There are times when vision and opportunity converge to clear the way for a project that has the potential to transform the face of a city. When Canada-born Robert Gibbins, founder and CIO of the global asset management company Autonomy Capital, came across a large stretch of green land in the heart of Kyiv’s historic Podil district, he could see a modern, integrated and forward-thinking community taking shape: Green Point Podil. “Every once in a while there are projects that are so important to a city that they are transformational,” Mr. Gibbins says. “I see that people in Kyiv, now, are looking for new ways of interacting with each other and with the community. And I think what this project represents is an interesting way for Ukrainians to live in their community, to share their community and their experience, and create value for everyone.”
Located in the northern part of the Podil district, the site of the Green Point project includes a natural lake, copious woodlands and a historic church, and Gibbins wants it to stay that way. “Podil has a great historical tradition. What do I mean by that? This a part of the city that has natural aquifers that feed not just the lake on this land, but also the holy water for the church next door. It is natural and untouched.”
The pristine nature on the site is just one of its many attractions. Another, according to Gibbins, is the vibrancy of the local community, as the Podil is one of the most culturally dynamic parts of Kyiv. “I think this is a really, really cool part of a cool city. I would have been hard pressed to find a more ideal site. And the Podil has a great tradition,” Mr. Gibbins explains. He wants not only to tap into that exuberant artistic expression, but to provide an open venue for its display as well.
A transformational development
Mr. Gibbins’s vision is bold. He wants to offer a transformational living environment to both residents of the project and the wider urban community of Kyiv. “What I want to offer is a different experience,” he says, “so instead of trying to figure out how to put the maximum number of concrete projects on this land, I want to think about how we can preserve the land as much as possible in its natural state, how to use the lake and the water source in their natural state and enhance them as water features that are open to the entire Podil community.” He believes that the area of the project is big enough to function together with other facilities in order to create an overall experience of living that is shared by all.
Plans for the development include several blocks of energy-efficient, low-carbon flats, facilities for indoor fitness and outdoor activities, and the full range of amenities, all the while maintaining and even enhancing the biodiversity of the natural environment. An old warehouse will be transformed into an art gallery, while the chimney of a long defunct ceramics factory will be preserved. “The site has massive space, so we should make it a public space for the community at large,” Mr. Gibbins says. “It should bring in people with cultural spaces, sports and fitness spaces, and schools. A space that draws in the community.”
With Green Point Podil, Mr. Gibbins aspires to present a development that is consistent to where society needs to be in the future, which is low-carbon emissions and connected to new forms of energy that create a sustainable space. “Climate change is something we have to include in every single analysis, every investment,” he said recently about his global investment strategy. “We are on the verge of one of the greatest transformations globally that any of us will ever see.”
Bringing in lessons from experience
Robert Gibbins and Autonomy Capital have an outstanding track record of working and investing in Ukraine for over 20 years, yet Green Point Podil will be their first large-scale real estate project in the country. They do have, however, plenty of experience in commercial development in other emerging markets. In Brazil, for example, Autonomy Capital undertook a rare greening project in the urban jungle of Sao Paulo that was not only the first LEED Gold AAA certified office complex in South America, but also its numerous parks were open to the wider community. “What ended up happening was that people just really liked it,” Mr. Gibbins says. “The residents of Sao Paulo ended up seeing the project as an icon for the city, and it set the standard in terms of what people expect out of urban projects.”
The key element of community is expressed in another real estate development project in Rio de Janeiro of Autonomy, involving the repositioning a derelict area that borders a favela. “The theme of this development is historical renovation, but within the context of creating open markets for local people to sell their wares,” Mr. Gibbins says, “thereby fostering interaction between the favela and downtown. In other words, it is a keystone or bridge project from one part of the city to another – a transformational project.” This means introducing some of the unique features of the favela culture, like cuisine and art, into the development.
