MARCH 2022
Preparations for Ostrava’s new concert hall are underway, phase 1 of construction will begin later this year
The City of Ostrava has launched preparations for the tender to select the building contractor for one of the most eagerly awaited public projects of recent years.
The process is beginning with a preliminary market consultation, in which building contractors will be contacted and asked to reply to a series of questions; their answers will then help form the basis for the final version of the tender conditions.
The questions will concern contractual, technical and schedule-related aspects of the planned construction work. The City asked contractors to attend a presentation of the concert hall project which took place in the last week of February. Contractors will have until 15 March to send their answers as part of the preliminary consultation.
Preparations for the new hall are continuing according to schedule. The documentation for the land use decision and the construction permit is being compiled, and consultations on this documentation are underway. The project team is currently working on the technical documentation for the construction process, the tender to select the contractor for the first phase of construction, and the testing of the hall’s acoustic parameters using a 1:10 scale model.
The new concert hall, designed by Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with the Prague-based Architecture Acts studio, has the potential to become an iconic symbol of Ostrava. It will be a top-class venue that will attract musicians from all around the world, bringing internationally renowned performers to Ostrava as well as enabling the city’s own Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra to grow and develop, enhancing the orchestra’s status as one of Ostrava’s key cultural “exports”.
See HERE for more information.
A former brownfield near Lower Vítkovice will become a new commercial and industrial quarter
The developer P3 has launched the construction of a brand-new commercial and industrial quarter called P3 Ostrava Central. The development is located on the edge of the Lower Vítkovice area, and P3 is currently making preparations for a road link and three new buildings. The first ever tenant at the new complex will be Linde Material Handling Czech Republic.
The basic structure for hall L1 is already in place; the structure will cover an area of 28 000 m2. Adjoining it there will be a smaller hall (XS3, with an area of 2 200 m2) and a short distance away there will be a separate hall (XS1, 1 200 m2).
The site is bounded by two major arterial roads (Místecká, Rudná), the Ostravice River, and the Lower Vítkovice complex. It covers a total area of 44 hectares, and 160 000 m2 of this area will be built-up; on completion, the site will have 16 buildings of various types and purposes. P3 Ostrava Central will offer premises for city logistics, e-commerce, showrooms, collection points, light industrial production, R&D centres and offices.
The project to transform the site – a former industrial storage depot – into a modern commercial and industrial quarter was authored by the architect David Kotek from Projektstudio. It includes the addition of previously absent urban infrastructure to integrate the site with the surrounding area. The development will retain some traces of the original industrial facilities, as well as adding new greenery. The project is scheduled for completion later this year.
Investor plans to build the “Sitte Palace” – a new polyfunctional building in Přívoz
The City of Ostrava has received an offer from an investor and is now launching negotiations on a potential contract to sell a building plot situated on the boundary between the city’s central district (Moravská Ostrava) and the Přívoz district. The vacant land is located within Ostrava’s central urban heritage zone, between Macharova and Nádražní Streets. At present it is partially used as a car parking area, but if the sale goes through as planned it will undergo a major transformation.
The investor, Nira s.r.o., plans to build a polyfunctional building to be called the “Sitte Palace”. The building has been designed by the renowned Bogle Architects studio.
The investor has outlined its intention to build a high-quality multi-storey structure which will be in keeping with its surroundings while also including elements of green-blue infrastructure. The building will have two underground levels and four full-size above-ground floors plus a recessed top level. The ground floor will contain commercial premises (a café, a restaurant/snack bar, a grocery store, other shops, etc.). There will be office premises facing onto Nádražní Street, with residential units facing onto Macharova Street. The underground part of the building will contain a parking garage, storage spaces and technical/utility areas. The entire building will offer barrier-free access.
The name of the new building recalls the historical roots of Přívoz, which was built to a design by the Viennese architect Camillo Sitte. This design left a unique imprint on the district, which is still clearly visible today – and Sitte’s distinctive signature can also be seen in other parts of Ostrava. Sitte’s vision for Přívoz was ambitious, creating a spacious planned community that integrated high-quality architecture, craftsmanship and artistic details.
Architect Josef Pleskot has designed a new bridge over the Ostravice River
Ostrava’s City Council has decided to announce a public tender to select the contractor that will build a cycle route linking the city centre and the Lower Vítkovice complex. The deadline for submitting bids is 14 March, and the City expects to sign a contract with the contractor by the end of April 2022. The idea of creating a bridge across the Ostravice River near the Science and Technology Centre in Lower Vítkovice was first proposed in 2016. All the necessary documentation – including the construction permit – is now in place for work on the bridge and the cycle route to begin.
