«KROST». Subjunctive mood of «smart home».
The Krost concern is known not only for its residential complexes, country clubs, and office policies. No less famous is his global concept, formulated briefly and clearly: “Maximum comfort for thinking and active people.”
We turned to Stepan Shcherbakov, deputy chief power engineer of the KROST concern, with a request to tell us about the place in the concern’s concept given to automation, without which thinking people cannot imagine modern comfortable housing.
AZ: What is it? KROST practice of equipping residential and commercial real estate with engineering systems, and in particular, automation systems?
Stepan Shcherbakov: KROST is a construction concern and builds residential buildings, multifunctional complexes and entire neighborhoods. And we are selective in equipping our buildings with automation.
That is, the level of automation varies from the mandatory required “set” in residential complexes for general purposes to the use of all known automation solutions for class “A” buildings. The main task is to ensure the highest level of service and quick response to changing conditions, which, of course, is impossible without the introduction of “intelligent automation systems”.
AZ: Does Krost have partners among installation companies or do you implement projects on your own?
Stepan Shcherbakov: It is not yet possible to implement automation projects on our own in full. There are several reasons: lack of the required number of automation specialists. This is where the company’s core business — construction and production of building materials — comes into play. Today there are many solutions for building automation from various equipment manufacturers and, as a result, many offers from installation companies. Among the established connections with installers, I would like to mention Siemens. Moreover, we work both with the Russian representative office and with German colleagues. Siemens carries out design work, supervises installation and commissioning of the ELSE-CLUB fitness center. We continue to cooperate with EcoProg, the general designer of engineering systems and installer at another of our facilities — the Multifunctional Center, V.V. School of Television Skills. Posner» on Malaya Dmitrovka. Another reliable partner of ours is Avtomatika-Service.
AZ: Is it possible to identify the companies whose products KROST usually uses at its facilities?
Stepan Shcherbakov: The use of this or that equipment is determined by projects. The choice of installer determines the choice of equipment. But we still give preference to Siemens, SAIA-Burgess, ABB Industry Ltd (EIB), Citect. The choice of main technological equipment also determines the use of Sauter, Konnex, Menerga equipment. Equipment developed by EcoProg and GIRA (EIB) was also used.
AZ: What trends in the development of engineering equipment and automation systems would you note today in the Russian construction market?
Stepan Shcherbakov: We analyzed current trends in the market for “automated” services and came to the conclusion that there are no common solutions to similar problems yet. The market offers a wide range of different equipment, software and much more. And it seems to me that the consumer is not yet ripe for a meaningful choice. The client, to be honest, still cannot clearly formulate what exactly he would like from all this automation. In addition, there is still no unified methodology for creating building engineering systems.
The unproven effectiveness (in conditions of low energy prices) of solutions used in the field of automation is holding back investments from potential customers. The technical capabilities of “intelligent systems” are neither clear nor interesting to the customer. If the operation of building systems in the “background” mode did not cause trouble to the customer, if it would inform the customer in a timely manner about the need for preventive maintenance, if the climatic condition of a separate room did not require year-round supervision, if…
In a word, for now in automation the subjunctive mood predominates.
The introduction of automated systems today takes place only at technologically complex facilities, such as enterprises, retail offices and multifunctional complexes. And the level of automation of housing, even of the elite class, in my opinion, is difficult to classify as “intelligent buildings.”
AZ: Does Krost have plans for the development of engineering systems and building automation systems?
Stepan Shcherbakov: The development of the modern building construction market directs us towards the use, of course, of modern automation solutions. Interest in buildings equipped with the full range of “intelligent services” is growing, which requires an adequate response. The management of the concern will under no circumstances refuse to equip newly commissioned facilities with “intelligent building” technologies. By attracting installers to implement automation projects, we, however, strive to form our own engineering staff, who will work on our projects in the future. Today we are faced with a very specific task — to unite production units located in different areas of the capital with a single dispatch system «Industrial Complex», for which we have to solve the problem of comprehensive monitoring of objects using modern dispatch tools.
KROST has started construction of the second concrete plant, which, like the first, “Beton-222”, will be equipped with an automated control system and the entire concrete production process will be controlled from a central control room. By the way, next in line is the construction of fitness clubs, which will be equipped with a variety of “intelligent” automation.