According to the order of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian PCP dated February 26, 80 No. 28-363.7, on the basis of the program-task approved by the Kiev City Executive Committee and agreed upon by the USSR State Committee for Construction and Government on the order of the Main Department of Culture of the Kiev City Executive Committee, on 9.12.81 the Institute began to develop research and design documentation on the restoration of the Assumption Cathedral .
November 16, 1982 draft design of the reconstruction of the cathedral was submitted for approval to the State Construction Committee of the Ukrainian SSR where it was generally approved. On 10.08.83, the draft with modifications according to the comments of the Gosstroi of the Ukrainian SSR was submitted for consideration at the town-planning council of the GlavAPU of the Kiev City Executive Committee. The town planning council of GlavAPU approved the project and proposed it for further development.
On February 2, 1986, a draft design was considered at the Presidium of the Scientific Methodological Council for the Protection of Monuments of Culture of the USSR Ministry of Culture, which noted that the project complied with the requirements of the Law of the USSR and the provision “On the Protection and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments”. The controversial issue in the project was the technology of the foundation of the cathedral. Due to the complexity of the soil conditions, the institute “Ukrproektrestavratsiya” has developed several options for the construction of foundations. The proposed project options have been comprehensively studied by leading design and research institutes in Kiev and Moscow in the field of foundation construction.
Positive feedback and recommendations were received for these options. The research and design organizations involved in the consultations (Giprograzhdanpromstroy, KyivZNIIEP, FoundationSpetsproekt (Moscow), Trust Minmontazhspetsstroy of the Ukrainian SSR and others), including the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, recommended the use of brown injection piles. However, some historians suggested to reproduce the cathedral on the basis of the project using lightweight constructions and strip foundations.
The arrangement of strip foundations would have caused the destruction of the archaeological layer at the site of the cathedral’s existence and did not guarantee the reliability of the structures (even lightened), given the very complex geological conditions and the need to preserve the remains of the cathedral. Due to the difference of views further design was stopped.
