Over 4,000 participants joined the discussion on the future of Ukraine during the architectural and construction BUSINESS FORUM "Reconstruction of the country. Change strategy for the architects, developers and builders" organized by the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine together with the Media Group DMNTR | "House and Interior".

“Since the Russian Federation full-scale invasion started, more than 50 million square meters of housing, which is about 9% of the entire housing stock, more than 1.2 thousand hospitals, more than 3 thousand educational institutions, thousands of kilometres of roads, hundreds of bridges, enterprises, infrastructure facilities have been destroyed or damaged. The homes of at least 1.3 million Ukrainian families have been damaged or destroyed, over 5 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee the country. We cannot know how long the war will go on but there is the task now to restore. And it has already started. To build better, al processes must be systematic, fast and transparent,” the President of CBU Lev Partskhaladze said, during the opening of the forum.

Over 9 hours of the main program discussion and 3 hours of the discussion within the framework of the Community Recovery Forum took place non-stop at several venues.

In the first panel of the main hall “Investments. Institutions. Reconstruction and integration of Ukraine into the global business context”, the state instruments and programmes for attracting international aid, which had already been implemented, were discussed. 

In particular, the Head of Implementation of the State Agency for Restoration of Ukraine Vadym Nozdria described the agency functions and offices supporting at the local level, which help the communities to draw up the restoration projects and look for the donor financing based on priorities.

The co-founder of the RISE Ukraine Coalition, CEO at Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) Oleksii Dorohan spoke about the launch of the digital ecosystem DREAM and informed about filling it with potential projects.

“The restoration projects should be entered into the Sectoral System to receive state funding. 5 thousand projects have already been submitted through the system, and when the government decides, which projects it will finance from the Fund for Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression, the decisions will be made based on the digital analysis and comparison of projects not on paper,” Dorohan said.

There was a heated debate regarding the most pressing issue, which is the IDPs housing provision and destroyed housing reconstruction. The most effective and democratic tool is a mortgage, that is why the options for making the state affordable mortgage program eOselya more effective were discussed.

“1 thousand loans worth 1,3 billion UAH have already been issued. It is not much but it is the beginning,” the Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksandr Hryban said.

The Head of the Transformation Office and official of the Ministry for Restoration of Ukraine Maksim Bakhmatov emphasized that only a small part of the aid would come as a grant and the most part would be loans or private investments. And the state, communities and business joint task is to guarantee transparent selection, implementation and financing procedures.

Lev Partskhaladze informed that CBU, the only representative of Ukraine, together with the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), which unites 32 countries, and others had developed a general draft of recommendations for the future reconstruction of Ukraine. It contains clauses regarding open and transparent procurements, requirements for the equipment and materials, etc.

“In particular, there are recommendations on payment security, setting appropriate standards, training for communities, contractors, architects and many others, allowing us to rebuild better than before and as quickly as possible,” he said.

At the architectural block, the participants focused on the reconstruction philosophy, energy efficiency and inclusiveness in particular. Already developed projects, which could speed up the reconstruction, were shown. The consultant of the GIZ Project “Promotion of Energy Efficiency and Implementation of the EU Directive about the Energy Efficiency in Ukraine” Svitlana Berzina focused on inevitable implementation of green standards, both in relation to building materials and projects in general. 

Andrii Pashenko showed the educational institution typical projects. The Head of Construction Centre Project Office of the Steel Manufacturing Group METINVEST Tetiana Skrypka presented the "Steel Dream" project, houses with a metal frame of different heights and purposes.

During the discussion, the Co-founder and Principal Architect at Archimatika company Dmytro Vasyliev emphasized that the urban planning decisions of rural urbanism need to be rethought during the liberated territories restoration.

The topic of urban planning policy was the main one during the third panel discussion. The analytics presented by LUN (primary and secondary housing) and CBRE Ukraine (commercial real estate) showed a positive trend towards general market recovery and investment interest in Ukraine in particular. But the panel moderator, Founder and Head of Advanter Group Andrii Dligach, emphasized that the main issues had not been resolved yet, either at the state level or at the community level. Where exactly and who should we build the houses and industrial facilities for? Should we restore infrastructure with public/loan funds or private investments? How should we stimulate people to return and invest in business development of various formats, etc.?

