Evgeny Arbuzov: “There should be more square meters, without damaging the cultural heritage.”

The Real Estate and Construction Practice of the ART DE LEX law firm held a business breakfast on the theme: “Cultural heritage sites: what should the developer consider?”

Modern development involves solving a number of complex issues. One of the most important tasks is an in-depth study of current and prospective projects that weighs the advantages of location with the risks to achieving the desired results. The presence of architectural monuments in the vicinity of a planned development, as a rule, increases the consumer value of a development project, raises the prestige of a location, and serves as an additional marketing tool. However, such a site may involve crucial urban planning restrictions that often are not obvious at the development and sometimes even at the early implementation stages.

The protection of cultural heritage sites entails a number of problems, including the excessive rigor of the existing regulation, which is a reaction to the lax attitude regarding the cultural sites in the 1990s, the incomplete identification of archaeologically and culturally important sites, and the inadequate restrictions that once existed at the district and urban levels.

These problems and their solutions were the subject of discussion, on 2 October 2018, at a business breakfast the Real Estate and Construction practice of the ART DE LEX law firm organized. The participants of the event considered a number of important issues, including:

• the alternatives for solving issues related to cultural heritage sites, including legal means;
• the importance of taking into account the possible impact of cultural heritage sites located in the vicinity of a planned development area;
• the procedure (algorithm) for determining the boundaries of the protection zones for cultural heritage sites and the possible restrictions they involve;
• the types of restrictions within protection zones and the peculiarities of these restrictions;
• the possible options of reducing and eliminating the risks associated with the presence of cultural heritage sites within or nearby a planned development;
• the legislative changes regarding cultural heritage site protection zones and future legislative developments.

Evgeny Arbuzov, a partner at ART DE LEX and the head of the Real Estate and Construction Practice at the law firm, and Alexander Petrov, a lawyer on Mr. Arbuzov’s team, spoke during the business breakfast. After their remarks, the participants discussed specific issues related to cultural heritage sites.