Skonto Būve’s senior project manager Jānis Kreicburgs wins Latvia’s building industry award
Occupation Museum staff receive keys to newly refurbished building
Riga Technical University’s new student campus buildings completed
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Skonto Būve’s senior project manager Jānis Kreicburgs wins Latvia’s building industry award

On 13 October, our colleague Jānis Kreicburgs, a senior project manager at Skonto Būve and Skonto Construction, gained the highest recognition in the industry by receiving the building industry prize—a foundation stone—granted by 49 industry experts. Jānis Kreicburgs won the 2021 Project Manager of the Year title for his work on significant large-scale projects in Latvia and abroad.

Juris Pētersons, a member of the board at Skonto Būve, heaps praise on his employee: “Jānis Kreicburgs has been part of the Skonto Būve team of professionals for 16 years. He is an expert in his field, possesses proven ability, has a clear focus on goals, wishes to develop and grow, and is a mentor to young professionals in their career paths.  Jānis has managed numerous large-scale projects in Latvia, Sweden, the UK, and other countries, and over the years has repeatedly received professional recognition. Jānis Kreicburgs’ energy and expertise not only is an asset to Skonto Būve but also to Latvia and countries beyond Latvia’s borders.”

At Skonto Būve, Jānis Kreicburgs started out as an assistant project manager. Now, as a senior project manager at Skonto Būve and SBSC, he has worked on a number of large-scale construction projects in Latvia, including renovation of the New Riga Theatre building, rebuilding of the shopping centre Origo and building of the business centre Origo One, reconstruction of Reval Hotel Elizabete and Rīga TES TEC- 2, Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital Building A first phase project, construction of the pile foundations of the shopping centre Akropole, Business Garden Riga office complex, and more.

Outside Latvia, Jānis has mostly been involved in Skonto Būve projects in Sweden and the UK, for example, by being in charge of the Eagle House projects located in London near the City Road high rise. Also, he has overseen the Skonto Būve Swedish branch since 2016.

"The people nominated for these awards deserve our utmost respect for the work they have done and the work they will still do in the future. They have been praised by their own peers, who have chosen them as the best and most knowledgeable specialists,” says Raimonds Eizenšmits, head of the board of the Latvian Civil Engineers’ Union.

For the ninth year, the awards ceremony was organised by the Latvian Civil Engineers’ Union and magazine Būvinženieris in partnership with government agencies and NGOs.  

Occupation Museum staff receive keys to newly refurbished building

On 13 August 2021, the staff of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia were officially given the keys to the refurbished museum building, so now the museum’s experts may continue putting on new exhibitions. The historical building located in Rīga’s Strēlnieku Square 1 has acquired a new, light extension dubbed the House of the Future.

As a result of the reconstruction, the Occupation Museum has acquired almost twice as much space, including new exhibition space, modern offices, specially equipped storage and archive rooms. The reconstruction project was based on the famed late architect Gunārs Birkerts’ concept—to add a light extension to the existing black museum building, finishing it off with a glass wall, creating a metaphor on Latvia’s history—from the dark past to the bright present to enlightened future.

The new complex will also include a new majestic 10-meter-high and 18-meter-wide memorial named The Touch of History commemorating the victims of the Soviet occupation—a symbolic link between the present-day Latvia and the tragic events of 1941, when 15,000 Latvian people were deported to Siberia.

The memorial features audiovisual effects designed by the artist Voldemārs Johansons. The information technology company Tilde provided an AI solution for the victims’ names to be synthesised and played back at the memorial. In front of the House of the Future facing the River Daugava, a small grove of birch trees has been planted—representing a common feature of Latvian landscape.

Overall, the redevelopment of the site saw investments worth €10,434,869 million, which included the reconstruction of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, erection of the memorial for the victims of the Soviet occupation, and an overall improvement of the Riflemen Square. The museum building and the memorial have been assigned a status of a sight of national interest, and the construction was supervised by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. Skonto Būve carried out construction works following the project designed by the architectural firm 5. iela. The authors of the artistic concept behind the memorial dubbed The Touch of History are Kristaps Ģelzis, Ilze Miķelsone, and Voldemārs Johansons representing the firm Taktila. Their sketch design was chosen as best by an international jury back in 2007.

Riga Technical University’s new student campus buildings completed

On 3 September this year, Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, Minister for Education and Science Anita Muižniece, the Riga Technical University (RTU) staff, students, and industry professionals gathered near the Zunda canal in Ķīpsala for the official opening of two new buildings—the RTU’s Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology and a lecture-hall centre Domus Auditorialis.

“September has been a fruitful month for us in terms of completed projects. We are delighted to see that the RTU’s students will now be able to acquire new knowledge in a well-planned, modern space specially designed for studies,” stresses Ilgvars Pauls, the RTU project manager at Skonto Būve.

The new building is a fine gift to the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology on its 60th anniversary, which takes place this year. For the first time in its existence, the faculty has acquired a space specially designed for its needs. The building boasts a modern, well-organised study and research space, well-equipped labs for students and scientists, a research centre, computer halls, spacious and light lecture-rooms. Also, every floor has a comfortable relaxation area where students may meet, network, generate innovative ideas that may hopefully turn into products of high added value.

Domus Auditorialis, a co-working lecture-hall centre, will be able to house lectures, conferences, and other events for a large number of people. The centre has a large lecture hall for about 600 visitors, which may be transformed into two or three smaller halls, each welcoming 100 guests respectively. The high-quality technical equipment ensures that the rooms will have modern sound and lighting solution, as well as simultaneous interpreting facilities.

The RTU has set to make its student campus in Ķīpsala the largest and most cutting-edge centre of engineering in the Baltics. The new faculty building will house all the engineering programmes, the Lab house, a scientific library, a student hotel, and a swimming pool under one roof.