Don’t look down! New footage shows the installation of the spire of the Lakhta Center under construction in St. Petersburg, which will house the headquarters of Gazprom Group. The main building of the complex has already reached its final height of 462 meters. The construction of the above-ground part of the skyscraper took two and a half years.
“The high-rise architecture of the complex fully corresponds to the innovative spirit of St. Petersburg. The high-rise [portion] of the Lakhta Center has reached its design height, and we expect that the entire complex will be completed on schedule, by the end of 2018,” said Elena Ilyukhina, Lakhta Center Director General.
Image courtesy of Josef Gartner GmbH
According to the owners, the building weighs more than 670,000 metric tons and is built on complex soils. Piles with a diameter of 2 meters, which developers claim are the widest in the world, were installed to a depth of 82 meters. In addition to the skyscraper, three more facilities at the complex are in the final stages of construction.
The spire was the final structural part of the Lakhta Center skyscraper to be completed. It was installed without helicopters, using the tallest crane currently operating in Europe. Beginning at 368.8 meters, the spire supports an observation deck that offers views of the surrounding area. From 377.35 meters and up, the spire accommodates a technical area for the installation of building maintenance equipment, communication equipment, and navigation systems. The Lakhta Center project is pre-certified by the LEED international ecological rating system.
Discover more: Insights into the Lakhta Centre: Europe’s Tallest Skyscraper
Video courtesy of Josef Gartner GmbH