Skonto Būvewill carry out the 5^th round of the Riga International Airport passenger terminal expansion – construction of the “Northern Gateway”.

The 5^th round of expansion – Northern Gateway with bridges for passenger boarding, envisages the construction of a two-storey (214 m long and 28 m wide) building with 23 gates for various types of aircrafts. The building is planned to be built about 240 m away from the current gateway, as well as with a gallery structure that will connect it to the current terminal building complex.

This project is planned to be done in two construction rounds. In the 1^st round – construction of the constructive part, exterior finish and the territory part of the building will be done, as well as interior works and adjustments of the gallery building for temporary functioning for airport purposes. After this round it is planned to put the building into operation and to start passenger servicing. In the 2^nd round the exterior finish works of the building will be carried out.

The main functions of the station will be servicing the departing and arriving passengers – the provision of the boarding and disembarkation process.

The 5^th round of the Airport terminal development foresees the non-Schengen zone expansion and four new boarding sectors.

With the support of the company “Skonto Būve” and Guntis Rāvis, the head of the company and the president of the Latvian Gymnastics Federation, the 20th International Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament “Mazā un lielā grācija 2014” took place in Jūrmala. Latvian representatives won 25 medals.

Jeļizaveta Gamaļejeva, Anastasija Jefimova and Marika Zavadska, members of the Latvian national team, recurrent champions of Latvia and winners of the Latvian Cup, who are currently preparing for the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in Turkey, also participated in the tournament.

88 Latvian gymnasts participated in the qualification stage where they competed amongst themselves.

And 70 gymnasts from six countries — Estonia, Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Sweden and Latvia — participated in the international competition.

With support from ‘Skonto Būve’, the 5^th around-the-clock basketball tournament ‘Coastal Games’ was held during the Riga Festival.

This year, the most ambitious around-the-clock basketball marathon in Eastern Europe, the ‘Coastal Games’, took place in rainy and adverse weather conditions.

Like every year, the competition opened with a game between the teams ‘Skonto Būve’ and ‘Rīgas Brīvosta’, and a competition between Latvian politicians of the right and left banks of the River Daugava concluded the around-the-clock basketball marathon.

The around-the-clock tournament was attended by both professional basketball players and amateurs of various age groups. One game was held every hour between the teams of the right and left banks of the River Daugava. Overall, the ambitious 24-hour amateur basketball marathon was represented by 600 players of 48 teams.

The tournament ended with the victory of the Daugava left bank team, and the end result was 960:958. Due to this year’s victory, the residents of Pārdaugava took an overall lead of 3:2 when taking the five past events into account. The winning bank received the challenge cup, which will remain in their possession until the next around-the-clock basketball tournament.

On the other hand, the traditional ‘Skonto Būve Slam Dunk’ competition brings together the best dunkers from Latvia and around the world each year. The world’s elite dunkers such as Rafal Lipinski from Poland, Dmitry Krivenko from Ukraine and Kader arrived in Riga to fight for the title of the best master dunker. However, due to the adverse weather conditions and for safety reasons, the best dunker’s title was not won.

Partnership ‘SBRE’ has completed the renovation of the Holy Spirit Tower of Riga Castle under the Riga Castle renovation project. Interior works covering an area of 350 m² have been completed, and the tower façade has been painted. The total area of the tower façade is more than 1,000 m².

Builders’ partnership ‘SBRE’, which includes the construction companies ‘Skonto Būve’ and ‘Re&Re’, performed the renovation and construction of electricity grids and low-voltage networks at the Holy Spirit Tower, as well as exterior reconstruction works, replacement and repairs of the roof waterproofing cover, renovation of the interior wall and ceiling linings, paint restoration work, masonry restoration work, renovation of floorboards, parquet flooring construction, as well as the renovation of windows, doors and stairs.

Other ongoing renovation projects at Riga Castle are still active. In the near future, specialists from the German company ‘Otto Richter GmbH’ will complete the drying and disinfection of the building.

The construction work schedule for this autumn already provides for the complete renovation of Riga Castle’s permanent roof, facades and windows. Currently there are ongoing works involving the main staircase and the convent section roofing. Also, new permanent roof structures are being built at the Festival Hall.

The White Hall, Ambassadors’ Hall and Festival Hall of Riga Castle will be restored to their original splendour.

Currently the archaeological research at the Eastern Annex has been completed and the fortification of the building’s foundations in this section is still ongoing. The building’s external power grids have been fully reconstructed and its internal improvement works have been started.

The renovation and restoration of Riga Castle is scheduled to be concluded in November 2015.

The initial construction of Riga Castle on the banks of the River Daugava was started in 1330, when after defeat in the war of the Livonian Order (1297-1330), the residents of Riga were forced to build a new castle instead of the Order castle that had been destroyed during the war. However, the new castle was not built in the city centre, but right next to it, at the location of the former Holy Spirit Hospital. The Castle became the residence of the Livonian Order Masters.

In 1481, a new war broke out between the Livonian Order and the City of Riga, and the residents of Riga destroyed the Castle again in 1484. The only parts of the old castle that remained were a part of the Holy Spirit Tower (serving as a lighthouse on the side of the river) and a section of the protective wall. The Holy Spirit Tower suffered greatly during the Freedom fights, but was restored thereafter.

As part of the further development of the “Centrus” block and part 2 of the project, “Skonto Būve” has begun the construction of two 6-storey apartment buildings.

“Centrus” is a well-developed, beautiful, detached and high-quality area under development in the very heart of Riga. It is situated in the most active part of Riga in the block of buildings surrounded by Tērbatas, Dzirnavu, Blaumaņa and Krišjāņa Barona streets.

The first part of the construction of “Centrus” will begin in summer 2014, and it will be the construction of two 6-storey buildings which will house 84 apartments and commercial space on the ground floors of both buildings.

In addition to a peaceful and private living environment, a comfortable public area is also being created. A pedestrian promenade will connect Dzirnavu and Blaumaņa streets, thus creating an inner courtyard space which will house cafés, shops and well-equipped relaxation spots all adding to the block’s own special atmosphere and the life inside of it.