget of St. Petersburg, the project to build a football stadium on Krestovsky Island lost 1.5 billion rubles. For this reason, the timing of the commissioning of the new arena of the St. Petersburg Zenit has again undergone changes. Head of the Budget and Financial Committee of the Legislative Assembly Vladimir Barkanov stated that this would result in an increase in the cost of the project.

December 2010 Redesign of the new arena in St. Petersburg is completed
Zenit President Alexander Dyukov announced that the redesign of the new arena in St. Petersburg has been completed. Now the stadium will accommodate 68,000 spectators.

January 2011 Builders were in a hurry - the roof is being dismantled
The construction timeline for the new Zenit stadium has again been revised to November 2012. The conclusion of the Glavgosexpertiza on the redevelopment was received by construction organizations three months later than expected, so the builders, who rushed to start work, were faced with the need to dismantle the roof of the future arena. Amendments by Glavgosexpertiza inevitably led to an increase in construction costs, which by that time had already been revised five times.

In addition, as the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Roman Filimonov said, the cost of the Zenit stadium has increased. Compared to the previous estimate, construction work has risen in price by 8.4 billion rubles, and now the total cost of the stadium has increased to 33 billion rubles ($1.1 billion).

February 2011 The new Zenit stadium fell in price from 33 billion to 28.7 billion
The final estimate for the stadium was not 33 billion, which was announced at the end of January, but 28.7 billion. The contractor Inzhtranstroy gave a discount.

July 2011 Zenit wants to start the 2013/14 season in a new arena
General Director of Zenit Maxim Mitrofanov: “We expect this: if construction really ends in November 2012, then approximately six months will be spent on various commissioning works, installation of technological and catering equipment. We would like to start the 2013/14 season in a new arena.”

October 2011 “The constructed part of the stadium will have to be partially redone”
The change in design was caused by the fact that the customer, the construction committee of the government of St. Petersburg, decided to make a different roof two months after transferring the documentation to Mosproekt-4. Mosproekt-4 initially designed a sliding structure that should only cover the stands. And the customer wanted the roof to cover the entire stadium along with the field. And these are completely different loads on beams, columns and foundations. It will take another 12 to 18 months to install the roof.

November 2011 New project deadline and new estimate
The final completion date for the new stadium for Zenit on Krestovsky Island is 2013. This was announced by the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko during a joint meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak at the construction site of the future sports arena. Information also appeared that the price of the stadium could increase from 33 billion rubles to 40 billion rubles ($1.3 billion).

January 2013 Construction readiness of the Zenit stadium is 34.4%
At this point, the construction readiness of the facility is 34.4%. As of November 1, 2012, expenditures from the budget of St. Petersburg were made to finance the construction of a football stadium in the amount of 14,417.1 million rubles, while accounts receivable amounted to 3,759.8 million rubles.

February 2013 The Investigative Committee took over the stadium
The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg confirmed the fact that a criminal case had been initiated regarding fraud during the construction of a stadium for Zenit on Krestovsky Island. We are talking about the work of the first contractor on the project - Sintez-Sui LLC, which later changed its name to Avant LLC, which at the end of 2006 entered into a contract with the construction committee of the government of St. Petersburg. In the subcontracts concluded, the cost of work was inflated by more than 500 million rubles.

March 2013 The new Zenit stadium is promised to be completed no later than July 2016
Head of the St. Petersburg Capital Construction Fund Roman Skladnev reported that the installation of the stadium roof for Zenit on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg will begin in the second or third quarter of 2014, and all monolithic work will be completed in the fourth quarter of the same year. According to him, 21 months will pass from the start of roof installation until the stadium is put into operation.

June 2013 The new Zenit stadium is currently 35% completed
After six years of work on Krestovsky Island, the new Zenit stadium, which will host matches at Russia's home 2018 FIFA World Cup, is about a third complete. Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Marat Oganesyan, meanwhile, believes that, despite the problems with the construction of the stadium on Krestovsky Island, the city is the leader in preparation among Russian cities that will host the 2018 World Cup.

April 2014 Zenit Arena will be put into operation on June 15, 2016
Perhaps now the fans can breathe easy? Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Marat Oganesyan announced the exact opening date of the Zenit Arena stadium on Krestovsky Island. In April, construction of the stadium's roof began. Zenit President Alexander Dyukov later noted that such a forecast looks realistic.

Oganesyan ruled out the possibility of increasing costs for the construction of a stadium on Krestovsky Island. According to him, the final cost of the facility will be 34.9 billion rubles and “not a penny more.”

October 2014 Construction in St. Petersburg will still be completed by Transstroy
Transstroy, the general contractor of the new Zenit stadium on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg, won a competition worth 9.129 billion rubles to complete the construction of the arena. All that remains is to install the retractable roof, roll-out pitch, engineering systems, finishing, installation and commissioning of arena equipment.

December 2014 Alluvium for another 2.33 billion rubles
The State Order Committee of St. Petersburg has announced a tender for the creation of an artificial land plot in the area of ​​Krestovsky Island for the construction of a stadium for the 2018 World Cup. The volume of allocated funds will amount to almost 2.33 billion rubles, according to the procurement portal.

March 2015 The case of the theft of 145 million rubles from the arena was closed years ago
Vasileostrovsky District Court dismissed the criminal case against Sergei Gerliman, who was accused of illegally cashing out 145 million rubles stolen during the construction of the Zenit Arena. The reason for the decision was the expiration of the statute of limitations.

April 2015 Arena construction worker was shot and killed
As a result of the conflict at the Zenit Arena stadium under construction on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg, a construction worker received gunshot wounds to the head. The day before, a concrete mixer arrived at the construction site. Having unloaded, the driver began to wash the car, after which an employee approached him and made a remark. Presumably, after a verbal conflict, the driver took out a traumatic pistol and shot in the direction of his opponent three times, hitting him in the head twice.

November 2015 The first match at Krestovsky will be held in September 2016
Chairman of the Construction Committee Mikhail Demidenko reported that the level of readiness of the stadium on Krestovsky Island is now 79%. At the meeting, it was decided that the first match at the new site should take place in September 2016. However, a month later the general contractor moved the announced deadlines until December 2016.

February 2016 The general contractor asks to increase the estimate to 35.3 billion rubles
The Inzhtransstroy-SPb company, the general contractor for the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium, sent an official appeal to the St. Petersburg Construction Committee about increasing the cost of building the facility by 435 million rubles. This information was confirmed by the committee’s press service. Thus, the final estimated cost of the arena may exceed 35.3 billion rubles.

July 2016 Investigators are looking for the video board of the Krestovsky stadium for 144 million rubles
The Investigative Committee and the economic police of St. Petersburg have begun large-scale searches that concern 144.5 million rubles initially required to carry out work on setting up a video board complete with a lifting and lowering system at the Krestovsky stadium, as well as a control system for the LEDs on this board. Meanwhile, the stadium's readiness is estimated at 85%. In addition, reports of delays in wages for construction workers have reappeared.

July 2016 Attempted raider takeover in the arena?
Inzhtrasstroy-Spb, the general contractor for the construction of the stadium on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg, reported an attempted raider takeover that took place on July 13, also accusing the city administration of attempting to delay the delivery of the arena. “A situation has arisen in which the customer, represented by the city administration, is doing everything to miss the deadline for completing the project. One of the key problems is caused by the lack of approved design solutions and documentation. We don’t have documents according to which we actually have to build,” the company told Championship. Later, city authorities did not rule out that the government contract with the contractor could be terminated.