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The Urban Development Plan of Bourgas should be 50 years ahead of our time

The Municipality Council should not constrain itself to the process of Privatization only. Instead, they should set up the guidelines for the development of the town, says one of the partners in "Perfect Group".

Arch. Stanislav Nikolov is born 1969; He graduated in The University of architecture, civil engineering and geodesy– Sofia in 1995. In 2004 he graduated in his Postgraduate education "Industrial Management" in the "Economy Academy" in Svishtov.

Arch. Nikolov was the Manager of the teams that designed the interior and exterior / façade planning of the hotels "Festa Panorama" and "Arsena" in the town of Nessebar, "Festa Barselo-Premium" – Sofia, "Imperial", The Resort Complex "Riviera", "Mirage" – Bourgas, "Zornitsa Sands" – Elenite as well as many others in Bansko, Pamporovo, Pomorie, St. Vlas and "Slanchev Bryag – West".

Arch. Nikolov is the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Perfect Group".

Arch. Nikolov, what is your opinion about the building up of the Black Sea coast Area – is there excessive building and constructions there ? What should be the general trend in the development of the building and construction industry ?

Contrary to the widely discussed in the media and the society thesis that there is huge extent of over-building up in the region, we do consider this to be a normal process of development in the region. Making a simple comparison with other countries like Spain, Italy, Turkey you will hardly find any substantial differences.

What we do not approve of and totally disagree with is the fact that most of the real estate development and building up of the territory do not have high, if any, aesthetic, functional and communicational merits. All the participants in the process – the State, the Municipalities and the private investors, must take part in the planning and building of the communal and communications’ infrastructure and environment, as well as planning for and building up the areas for wide open public access. This means planning and building city / market squares, parks, buffer green zones and recreational zones. The Municipalities must intensify their participation and intervention at the stage of town-planning, because this is the moment when the prerequisites are being sorted out and created, so as to follow up after that with building up the right living and business environment in the sector of building and construction.

Don’t you think such an approach will meet the reserve and aloofness of the private investors?

No, I do not. It is a fact of life that lately, it is even the opposite – it is more and more often that the private hotel and tourist sector proposes and introduces initiatives for carrying out restoration works, easing up of the restrictions on the access to and the utilization of antique artifacts’ sites and archaeological preserves as tourist attractions.

We need a new, more accurate assessment on the requirements of the tourist market, and respectively, the building up of much bigger structures with their own amusement parks, entertainment complexes and side shows, which will offer much wider opportunities for flexible approach to the management of the hotels and resorts. The rule of thumb is: Full capacity of entertainment plus aggressive shopping strategy. The tourist must be tempted by everything and everywhere, he must be provoked to grab as much as possible the moment.

According to you, how must the urban environment and architecture develop?

A Master Urban Development Plan must give the guidelines for the development of the town for at least 50 years ahead. The Town Planning must define all the zones within the town – industrial, business, and office centers, residential, recreational. All organizations, companies, ecological and civil organizations, all the citizens must have their say on such a plan for the future of the town, and then turn this plan into a law for all of them.

Presently, every now and then, the society, the community is surprised by the results coming up from the building and construction process. The Municipality Council of Bourgas is not actively generating ideas. The Council must not constrain itself to the privatization of the municipality property, but should work out and define the guidelines and the rules along which the town will be developing.

The Master Plan for Urban Development of Bourgas is dating back at the 60-ties of 20-th century – a time when the trade was not so well developed and most of the buildings have had their other functions. Bourgas has gradually turned from a tourist, into an industrial town, this process of neglecting the tourist development of the town is still in force nowadays. The name of the town is being gradually erased from the map of the cultural events. It is already only the legend about them that is still alive.

We are in an urgent need of totally new plan and concept about the development of the town. This plan must be developed after a wide public discussion. And in case there is a permit issued or contracted, like in the case with the skyscraper project, for example, the investor must be bind with a number of contractual obligations other than his direct ones – like building the respective infrastructure and the social and living environment that will surround the building itself.

Is a rule that the speed of the building is always at the expense of the quality?

The Construction and Building industry is a flexible business. If the investor sets a requirement that the building must complete within three months, this should be reflected in the project planning, which of course will require different materials, machinery and equipment. Nothing is impossible and everything can be accomplished. Take Dubai as an example – they are building a skyscraper island, but the project planning has taken all these peculiarities into account.

In Bulgaria, the investor does not have a clear idea about all the systems, the project planning is taking a general approach, and in the end, everything has its impact on the quality of the performance of the building contractor.
The time schedules must be tight. You can not build three whole years, if not anything else, the concept of the architectural design and project planning will not be topical and modern. A few years ago, the market was looking for vocational apartments of about 70 sq. m., first line at sea front, at price levels between 1000 – 1200 Euro / sq. m. Now, the investors with quick turn-over intentions are reasoning: Why should I buy the bigger apartment, when I can buy 2 small ones, and eventually sell one? Now it is modern to build small apartments / studios of about 40 sq. m., the bigger apartments are being divided in two. But this is a trend that will wear out in time.

What is the design of your own home, what do you want to be distinguishable in it, what do you personally find in it?

My home, to a big extent is reflecting my momentary aesthetic attitude. Most broadly the concept is "fusion" encompassing modern and classical elements. There are plenty of pieces of art from all over the world. It is bearing also my family traditions – the big family bookcase and a number of favorite pieces of furniture from classical collections of prestigious Italian manufacturers. I am a firm believer in the educational influence of the living environment, and such I have tried to create a "picture" with which my child is growing up.

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