In particular, the panellists, including active business representatives, emphasized that it is business that is able and has the opportunity to attract foreign investments (both direct and in form of funds). And the expectations of safety and legal protection conditions from the state institutions have not changed.

In addition, as a part of the BUSINESS FORUM, the Community Recovery Forum, which brought together the government officials, local self-government associations, regional military administrations, mayors and village heads, as well as the industry experts, was held.

During the discussion, the Chairman of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils Yuriy Andriichuk pointed out the instruments that would stimulate investment in the east of the country are urgently needed. “We consider the 75 km border zone in the East and North should be a priority. Our territories should not be liberated only but there should be the life, and people should return,” he said. The expert drew attention to the fact that it is necessary to attract such tools as concessions and international insurance programs in addition to loans and grants.

“We have already compiled issues of 1,800 settlements in the gray zone. The insurance companies, which will provide the opportunities to create jobs, are needed for an investor to come there,” he said.

During the forum, the President of the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine Lev Partskhaladze and Head of the Association of Small Cities of Ukraine Pavlo Kozyrev signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on joint actions aimed at increasing the capacity of local self-governments of Ukrainian communities to restore the communities and territories affected by Russia’s military aggression. The cooperation provides advisory, informational, expert and analytical, as well as other support, organization and implementation of joint events, projects and programs using the digital platform "SUPERMARKET OF SOLUTIONS FOR COMMUNITIES" as an effective tool to interact with local self-government officials.

In total, more than 40 speakers took part in the forum discussions and several hundred viewers joined the online broadcast.

During the forum, architectural bureaus, manufacturers and suppliers of products and technologies presented their projects, products and technologies at the exhibition venues. There was also an exhibition of the works of All-Ukrainian competitions Ukrainian Urban Awards and Interior of the Year. At the same time, master classes of architects, urbanists, designers and developers were held on additional venues in a non-stop format from 12:00 to 21:00.

The organizers transferred 500,000 hryvnias to the Fund of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky UNITED24, destination: Reconstruction of Ukraine.

Lev Partskhaladze emphasized that the BUSINESS FORUM primarily aimed at the consolidation of efforts of all those who will be involved in the reconstruction of Ukraine.

“That is why it is important to bring together government officials, business, communities, international community, etc. on one platform. I am sure that the reconstruction of Ukraine should be implemented quickly, efficiently and transparently due to the synergy and active participation of the professional public and local communities,” he concluded.

General sponsor: Metinvest

General Partner: ARCHICLUB

Finance Partner: Bank Globus

Strategic Partner: LUN, Forbes

Partners of the event: SAGA Development, TOPIAR, TOMA GROUP, Kolorit, Farba Service, Світ Меблів, Sensar Development, Міністерство дверей, KMD- facade solutions, BUDOVA, ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA Ukraine, Креатор-Буд, Інтергал-Буд, UGLA, MANEZH, Beloded Landscaping, Galleria Porcellanato, Інститут екологічного управління та збалансованого природокористування - проєкт GIZ Energy Efficiency and Climate Projects, СПС-БУД, Нове Століття, Royal House, ГК «Моноліт», Reynaers Aluminium Belgium, АГРОМАТ, ТОВ Данко, GalantPole, hansgrohe Ukraine, KyivBuild, ПБФ ГРУП, Оскар Груп, Ribas Hotels Group, Harmet Modular Houses, Caspian Servise, Natuzzi, Bosphorus Development

General Media Partner: Interfax-Ukraine

Media Partners: Build Portal, ProfBuild, Commercial Property, Хмарочос, АФНУ Україна, Асоціація малих міст України, Асоціація Інженерів-Консультантів України, UkraineInvest, HD Technopolygon, Українські Новини, ROYAL Design MAIN, Property Times, Soft Loft, Інформатор, StroyObzor, Marketer, Economist.com.ua, Портал нерухомості Budynok, Vidbudova, Mind. UA, Український центр сталевого будівництва, Zagorodna.com, Аспекти Будівництва, Home Ideas Supply, Comments.ua, Aspekty.Media, Київ | Вайб твоєї столиці, HIS.ua, LIGA ZAKON, Ukrainian Association of Government Relations Professionals and Lobbyists, Coatings-UA.com