Window Men

Podcast with Andrey Tonkikh, Novosibirsk.
Eurograd Company. Fire protection systems and enclosing structures. https://vk.com/id232164507

We have known Andrei since 2008. At that time, I was working as a representative for Siberia and the Far East for LG Chemicals. Our South Korean company supplied him and his business partner, Oleg Gorshkov in Novokuznetsk, with materials for the production of plastic windows - PVC profiles. Subsequently, Andrei decided to move to Novosibirsk and continued to work in the same field. I managed to work for him as head of the sales department in 2016-2018. And today he and I are old mates who have a lot to remember and a lot to talk about on common topics.

We have discussed the following issues.
1. Why did you choose the construction industry for your career, what influenced your choice?

- That's an interesting question. Well, what influenced it? Firstly, I was young, married. I had to look for a profession. And the profession I got at a special vocational school did not suit me. I started working in a construction company as a driver, then I started working as an installer. That was the start of my career in the construction industry.

2. Did you have ancestors or other relatives who worked in the same field?

- No, I didn't. Everyone mostly worked at metallurgical enterprises, as I am originally from Novokuznetsk.

3. What do you like and dislike most about the construction industry?

- The thing I like most about the construction industry is contracting. But contract execution I like not so much)))). There are too many duties and things to do.

4. How many hours a day does it take you to work on average, including travelling?

- It used to take 14 hours a day. Now it's much less, about six hours or so.
- Over what period of time did you start working less?
- It's been like this for about the last couple of years.

5. Does your school or university knowledge come in handy in your job?

- In fact, it probably comes in handy.
- Which ones? Chemistry, maths?
- Knowing our ABC's - I can read))))). Geometry comes in handy, definitely. I got an ‘A’ in geometry and a ‘B’ in algebra. And in chemistry and physics I had C's and B's. But I don't need them. Mostly, when there are difficult questions, Google helps.
- Do you sell electrical equipment for translucent constructions, such as electric drives for ventilation and smoke removal systems?
- We do, but rarely.

6. What are the most pronounced trends in construction right now? What is fashionable and on trend?
- Is it fashionable and on trend for beauty or for safety?
- In general, in principle. What are the most popular things?
- We can mention beautiful elements of fittings. Trendy designer ceramic tiles. For example, when you go into any good and modern residential complex, there is always a lobby, like in a hotel. And you see finishing materials in the latest fashion, the most ‘tricked out’. Beautiful finishes, fireplaces, armchairs. Mirrors the whole height of the floor, four metres from floor to ceiling.
- Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Isn't your company currently involved in finishing?
- You could say that we are in the business of protecting buildings from the cold in winter and from heat radiation in summer. We also provide fireproof windows, doors and stained glass. As well as traditional translucent constructions, made of plastic and aluminium.
- Do you make wooden windows and doors?
- No, we do not do wood.

7. Name please the most interesting and most challenging construction project in your practice.

- A.: The most difficult object was in Novosibirsk. It was the office building of the St. Petersburg company Tauras-Phoenix, at 230/1 Krasny Prospekt, which we carried out together with you. 400 m2 of aluminium facade, two floors with a total height of 10 m.
- V.: Yes, I remember that). The double-glazed windows were 4750 mm high. And what was the most difficult for you?
- A.: The most interesting and complex parameter of this object was its geodesy. Execution, installation. As our geometry did not go smoothly, the project was redesigned ‘on the fly’. The aluminium facade was shifted in relation to the metal frame of the building, moving it closer. We tried for a long time to find the best solution - how to make non-standard angles of rotation, different from 90 degrees, I remember it well.
- V: I visited this building. I met with the head of the local branch, Roman Wegner. There are some issues there regarding the operation of the double-glazed windows.
- A.: Yes, the building is made on a metal frame, on a foundation concrete pad 400 mm high, and there is such an effect as a constant unpredictable linear expansion of metal beams and columns due to temperature differences and ground deformation.
- Q: Yes, we discussed after the completion of these works with the head of the installation site, Vladimir Pimkin, that on this building, due to the high height of the glazing, it was better to use another technical solution, more expensive, which the customer was not ready for. This is an element fa;ade, or modular glazing. Like on skyscrapers. Such systems are used for continuous multi-storey glazing of buildings by hanging ready-made blocks assembled in advance in the workshop.
- A.: Yes, there would be a different price category. Such double-glazed units must necessarily be made of laminated and tempered glass.