The new cycle route will be 550 metres long and 4 metres wide, and it will cross the river via the new double-span bridge linking the Lower Vítkovice complex on the left bank with an existing north-south cycle route running along the river’s right bank. At night the bridge will be illuminated with a similar intensity to moonlight, in order to reduce light pollution at this sensitive location next to the river and an important urban biocorridor.
The schedule for the construction process will depend on the availability of the materials – particularly the delivery times for the steel bridge girders and suspension cables. The expected completion date is the end of October 2022.
The City’s public tender to select the building contractor for the cycle route/bridge project has been announced in the national public procurement bulletin. Interested parties can also find complete information – including the terms and conditions for the tender – on the profile of the contracting authority (the City of Ostrava).
Ostrava has committed to reduce its CO2 output by 2030
At its February session, Ostrava’s City Assembly approved the City’s commitment to achieve a 55% reduction in its carbon dioxide production by 2030 in relation to the 2000 baseline figure. The Assembly also approved the City’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) 2030, which sets out a range of measures that will enable this goal to be achieved.
Since 2011, the City has been a member of the Covenant of Mayors, an international grouping of local and regional government bodies whose signatories have voluntarily committed to reduce their cities’ negative impacts on our planet’s climate. The main goals involve reductions in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
All the City’s key CO2 reduction measures have been incorporated into its Strategic Plan (presented to the public under the “fajnOVA” brand), as well as in its Adaptation Strategy. They include energy-saving projects (smart solutions), the introduction of zero-emissions and low-emissions public transport vehicles (trams, CNG buses, trolleybuses), the creation of charging points for electric vehicles, and the modernization of tram routes (including the addition of special pollutant-absorbing greenery to the tracks).
The City has also offered subsidies to support the installation of heat pumps and solar panels, as well as supporting cycle transport by creating new cycle routes and co-funding a bikesharing scheme. Many of Ostrava’s parks and other areas of greenery have undergone revitalization; these elements in the urban landscape are very effective in reducing air temperatures, thus reducing the need to operate air conditioning systems at full power – which in turn reduces electricity consumption.
We’re mapping Ostrava’s main transport artery from east to west
Ostrava’s Municipal Studio for Urban Planning and Architecture (MAPPA) is preparing a development concept for the city’s main transport artery (28. října/Opavská St.). The concept will provide a guideline for various future projects that will transform this main road into a fully-fledged urban boulevard that will be a genuinely pleasant place for people to live, travel and spend time. MAPPA is also involving members of the public in the concept, asking them for their opinions on the current situation along this transit corridor.
Urban boulevards are major lines of movement within a city; many people travel along them, and key institutions tend to cluster around them. Adjoining these boulevards there are also squares, parks and other important public spaces. They are the “arteries” that enable the urban organism to function. Ostrava’s 28. října/Opavská St. artery runs along an east-west axis from the Sýkora Bridge (at the eastern edge of the city centre) to the Globus hypermarket in Plesná (on the city’s western outskirts).
However, the quality of public spaces flanking the road is currently inadequate for the number of people who use the road daily or live in its vicinity. The problems are numerous: high-quality architecture is obscured by tasteless large-format advertising, and many public spaces are made ugly by unmaintained greenery and damaged street furniture.
The new concept will describe how the road will need to change in order to transform it into Ostrava’s “shop window” – a space that can be enjoyed by everybody who uses it. The concept will detail large-scale changes (such as complete redesigns of road junctions or the creation of new squares) as well as small-scale projects enhancing existing public spaces, including recommendations for appropriate types of paving, street furniture, and greenery.
A “feeling map” is available online, where people can add their own contributions to the concept (from 1 February to 20 March). The map acts as an interactive questionnaire enabling users to describe how they feel about various locations along the route. The map can be accessed here: www.pocitovemapy.cz/mapujememestskoutridu (only in Czech).
City awards for talented university students
As in previous years, this year too Ostrava is supporting talented university students. The “Talent of the Year” awards recognized ten students who are registered as permanent residents of Ostrava but study at various universities in the Czech Republic and abroad. All the students have achieved outstanding results in their studies, as well as for example working in research teams and publishing in specialist journals.
Students were able to enter the competition up to the end of October 2021. The entries were then assessed by the City’s Commission for Education, Science and Research and by the Deputy Mayor with responsibility for education and sport. The experts evaluated the entrants’ academic results, publications and research achievements, as well as their involvement in activities that benefit society as a whole. Each of the winning students received 100 000 CZK, which they can use to fund their educational activities going forward.
Besides achieving outstanding study results, all the winners had fascinating life stories to tell. Some specialize in interpreting or songwriting, while others excel in scientific fields and have published highly-acclaimed expert studies.
