Minister of Health Ingrīda Circene, Chairman of the Board of the RPNC Jānis Buģins, and Chairman of the Board of Skonto Būve Guntis Rāvis, jointly buried a time capsule with a message for future generations in the foundations of the new reception block of the Riga Psychiatry and Narcology Centre (RPNC).

Jānis Buģins, Chairman of the Board of the RPNC: “This is a special event as the construction of the last building of the centre was finished half a century ago. We station 9.5 thousand patients here every year and 89% of them are brought in an ambulance. Therefore the new reception is very essential, as at the moment it is located in a 190 year old building.”

The new reception block is designed to be multi-functional. The servicing of patients will be made more discreet by separating the psychiatric and narcological patients, and a united department for diagnostics is to be established. There are also innovations such as beds fitted for temporary patients and the intensive care of those patients that are delivered in a severe mental state, requiring the supervision of medical staff day and night. Also, the intoxication examination department of alcohol, narcotic and psychotropic substances, with the state's only advanced chemical-toxicological reference laboratory, will be transferred to the reception block. The new up-to-date reception block for psychiatric and narcological patients will increase the options for training residential medical staff.

Skonto Būveis the leading construction company in Latvia according to turnover and the biggest taxpayer in the field of construction. In 2011, the company paid 4.6 million lats in taxes. According to the industry research carried out by Dienas Bizness and Creditreform Ltd.,Skonto Būve also has the best solvency assessment in 2013.

Kristīne Veinberga, Marketing Specialist of Creditreform Latvija Ltd.:“Besides the excellent financial figures – Skonto Būve is the No. 1 construction company in terms of turnover; it is also the biggest taxpayer of the industry. In 2011, the total calculation of taxes to be paid by the company was 5.6 million lats, with the settled amount constituting 4.6 million lats.”

In 2012, the turnover of Skonto Būve reached 67.15 million lats enabling the company to maintain its position as the leading construction company in line with previous years.

A new company Heimdal Skonto Latvia has opened in Ventspils which is a joint venture of the Norwegian Heimdal Group and Skonto Būve; it is a production unit of module houses. The unit is built according to a special design and its production is then exported to Scandinavian countries.  The first consignment was shipped to Norway where the joint venture Heimdal Skonto Latvia is operating as a general contractor.

The most recent and up-to-date technologies are used in the production of Heimdal Skonto Latvia house modules. The houses have ready-built premises with utilities, interior decoration, plumbing and furniture. The finished modules are transported to the construction site where they are erected as multi-storey buildings, such as residential buildings and hotels. Furniture, ironworks and windows manufactured in Latvia are often used in the construction of these structures. Therefore, in addition to new work opportunities being created by the opening of this production unit, it also helps in promoting the development of other manufacturers in Latvia.

Heimdal Skonto Latvia Ltd. is fully owned by the Norwegian holding company Heimdal Skonto Norway, which is a joint venture of the Latvian company Skonto Būve Ltd. and the Norwegian Heimdal Group.

The company Skonto Būve and the Road Traffic Safety Directorate (Ceļu satiksmes drošības direkcija, CSDD) have signed an agreement on the reconstruction of the Riga Motor Museum building and the construction of a Customer Service Centre. 

Aivars Aksenoks, Director of the Riga Motor Museum, took part in this event and the agreement was signed by Andris Lukstiņš, Chairman of the Board of the State Joint Stock Company Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) and Guntis Rāvis, Chairman of the Board of Skonto Būve.

Andris Lukstiņš, Chairman of the Board ofCSDD: “I am glad that this day has finally come, we have waited a long time for this moment. We have assigned this building to Skonto Būve on Jurģis day in order for them to restore it, so that we can return to a fully repaired building in the future.”

Guntis Rāvis, Chairman of the Board ofSkonto Būve: “It is a great honour for Skonto Būve to reconstruct and build such a historical and interesting building. I am already certain that it is going to be a success, because we have a reputable client, good architects and a trusted contractor.”

In Riga, the 14^th international rhythmic gymnastics tournament “Baltic Hoop 2013” has successfully concluded. Latvian gymnast Jelizaveta Gamaleyeva took an honourable third place in the individual all-round competition and in the ribbon exercises. The company “Skonto Būve” has been a reliable supporter of this competition for several years, and its manager Guntis Rāvis is a long-time president of the Latvian Gymnastic Federation.

The winner of the discipline mentioned above – individual all-around competition and ribbon exercises, and the recipient of the 1,000 euro money prize, which was donated by "Skonto Būve", was Marina Durunda from Azerbaijan. The runner-up was Jelizaveta Nazarenkova from Russia. Latvian gymnast Jelizaveta Gamaleyeva, who is also the winner of both the Latvian Championship and Latvian Cup, took third place.

The junior group competition was won by a junior national team from Azerbaijan.

The traditional “Baltic Hoop” title “Ms Elegance”, which is awarded by the Jury of Artists, was given to Natalia Bulicheva from Russia.

This year's competition gathered 102 gymnasts from 15 countries - Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Israel, Bulgaria, Belgium, Australia, Cyprus, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

The competition is organised by the Latvian Gymnast Federation with financial support from Riga City Council’s Education, Culture and Sports Department and “Skonto Būve” Ltd.