28 October, The State Hermitage hosted a meeting devoted to the realization of the first stage of the FC-11 (w) project entitled Reconstruction and Restoration of the Eastern Wing of the Former General Staff Building.

The chairman of the meeting was Andrey Busygin, the Vice Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The participants of the meeting included: Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, V. V. Panov, First Vice Director General of the St Petersburg Foundation of Investment Projects, V. G. Smirnov, Director General of Intarsia LLC, D. K. Sokolov, Vice Director General of Intarsia LLC, Nina Poddubnaya, Head of the Department of Federal Service for Surveillance over the Observance of Legislation in the Field of Cultural Heritage Protection in the North-Western Federal District, S. K. Dzhuisky, Head of the General Staff project of Intarsia LLC, A. N. Dydykin, Head of the General Staff Department of the State Hermitage, Georgy Vilinbakhov, vice Director of the State Hermitage, Oleg Yavein, Project Leader from Architectural Workshop Studio 44 LLC , A. V. Chevychelov, project consulting engineer from CJSC Geninzhconsult, S. M. Shulgin, Vice Director of General Staff project, head of project works from Intarsia LLC.

The participants of the meeting accepted the necessity of increasing the scope of the research works providing a continuous geodesic monitoring of the Eastern Wing of the former General Staff building, as well as drilling special bores with the purpose of carrying out geophysical control over the foundation underneath the buildings and the sections of the adjacent territory.

A quote from the minutes of the meeting on the realization of the first stage of the FC-11 (w) project entitled Reconstruction and Restoration of the Eastern Wing of the Former General Staff Building:

"With respect to the results of the analysis of the world museum operation practice carried out by the specialists of the State Hermitage and Architectural Workshop Studio 44 Limited Liability Company, the following shall be declare as necessary: an introduction of changes into the design solutions of the ventilation and conditioning systems, providing for an emergency system responsible for maintaining the parameters of temperature and humidity in the exhibition halls. The estimated additional costs, according to the data provided by Intarsia LLC, shall equal 23,846,000 RUR.

Taking into account the supporting materials regarding the reinforcement of the foundation of the Eastern Wing of the former General Staff Building within the scope of the second stage, provided by the St Petersburg Foundation of Investment Projects (letter as of October 2, 2009, No. 423Ф), the State Customer, namely the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, shall make a decision on the necessity of carrying out the afore-mentioned works. The estimated additional costs, according to the data provided by Intarsia LLC, shall equal 293,544,000 RUR, including design and exploration works".