Creating an Oasis in the Desert: Tbilisi Hills Construction Director on Project Success & Int’l Expertise

The development of a successful construction project which fully satisfies customers’ demands and not only changes the appearance of a city but even beautifies the environment can be quite challenging. However, it is absolutely possible with a team of highly experienced professionals who are not afraid of innovation and challenges.

Among the more distinguished examples of innovative and well-equipped projects implemented in Georgia in recent years is Tbilisi Hills Golf & Residences. From the day of its opening, the prestigious project of Tbilisi Hills has offered local customers rare comfort and quality, effectively gaining a leading position in the residential real estate market in the country.

To learn more about this unique project, GEORGIA TODAY spoke with Sven Mergell, Construction Director at Tbilisi Hills Golf & Residences.

Sven is an experienced German Engineer working in Tbilisi since 2006, over the years, working for investment, construction and project management companies. His main responsibilities have included consulting in the field of construction, and monitoring and supervising of construction works.

Some of the best-known projects implemented with his contribution include the Radisson hotels in Tbilisi and Batumi, ProCreditbank Georgia, the German International School and the HeidelbergCement Dry Line Project.

During your career, you cooperated with many companies and implemented various projects. Which project would you distinguish, and why?

For a long time in Georgia, I’ve been involved in a number of successfully implemented construction projects within the residential, non-residential and industrial sectors, each project with its own history and challenges.

The Tbilisi Hills project unites all my experience in the construction sector into one, and makes my work and the project itself both unique and outstanding. At the Hills, we are implementing residential, non-residential as well as infrastructure work with water, wastewater and utility distribution.

I’m very proud to be part of the Tbilisi Hills team, as it is one of the most prestigious projects in Georgia.

What changes did the cooperation with Tbilisi Hills bring in your life? How would you describe being a part of this team?

Tbilisi Hills is changing and will continue to change lives and the lifestyles of a lot of people in the country.

It’s an excellent place to work, with fresh air and an amazing view of Tbilisi city.

The biggest challenge is to bring European standards to the Georgian construction market, including high-quality construction material and especially installation. We are managing the mentioned challenges daily with a team of highly experienced professionals who are not afraid to go above and beyond, to innovate, and to deliver the best in town quality product to our customers.

How does one create an oasis in the desert? What was done to make the sandy hill where Tbilisi Hills was built now able to boast such well-developed infrastructure?

Our main goal is to build smart and well developed infrastructure for the golf fields, as well as multifamily houses and individual villas for our residents in a short amount of time, taking into account the existing situation. This can be achieved only thanks to our team of experienced management, construction engineers, landscape designers, infrastructure engineers and architects.

Tbilisi Hills is equipped with electricity, gas, internet, irrigation water, drinking water with a reservoir and sewage water system.

All nuances of the existing ecosystem and the terrain peculiarities were taken into account.

What about cooperation with international experts, which is also important for the development of the construction field in Georgia in general?

It’s a huge advantage for our company that we have direct access to international experts with whom we work in the construction and engineering areas. Their expertise helps us to develop such projects and also develop the construction field in general, in Georgia. Our international experts and consultants are training and sharing knowledge with our local staff. All this helps us to deliver a high quality end-product to our customers.

Using the highest quality construction materials is of utmost importance for developing a project which fully meets customer expectations and needs. Tell us about the materials used by Tbilisi Hills.

The construction material alone doesn’t distinguish Tbilisi Hills from other developer companies. And using European material alone doesn’t bring the expected results and meet customers’ expectations. It is very important to use the right material in the right way, following installation instructions and using experienced staff. The right material means that it has to meet European production standards.

We take environmental and energy saving aspects into account in all of our construction projects. Indeed, we are thinking more about a sustainable environment in construction. Different Developers in recent years have started to use façade insulation, for example, but installation itself can be questionable. In our case, we are following from the beginning in the project stage as well as installation process, all European standards and recommendations for a well-insulated façade.

For our projects, we usually use materials produced in Europe, or products from well-known brands which are locally produced. The materials and products are very carefully and precisely chosen by our team of engineers and architects.

With such attention to detail, our construction projects meet all our costumers requests and correspond to the highest European standards.

What makes Tbilisi Hills so unique and distinguished from other projects?

It’s a unique project in many ways. I can think of several factors which distinguish our project from others: the location, the design and the quality delivered to our customers. All three taken together gives at the end, the best product in town. All our team members work daily to give our customers a better and different quality of life in Tbilisi.

Tbilisi Hills has introduced new higher standards in the Georgian construction sector. Will your expertise become exemplary for other companies operating in this direction?

The quality of the work in the construction market in Georgia has to be higher, and it has to meet international standards. It is one of Tbilisi Hills’ goals to bring the construction knowledge of our international experts into the market and into the country. In this way, everyone will benefit.

By Ana Dumbadze