The 10th Jubilee International Conference "Housing Renovation 2008" was held in Kyiv on 4 June under the auspices of the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine and NIIProektrekonstruktsiya State Scientific Research and Design Development Institute.

The results of the work under the "Quality Housing Territory" programme were presented and priority areas of the future implementation of this programme were identified in the course of the conference. Let us remind that the state "Quality Housing Territory" programme has identified a number of  districts in various cities of Ukraine that require comprehensive rennovation accompanied by the demolition of old buildings and the construction of those new. Eight  districts were identified in Kyiv; however, the  rennovation actually started only  in Dniprovsky District.

According to the specialists, the implementation of this state project is hampered by a number of limitations related to the under-developed financial and investment mechanisms, technical solutions and, finally, protests of tenants against the re-settlement.

At the same time, the problem remains unresolved and requires urgent action. Similar difficulties were encountered by our ex-USSR neighbours, although there is some progress in a number of areas. The experience of Belarus, where tenants fund 60% of the rehabilitation volume and 40% of the rehabilitation volume are funded using the outside resources, is very efficient and important. The framed construction technologies providing for the addition of several storeys above the existing storeys are widely used for the rennovation purposes. This is the most economical solution, because it improves the housing quality and expands the available area thanks to the additional storeys at the same time.

Andriy Pavlyk, Director of Knauf Insulation Ukraine: "The framed-based construction technology, which is well-known and widespread abroad, is a relative novelty in our country. Its application became possible due to the emergence of modern construction materials, including highly efficient thermal insulation materials being the core of this system. Although the framed structures are mainly used for the one-family house construction, they have a large application potential for the rennovation of high-rise buildings".

The light weight of the framed structure, the low load on the load-bearing walls of a building and the relatively low cost of the additional construction are among the advantages of the utilisation of this technology for the rennovation of houses. The application of high-quality thermal insulation materials makes it possible to attain the highest energy efficiency indicators using relatively thin walls.

According to the information presented at the conference, Ukraine has more than 1 billion square metres of old houses that require urgent rennovation. Thus, a question arises as to what is more beneficial: to demolish and build anew or to modernise and rennovate. It is, however, clear that something has to be done as soon as possible taking into account the economic benefits and on the basis of well-developed financial investment arrangements with the involvement of the tenants.