And Mr. Gibbins cannot overstress the importance of community interaction, whether he is investing in Brazil or Ukraine. It is not a one-way street. “Part of this is engaging the community on terms they want to engage with, like determining which projects within the community we would support, whether they be social, educational, or artistic. We want to know what the community wants and then decide how to finance it, so that it includes a community buy-in. There is no point in doing this if people don’t want it or won’t respect it. And so we take our guidance from them.”
Green Point is no different, or it is different in the sense that the district, the city and the country have their own traditions, needs and wants. “The whole point of this project is to bring together the community and development in a way that provides value for both over time,” Mr. Gibbins explains. “The ideas are that the land itself, the project itself, is transformational.”
Creating long-term value for all
Creating value is one of the driving forces behind developers in any project, and for Green Point, Mr. Gibbins is taking both the long and the broader views. He is not simply interested in a rapid return on investment. Rather, he sees the Podil project as “a long term event, a long term vision” because the only way the project can be done well is by creating value of the long term for the community.
And that community extends well beyond the contours of the project. One of the strikingly novel approaches brought by Autonomy Capital to Green Point Podil is the idea of introducing a longer term vision of working and living in a development that seeks to draw in the community as much as it seeks to attract residents for its own flats. “I think that whenever we get a confluence of people, whenever we get a mix of experience, a mix of ideas, we contribute to the growth of the city overall,” Mr. Gibbins explains. “And I really do believe that putting the cultural space in is a tremendous value maximizer for the entire region and for the project especially.”
A values-based approach
The desire to live with and serve as stewards of nature should be a prime consideration for potential residents of Green Point because these are fundamental concepts driving the development. “One thing that I think makes this project quite different from most others in the city centre is the idea of living in nature, as I believe this is something we will have to deal with in the future anyway, and it’s something we can do now in this area in Kyiv,” Mr. Gibbins says. “It’s a matter of whether people’s values are there. Is it something that people will value sufficiently to want to live there and buy a house or an apartment, and I think the answer is ‘yes’.”
The very design of Green Point is an expression of those community and environmentally-friendly values. The land is set to include open public spaces that will leave the natural landscape as untouched as possible, biodiversity will be maintained, native species re-introduced, areas for public fitness, galleries and artisanal stalls built, and energy-efficient, low-carbon materials used in the construction. “All of this draws a diverse mix of people, which then generates a mix of ideas that creates growth. That’s what I believe in specifically for this land,” according to Mr. Gibbins.
On green ecology
For Mr. Gibbins, ‘going green’ is not just about using ecologically friendly building materials or keeping the lake clean. It is a comprehensive approach that builds value over time under the rapidly evolving conditions of environmental change. “It’s really about is this one question: do you believe and are you invested enough in the project such that you are prepared to do things that will create value not on Day One, but increasingly over time. And if the answer to that is ‘yes’, then you can get to all the right decisions in terms of sustainability,” Mr. Gibbins explains. He expects the project to pay over the long term, from five to ten years at least.
“What it really boils down to, in this respect,” Mr. Gibbins states, “is how do we want to think about how we use the land, how do we want to think about how we use biodiversity, waste disposal, waste water and energy, how we ensure that we are constructing efficiently. All of those things show up over time.”
Mr. Gibbins is certain that the project should have no difficulty sourcing ecologically sound, low-carbon building materials locally, as he feels that Ukrainian suppliers have and use the proper technology. He is more concerned about ensuring that the energy systems are state-of-the-art in terms of sustainability not only today, but well into the future. The sources of power have to be “clean” and “consistent”, he says, and the whole design must be done in a highly efficient manner.
Mr. Gibbins is bullish on the future of Ukraine and Kyiv and sees the country steadily moving towards a brighter future. “I am a big believer in the spirit and values that the Ukrainian people have fought for, and I am a believer that Ukraine has the capacity to enjoy a European standard of living,” he says.
Green Point Podil is a bold and innovative project for Ukraine, and Mr. Gibbins and his associates are confident that Kyiv is ready for it. “What we have to ask is if there is space for a different way of living in Kyiv that creates a community by providing access and by providing value, and is this a winning strategy over time. I think the answer to that is ‘yes’.”
