Metinvest presents a project to rebuild a neighborhood in Bakhmut

Metinvest-SMC, the sales company of Metinvest Group, has developed a project for a neighborhood in Bakhmut destroyed by the Russians as part of the Steel Dream concept for rebuilding Ukraine. This is stated in the company’s statement.

The project to rebuild the Yuvileinyi neighborhood in Bakhmut is one of the largest in Ukraine. It is designed for more than 17,000 residents, which is about a quarter of the city’s population that lived in the city before the war. It was presented at the Second Ukrainian Construction Congress by Tetiana Skrypka, Head of the Metinvest-SMC Construction Sector Project Office, and Oleksandr Marchenko, Deputy Mayor of the city.

As a result of the congress, the project won the «Contribution to the Future of Ukraine» nomination at the main architectural and construction award of Ukraine, the Creator of the Year.

The presented concept is based on the idea of a «15-minute city» – a modern space with housing, recreation areas, and a barrier-free environment.

The total area of the quarter is about 87 hectares. It is planned that the development will occupy about 23 hectares, with green areas covering more than 47 hectares. The project envisages the rejection of high-rise housing in favor of buildings with 1-6 floors. Residential development will be concentrated in the center of the neighborhood, with recreation and entertainment areas along its perimeter.

The core of the neighborhood will be a square with shopping centers, a cinema, children’s rooms, and a promenade with restaurants, cafes, and shops. A separate area will be provided for a farmers’ market. In the center of the square, there will be a university complex, as well as offices and a hotel for specialists who will work on the neighborhood’s reconstruction. Later, businesses may be located there.

A separate system of shelters in buildings and public spaces is also envisaged, and transport accessibility is taken into account.

According to Oleksandr Marchenko, deputy mayor of Bakhmut, the community is currently looking for donors for reconstruction. In the fall, the city administration plans to take part in the Rebuild Ukraine forum in Poland, where they will showcase the finished project. This requires not only the development of project documentation but also the approval of the reconstruction plan at public hearings. Cooperation with Metinvest helps speed up the process.

Bakhmut is the second city for which the Steel Dream team has developed a reconstruction project – last year, the specialists designed a neighborhood for Mariupol. Two more such projects are planned to be implemented during the summer and fall of this year. In total, representatives of 10 communities have applied for assistance. In particular, requests have come from Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Donetsk, and Chernihiv region, where reconstruction projects will be implemented in cooperation with Denmark.

In addition, the Steel Dream team is in constant contact with various communities and helps them if they have problems with their spatial plans.

«Also during the Ukrainian Construction Congress, we raffled off two certificates for the development of spatial plans for interested communities from the Association of Small Cities of Ukraine. A total of 33 communities from different regions applied, and two were selected by drawing lots – Trostianets and Hlukhiv in Sumy Oblast,» said Skrypka.

The Steel Dream team is simultaneously working on smaller projects. In particular, it is planned to build five steel schools using modular technology in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions in cooperation with an international foundation. Production of metal structures is already underway, and some of the schools are expected to open for students on September 1. Together with the military, we are working on a project for a permanent shelter with all the necessary communications. Later, it can be used for civilian purposes, in schools and kindergartens.

The Ministry of Reconstruction became interested in the Steel Dream concept – the first meeting of the relevant working group took place in early May. It discussed the issue of including Steel Dream projects in the state database of reuse projects.

Currently, Ukraine has the Dream platform, a digital ecosystem for accountable recovery management, where such projects are uploaded. Communities can use it for free, using only a portion of their own funds, as well as government or donor assistance. This saves about 9-12 months of work, as well as funds to pay for project work.

«We are currently analyzing and expertly evaluating Metinvest’s projects in cooperation with the Ministry of Reconstruction for compliance with all requirements. We expect them to be included in the catalog afterwards. Currently, only underground shelters are listed there, so the initiative is only gaining momentum,» says Skrypka.

Metinvest-SMC presented the Steel Dream concept in May 2023. The specialists have developed 13 types of buildings, with a total of more than 200 design solutions. All of them can be adapted to the needs of specific communities.