Russian residential development group Pik and Austria construction company Strabag have launched a joint venture, named ILBAU, to act as general contractor for Pik's business class and high-end individual concrete residential development projects in Moscow.

Russian residential development group Pik and Austria construction company Strabag have launched a joint venture, named ILBAU, to act as general contractor for Pik's business class and high-end individual concrete residential development projects in Moscow.

Pik said the joint venture would draw on Strabag's solid presence in the Russian market. The projects envisaged for ILBAU include the redevelopment project of the Kuntsevo district in the western part of Moscow next to Rublevskoe highway. Pik's share of the scheme amounts to 170,000 m2 of net sellable space scheduled for completion by 2014. Other projects, PIK said, are the business class residential projects on Marshal Zakharova Street and on Marina Roscha Street. Pik's share of these projects come to roughly 30,000 m2 each scheduled for completion in 2011-12.

Pik and Strabag have equal equity stakes in ILBAU. The two companies said they plan to extend the relationship to cover additional residential projects in the foreseeable future.

The two companies have already been cooperating on a number of projects in Moscow.