Foster has seven projects in Russia, which include Siberia’s first skyscraper—in the form of a giant, soaring crystal—in the oil-rich Khanty-Mansiysk region. Most of these projects now face difficulties that were not expected six months ago.
In Moscow, Russia Tower—planned as the tallest building in Europe—has been hardest hit. Ground broke on the $2bn project in September 2007, but in November the developer Russian Land, which is owned by billionaire and art collector Shalva Chigirinsky, said the project was being frozen because he couldn’t secure financing. Mr Chigirinsky has one of the finest collections of Fabergé table clocks.
Russian Land and Foster are also redeveloping the site of Hotel Rossia, a Soviet-era three-star hotel next to St Basil’s Cathedral on Red Square. However, the project has long been dogged by legal lawsuits put forward by Mr Chigirinsky’s competitors. Hotel Rossia’s demolition is almost complete, but now its woes have been compounded by the financial crisis, and work has come to a halt.
