Kovalska, the largest manufacturer of building materials in Ukraine, is now also becoming a real estate developer. It will invest $70 million to build five new buildings within four years in the venue of Unit.City, Ukraine’s leading innovation park in Kyiv.
According to a company announcement, Kovalska will build five business campuses with a total area of 70,000 square meters. The entire process of working on the project, including building maintenance after construction, will be “comprehensively digitized using BIM-technologies,” – which the company says is “exceptional at such a scale” for the Ukrainian construction industry. The project will also “meet the principles of sustainable architecture, including innovation, aesthetics and environmental safety.”
In July 2020, UNIT.City received a €50 million loan from the European Investment Bank. The funds will be used to put together start-ups and IT training, high technology companies and R&D centres, incubators and accelerators within a 25 ha inner-city site.
Unit.City was founded in 2017 by Ukrainian multi-millionaire Vasyl Khmelnytsky in a bid to strengthen the country’s IT ecosystem. The hub includes a non-profit education academy, fab labs, and office spaces for tech companies. Unit.City is mostly funded by Khmelnytsky’s holding company UFuture Investment Group, which is also developing tech hubs in Kharkiv and Lviv.
Unit.City hosts more than 100 Ukrainian and international resident companies residents. Under plans, there will be no less than 500 companies and R&D centers by 2025.
