Status of the Baikal-GVD project

The construction of a km3-scale neutrino telescope – the Gigaton Volume Detector (GVD) in Lake Baikal – is the central goal of the Baikal collaboration. During the R&D phase of the GVD project in 2008–2010 years the basic elements of GVD – new optical modules, FADC readout units, underwater communications and trigger systems – have been developed, produced and tested in situ by long-term operating prototype strings in Lake Baikal. The prototyping phase of the GVD project has been started in April 2011 with the installation of a three string array (prototype cluster) which comprises all basic elements and systems of the GVD-telescope in Lake Baikal. We describe configuration and technical design of the GVD, present selected results obtained during 2008–2010 with prototype strings, and describe configuration and design of the 2011 prototype cluster.