December 13, 2021
By what rules did the Ukrainian construction market once work and will work in the future?
On November 26, at the All-Ukrainian conference for developers, organized by one of the most popular specialized online editions DOM.RIA, RIEL Real Estate Corporation was named the leader among developers, taking the second place in the list of companies with the highest rating of the developer. In general, the experts of the web portal analysed the activities of 358 Ukrainian developers.
Further, experts and industry leaders – representatives of developers, marketing and sales departments – began to share their observations on how quarantine restrictions affected the market. REC RIEL representative – the leading brand manager Yevhen Pavlichenko – speaking on how the values of investors have changed, what is most important for them now and what trends are now prevailing in the industry.
The fact that new realities have the upper hand for the functioning of any infrastructure anywhere in the world is no longer in doubt even among sceptics. However, there is something that remains stable even in the face of sudden quarantines and unexpected lockdowns: for people, it is a need for living space. For developers, it is the need to always focus on the expectations and needs of people. According to Evhen Pavlichenko, the first lockdown that happened in Ukraine back in March 2020 demonstrated in the best possible way how quickly customer requests can change. And how quickly REC RIEL can react to the new conditions of the market functioning.
“When we started working from home, we all faced the fact that there was no way to get away from your family”, Evhen says. “And that, while participating in an online conference, you should always be ready for your own child accidentally joining it, because at that very moment he desperately needs something in this very room. To rectify the situation, we at REC RIEL was looking for different options. For example, in business and premium class complexes, we decided to implement lounge spaces on some of the floors. There, you can safely work with your laptop in comfortable chairs in the company of equally work-focused neighbours. In another space, you can hang out with the friends you invited or play table football together without disturbing others. For business negotiations, there is a separate room with the appropriate equipment, with a coffee point for celebrating agreements next to it. And all this will be available to the residents as part of the standard housekeeping service. You no longer have to go somewhere, look for a co-working space with a meeting room – all you need is just go down, relatively speaking, in your slippers, to the lounge area of your own home and cover all your work demands”.
With an eye to the needs of children in quarantine conditions, the concept of “family” residential complexes from REC RIEL is also being updated: now they pay more attention to playgrounds. What is important, for children of all ages.
“We have a complex where we specifically focus on family issues: there we are developing a separate large children's room of 80 sq. m,” the RIEL leading brand manager says. “There will be zoning for children of different ages: from babies in diapers under the constant supervision of mothers, to adolescents who are usually trying to be sent somewhere – for example, to play ХВОХ. Here, our residents will fully feel all the advantages of this additional level of comfort: even if they have one-room apartments, they will still have a separate space to play, where parents can send their children while they work in a separate lounge zone yourself. So your children are happy, your wife is calm and contented, which means that everyone's life is easier and more joyful”, Evhen smiles.
At the same time, some of the customer's aspirations have not changed. And they will hardly ever change, RIEL says. In particular, the need for privacy and security in RC, for convenience and efficiency – from thoughtful services on site to logistic comfort – and the realization of one's own exclusivity and uniqueness.
“The client always wants to be unique. This is a basic need for any person”, Evhen Pavlichenko points out. “In the Soviet past, this was expressed in ‘balconism’: when the only way to distinguish yourself, living in exactly the same panel houses, was to make a ship out of your balcony or paint it crimson. That's how a person could feel cool and unique. Then everyone began to build ‘Manhattans’ – houses with the maximum height and maximum built-up area, as in Kyiv Pozniaky district. Then the trends changed again, and we moved on to quarterly development. Our first project of this kind is Lviv Mistechko Pidzamche RC. We portray it as the New Centre of the Old City, because it is located in the historical part of Lviv. The residential complex consists of three separate complexes, forming a single macro complex, where different types of housing are designed: for both young people and European retirees who are increasingly buying housing in Ukraine. And also for IT specialists. And in each of these complexes, accents are made precisely for the necessary target audience: from apartment layouts to the surrounding infrastructure – children’s and educational institutions, work-out and playgrounds, co-working spaces, shopping and entertainment centres, coffee shops, etc.”
At the same time, in each of these residential complexes, diverse in class, location, layouts and price categories, there is one common feature that REC RIEL has been implementing for more than 18 years: an unconditional focus on the maximum comfort of future residents. This trend, RIEL assures, will hardly change, no matter how volatile market conditions are.
