BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00926A004000360001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 27, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/24: CIA-RDP80-00926AO04000360001-9
vIJ1'" "vnl lvn CO1FIDENTI VfUS bs ONLY
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY RfrPGRT
-INFORMATION REPORT
CQ NO. 50X1-HUM
COUNTRY USSR.
SUBJECT Building Construction Practices
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF INFORMATION
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE ESPIONAGE ACT 50
U. S. C.. 31 AND 32, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PRO-
HIBITED BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
DATE DISTR. :2.7 Jul 1951
NO. OF PAGES 4
NO. OF ENCLS
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION 50X1-HUM
roles of VSIa serosiisky Sovet Narodnago Hozyistra
-..-~ .. ..t..v w.v ~. a Av~V
(Industrial Construction Project .in relation to building c struotlont
VS1VC determined policy matters regarding industrial construction0 There was
an Industrial Building Branch in VSNX,, which in turn was divided into functional
sections, that is for example chemical plants, machine tool plants and so forth.
Howeyer, VSNX long ago organized the Commissariat of Heavy Industry which took
over policysmatters in connection with industrial construction and designsPSP
has a branch in every large city which deals with industrial construction
'projects in that city.
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industrial building methods 5
and with less satisfactory results. 5
in its new location. However, Stalin's. orders were that the move was"to
be made at once. Hence construction work was started simultaneously with
setting up the material supply shops. This naturally resulted in poor
materials and a1 great deal of waste. The system of supplying materials
-locally also results in the necessity of using far more engineers and
technicians in the production of construction materials'than in the US,
supply materials would be set up before any attempt to rebuild the industry
In theory they were standardized by VSNX but in practice this was not the
ease, Actually each large goverment organization did its own construction
work and usually provided its own construction materials often produced
in'`its own shops. Therefore, the building materials were not standardized
and hence construction practice and methods could not be standardizede As
an illustration, let us assume that it was decided to build a tractor plant
in Chelyabinsk' The building plans would be drawn in Moscow. But. because
of the great distances involved it would not be practicable to y-the
building materials from Moscow or the Ukraine. Instead'snops would be set
up in Chelyabinsk to turn out materials locally,, which might or might .
not conform to Moscow standards. Hence the construction plans could not
necessarily be followed. This actually happened when Stalin decided to
move industry from the Ukraine to the Urals.Normally if such a major
movement of industry were to be made, shops and manufacturing plants to
all of the metallurgical plants and machine
ool sops in the Ukraine,, cam lets with their ersonnel were moved to
the Urals durina, the war.
io'ne of the evacuated plants had returned and.that very little' new
industrial construction had taken place with the result that the T kraine 5
can no longer be considered an industrial centers
' se vr~ O. I een p ysica y impossible to evacuate.
the only plants remaining in Kiev
standardized construction methods do n9.t exist in facto
in a very broad sense there is
standardization in that, wader the influence of Albert Eabn and ',Col.. steel
frame reinforced concrete construction is 'standard for all industrial
buildings. The new plants 'in the Urald and.Turkestan are undoubtedly of
such construction.
An attempt was made to standardize industrial design on functional lines,
this remained ate unattained goal.
In non-industrial design, housing for example, some progress was made in
standardizing interior design in the sense of providing certain norms.
This did not apply, however, to exterior design at all, or to floor planning
insofar as the arrangement of `rooms was concerned. Certain building materials
and items were standardized, such as doors, windows and frames, and flooring.
The architect of a housing project did his best to provide the maximum
comfort and convenience for the occupant from the space at his disposal and
arranged his floor plans to give the best results in the way of light,,,;
air and outlook. In the early housing projects the norm per person was
- ;omewhat smaller; 'latterly six square meters per person ,was standard and
?rooms were from 3 to, 3._20 meters in height. Housing projects in the
USA are usually larger buildings than in the US and contain from 40 to 100
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/24: CIA-RDP80-00926AO04000360001-9
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units of 2 3 4 or exceptionall roosts each, Two room units made up the 50X1-H
living purposes
majorityo a 2-room unit 2 rooms for sleeping or es
plus a vestibule,clo$et, kitchen and bathroom or toilet. This, however, waF5OX1-
all purely theoretical,, The building would be erected according to plan
but thp.2mroom unit instead of being occupied by one family would be divided
between. two families, both probably -with children. Doors between en rooms would
be boarded up and bath rooms used for storage. Hence the official norm?of
living space was seldom achieved.
plans of large organizations aim to provide better accommodation
than pre?exi'sting old houses. However, both the materials and the workmanship
,of the now buildings are inferior to the old, Hence there is little to choose,
(Architecture Planning Commission) which essabrols
Each ci~y has its APU
~
construction in the c1tye If an organization proposes a housing project, the
AFU asgigns the ground space and specifies the size and design of the.building.