“Beyond Finance” conference will inform entrepreneurs about business financing opportunities
This year’s “Beyond Finance” conference, subtitled “The End of the Cheap Economy”, will take place on 7 April 2022 in the main auditorium of Ostrava’s Technical University. It follows on from the success of the first “Beyond Finance” conference, held in the autumn of 2020; amid the turbulence brought by COVID, 2020 event offered entrepreneurs information about various tools that were available to help finance their business activities.
This year’s conference will continue on the same path, presenting a broad spectrum of different options for funding business growth. The event will also provide a valuable forum for people to express and compare various opinions and approaches cutting across various segments and forms of financing.
The conference is targeted at anybody who will welcome advice and inspirational ideas from the world of finance, particularly the owners of SMEs, managers from large corporations, and start-up founders. The event will take place in hybrid form, enabling participation either physically or on-line.
For more information about the conference (including tickets) see HERE (only in Czech).
Bikesharing remains hugely popular in Ostrava
Ostrava’s bikesharing scheme – enabling users to borrow bicycles from one location and return them at a different location – has now been operating for four years. This eco-friendly, healthy and in fact very quick form of short-distance individual transport has become hugely popular among Ostrava’s residents as well as visitors to the city.
The system already has more than 40 000 registered users. Last year, users made 515 000 journeys totalling 717 000 kilometres. Ostrava’s bikesharing scheme is run by Nextbike. The City subsidizes the scheme, enabling the company to offer the first 15 minutes of each loan free of charge.
Nextbike Czech Republic is constantly enhancing its product by expanding its service team and increasing the number of service vehicles (which crisscross the city redistributing bikes from locations where there is an oversupply to locations where more bikes are needed). Last year unfortunately saw an increase in vandalism that damaged many of the bikes. Nextbike worked alongside the city and national police forces (and the City itself) to investigate these incidents, in many cases successfully. However, additional measures are currently being planned to reduce the number of vandalism incidents so that people can use and enjoy the bikesharing scheme to the fullest possible extent.
OTHER NEWS
The City continues to modernize existing sports facilities and build new ones
A sports centre on Skautská Street in Poruba (the former VOKD site) is the latest sports and leisure facility in Ostrava to undergo modernization. The second phase of this reconstruction project was launched at the end of January 2022, and work will continue until 2023.
The first phase of the modernization began in December 2020 with the renovation and extension of the tennis changing rooms and the creation of a new sports pitch with artificial grass, renovated spectator seating and new floodlights.
The second phase of the project (launched in January this year) is substantially larger and more demanding than the first phase. It will involve the reconstruction of existing facilities and the addition of new facilities to create a large football pitch with a grandstand for 1000 spectators, a 400-metre athletics track with an area for field events, a grass training pitch, a multi-functional pitch with an artificial surface, a workout area, and a children’s pitch.
Besides modernizing existing sports centres, Ostrava is also planning to build brand-new sports facilities such as the Třebovice sports hall. The hall will be located near to the Třebovice park, and it will be used for competitive volleyball, handball, floorball and badminton games for all age groups – as well as for second-division matches. The building contractor is HSF System SK, and the centre was designed by PROJEKTSTUDIO EUCZ.
Another new sports facility will be a hall for ball sports, which will be created on the site of a former bus depot at U Stadionu St. in Ostrava’s Fifejdy district. The new hall will be used for top-level sport as well as by the general public.
Ostrava’s public transport system is continuing its programme of fleet modernization
Ostrava’s public transport company DPO has recently added five new Škoda 39T trams to its fleet. A further 18 new trams are being made at the Škoda Transportation factory in Ostrava-Martinov, and in total the company will produce 35 new trams for Ostrava’s public transport network. The state-of-the-art new vehicles will replace the remaining twin-carriage trams, which are being phased out.
Long-term surveys conducted by DPO have clearly shown that the old-style trams are more frequently damaged by vandals. The new trams will offer even safer and more comfortable transport to Ostrava’s public.
Ostrava is continuing to support a range of cultural projects and events in 2022
Ostrava’s City Assembly has approved funding for a range of projects that will contribute to a vibrant cultural life in 2022. The City is distributing a total 13 657 900 CZK in the form of grants, subsidies and contributions to cultural institutions, helping to support a broad spectrum of theatrical, musical, literary and educational projects. Besides its single-year grant scheme, the City also provides continual funding to a range of multi-year projects.
In a key strategic document – the Concept for the Development of Culture in Ostrava – the City has set out its commitment to support new projects as well as continuing its existing cultural funding. New developments to look forward to in 2022 include a cultural happening that will enliven the Náměstí Republiky transport interchange, featuring students from the Silesian University in Opava in collaboration with local artists, and a music festival presenting stars of Ostrava’s alternative music scene.