In the tiny village of Skolkovo outside Moscow, which has been dubbed Russia’s Silicon Valley, a large-scale project is underway to create an innovation hub for high-tech research and entrepreneurship. Sweco is one of five international architectural and consulting engineering companies chosen to submit design proposals for the new city centre.

“It is naturally an enormous honour and further proof that Sweco’s expertise in sustainable urban development is highly sought after. When we put together multidisciplinary teams of architects and engineers, we have an offering that is strong anywhere in the global market,” says Eva Nygren, President of Sweco Sweden.

The creation of Skolkovo has attracted major attention, since the driving force behind the initiative is Russian President Dmitry Medvedev himself. And it is no small area to be developed. In the first phase, the city centre will contain an estimated 500 hectares of parks, housing for 30,000 residents, exhibition spaces, industries and research facilities. The plans also include a university for 3,000 students.

In mid-December Sweco’s proposal will be submitted to the foundation that is responsible for ongoing development of the area. So far, Sweco has received over EUR 215,000 to prepare the competition proposal.

The other companies participating in the competition are Arep Ville of France, Jurong International of China, Arup of the UK and Perkins Eastman of the USA. The company that finally wins and is chosen to develop the town planning concept will be awarded a contract worth close to EUR 2.7 million.