Sakhalin Island is located on the eastern coast of Russia, to the north of Japan and has been receiving recent press coverage regarding its plentiful supply of natural resources. Foreman Roberts have been involved in the full services design of two projects on the island for their client a major international oil company. The first a headquarters building in the capital city, Yuzhno, and the second an expatriate residential community outside of the city. The office development consist of a 12,000m² main building, plus multi storey car park. Characteristics of the building services design was the provision of a high level of resilience together with maximum flexibility along side energy efficiency issues. In addition to this service brief the design had to contend with the extreme weather conditions (-36°C in winter), seismic design issues, and the intensive Russian regulatory approval process.