I
Quite f requezrEly several or anizations
will join together in one housing
~
loyees
o -their emp
project for the Joint 'use
.
Brick weight .bearin walls with timber
roof
b
floor joists stt and
thick or about
bout
For `i .for story building or lower the main walls are 2
50 cm. If the building is river four stories the walls will be bricks or
more in thickness depending on height, Every new apartment house is
required to have beneath it a bomb shelter, The ground floor of the build-
.'that ,s the roof of the shelter must be constructed of reinforced concrete
backed by sheet steels If the building is five stories or more. in height th e
ceiling over the top floor'must be of the same construction. 50X1-H
Buildings Of tless than 40`meter's in length do not have firevwalis; if "over 40
meters in length they do at approximately 40 meter intervals, Earthquakes
are uxauiual "and no special 'provisions are made for them. In case of a
"near ias0 by a bomb the blast might collapse the brick walls but in this
ease . rel iar.oe is had on the reinforced . concrete: and steel, ground floor to
support the d.ebriso
The ,larger organizations use their on construction staffs. The smaller. ones,
lacking qualified personnel
apply to the b o a]! construction Trest (tru
t)
,
s
in`,K1 v Indu$troy TrestR to do it for them, the Tress operating much as"does
&--building contractor in the t7S. The same is true of industrial installation
woo F'or.example, the Kiev Energo attempted itself to install the hinezy
,n' the Kiev Rayon Electric St&tion. It found that it was not able to handle
the ,job and so applied to the Southern Energo Mo*tage which specialized in
such work and did the work for Kiev Eiergoo
One.dlf loopy of"all civilian construction work is that military construction
always has priority, Thus 'civilian work may be held up at any time if it
conflicts with military work.
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There. is an official union for each class
of labor, for example carpenters, masons, bricklayers, which are supposed
to --supply labor but-seldom have any men available* The main sources of
norstrcrction labor -,,a re the peasants on the Kolkhoz a Peasants from the
same area become accustomed to working together and form a group or labor
gang; the foreman`of which is known as a "brigadier". Each organization
which does construction work has a chief .charge of constructions The
chief'is always a party man but.infrequ_ey is a professional engineers
In large organizations the chief has,j4puty who is aprofessional man but
usually is not a party member, becau if he were a party man he would be
chief. The deputy has under him one or more assistants called Prorab, who
are theequivalents of works superintendents and Whose duties include.recruit-
ing construction labor. The Prorab keeps in close touch with the labor
market and with brigadiers.and when he hears, for example, that a gang of
bricklayers are available in'a certain Kolkhoz he reports the fact to the
aoti ct>oa chief. The construction chief then requisitions for the men
iii the rayon party committee, whose secretary passes the requisition on to
the Peoplets Commissariat of Sovkhoz arkomsovkhoz7 of the republic. This
Commissariat controls both the Sowkhoz arid the Kol oz and it in turn calls
on the Kolkhoz concerned to supply the men. There is no trouble with the
men because ,t.e are always delighted to et off the lkh z
paid job. ~
they are too well satisfied with 'being at work and in
the seeon place the USSR is a prison and one'does what one is told.
During the course of construction,, work in progress is inspected by both
an inspector of the organization doing the work and by an APU inspector
to see that specifications are being followed. If for any reason the
specifications cannot be followed, the APU inspector must execute an
official repot?t stating the facts and the reason.
Completed work is subject to inspection'and approval by'a special
government 'commissions The commission is made up of professional men
such as engineers and physicians plus perhaps a specialist. on the type
of b' ilding concerned.
1Ins' eetions were `rigid
Soixe experiments with pre fabricated small buildings were made, but they
ore` not` successful. The usual- experience with pre-fabricated houses *t (V
that the' construction was so bad that the house had to be re-built.
-end-
r CONFIDENTIAL/US OFFICIALS ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/24: CIA-RDP80-00926AO04000360001-9