8. What has been the most interesting site recently in terms of fire protection structures?

- The most interesting object for me was the AZIMUT Hotel in Novosibirsk. We were installing fire partitions in a conference hall there. And there were partitions separating the corridor from the halls themselves, and there were doors, also made of fireproof materials.

9. What would you do first of all if you became the Minister of Construction of the Russian Federation?

- A.: I wouldn't want to work as Minister of Construction)))).
- Q.: And if you give free rein to your imagination. Imagine that this is what happened. In other words. What do you think is lacking in the modern construction industry, so that the market better develop?
- A.: I think there is a need to adjust credit conditions. Participants of the construction market, more often than not, lending, for optimal development.
- I: I understand what you are saying, I agree with you. There is a lack of liquidity.
- A.: For example, when we start another programme of preferential mortgage lending, prices regularly skyrocket. And people are often left with nothing, overpaying for expensive housing, overpaying constantly for the property taken in the mortgage.
- I: Yes, we, as in many countries, have a very strong speculative banking sector, which makes money out of it.

10. Describe your dream dwelling for your family, if there are no resource constraints. Where would you like to live and what materials would you like your residential property to be made of? What would you build for yourself?

- A.: I would build myself a house in the form of a cottage. It would have to be one-storey, not two-storey, with a total area of one hundred to one hundred and fifty square metres, with a garage for two cars.
- B.: Why so small?)
- A.: I do not need more.
- I: What kind of glazing would you do, what materials would you use?
- A.: Glazing I would make of stained-glass transom-post aluminium system, around the perimeter, for maximum light transmission. And, preferably, that this cottage was on the shore of a lake or river with a pier, with access to the pond.
- Q: And where would you like to live territorially? What place do you like?
- A.: In the Crimea or Sochi.
- I: And if you choose one thing, then where?
- A.: If you want to live in a private house, then in Crimea, if you want to live in the city, then in Sochi.
- I: You said you wanted to live in a cottage.
- A.: Then in the Crimea. Because in Sochi it is difficult to build a cottage on the shore of a body of water - there is a railway there.

12. Is there a shortage of personnel in construction in Russia today?

- A.: There is a deficit. A very big one. Eighty per cent.
- I: And what specialities are lacking?
- A.: No fitters, no calculators.
- I: Do migrants work in construction?
- A.: They do, but they are engaged in laying concrete, but not in the installation of translucent structures.
- I: Do you engage subcontractors to carry out installation work?
- A.: Yes, I don't have my own installers in my staff, I attract only outsourcing companies for installation. There are many such companies, there are both small independent installation teams and companies that have dozens of installation teams. I turn to them.

13. What is missing today, what technologies are needed to take translucent constructions to the next level?

- A.: Russia lacks efficient technologies for the production and processing of large-sized glass.
- I: What sizes do you mean? Are you talking about large-sized double-glazed windows?
- A.: I mean the width of double-glazed windows up to four metres, and the height up to twenty metres.
- B.: As far as I remember from my experience in the construction industry, the maximum dimensions of sheet glass produced in production are 3210 x 6000 mm.
- A.: There are such factories in the world. For example, in China there is a factory with five floors. And in terms of height, the glazing consists of only two floors.
- V.: Why do we have such large panes of glass? With such large double-glazed windows, with our temperature fluctuations, we will have such effects as excessively pronounced ‘lensing’ and glass sticking together in winter. I remember that my Korean colleagues at LG Hausys told me that they use spacers between the panes of glass in the form of glass balls in their vacuum double-glazed units.

- Vyacheslav: Andrey, thank you for your attention and interesting answers. I wish you success in sales of fire protection systems!

10.12.2024