Ukraine’s first residential complex with individual five-second safety zones will appear in Lviv, according to the press service of the complex’s developer, Lviv City, an architectural company Archimatika.
“The most common damage during shelling is debris caused by shock waves. A safety room is an individual room that provides additional protection from such debris. In Ukraine, there is currently no experience in designing and implementing such rooms. Together with the customer, we consulted with the State Emergency Service and studied Israeli experience. In general, this development is a cooperation between several parties and the adaptation of foreign experience to Ukrainian realities,” said architect Oleksandr Stolovyi.
According to the company, the Lviv City complex from VD Group (on the territory of the former Lvivprylad) will have, like other Ukrainian new buildings, a standard shelter, but with expanded functionality—a medical unit, a children’s room, a room for cooking, etc. In addition, each apartment will be equipped with an individual additional protection zone — a safety room. In the event of an unexpected threat, it can be reached in 5 seconds — the time it takes to get behind “two walls.” Like standard shelters (SPP), safety rooms do not protect against direct missile strikes, but they provide additional protection against the most common types of damage.
Safety rooms are grouped around an inter-apartment corridor, i.e., as far as possible from the outer walls, deep inside the apartments. This minimizes the impact of the blast wave and the debris it causes.
Each such room is equipped with thick reinforced concrete walls, reinforced doors, an autonomous ventilation system, and an alarm. When there is no shelling, the room can be used as a regular room—an office, a closet, a storage room, etc.
Equally important, the reinforced walls of the safe rooms grouped around the inter-apartment corridor also act as additional stiffening diaphragms. In other words, they increase the rigidity and stability of the entire building.
“It’s a kind of internal core. Under physical impact within the normal load limits from an explosion, except for a direct hit, it will not collapse. It gives people an extra chance if there is no time to get to the main shelter. If the blast-proof doors that close the room are blocked, there is an alarm. A person can signal that they are inside and need to be rescued. This is an additional measure that is not yet standardized in Ukraine. Therefore, we urge everyone to follow safety rules and use the shelters at the parking lot level,” Stolovoy concluded.
As reported, in 2024, the western Ukrainian developer VD Group bought the LvivTech.City project from Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytskyi UFuture. After being redesigned, the project is being implemented under the Lviv.City brand. There are five phases planned, with 11 buildings ranging from 7 to 11 stories high, a total of 500 apartments, as well as a modern preschool, hospital, coworking areas, and an extensive commercial component.
The construction company VD Group (EDRPOU code 39475589) has been operating since 2017, with Vasyl Kavlak as the ultimate beneficiary. The developer is implementing projects in Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Lviv, and Bukovel, with four already commissioned and 13 under construction.
