APRIL 2022
City offers an attractive site for residential development at Středoškolská St.
At its session on Wednesday 23 March, Ostrava’s City Assembly approved plans to sell land in the Ostrava-Jih municipal district for a future residential development. The site, located between Středoškolská St. and U Studia St., has a total area of 12151 m². With excellent transport links and easy access to civic amenities, it offers an ideal location for an apartment complex. The deadline for submitting bids is 29 July 2022.
According to a study commissioned by the City, the residential development could comprise 217 apartments in total. The City has specified that development plans must take a comprehensive approach to the entire area, including essential infrastructure in the vicinity, and for the first time ever the City has also stipulated that at least 10% of the new apartments must be set aside as affordable rental housing.
The site is an open grassy area on the edge of a housing estate consisting mainly of prefabricated apartment blocks. Tram and bus stops are a short walk away, as are Ostrava’s main sports venues – the City Stadium (football and athletics) and the indoor Ostravar Arena. The nearby Avion mall offers a full range of shops and services.
Complete information about the site and the conditions for bids is available at the City’s official noticeboard and the website https://land.ostrava.cz/stredoskolska-site/.
Visualization: Ondřej Sikula
Ostrava again showcased its opportunities at the prestigious international investment event MIPIM
After a two-year gap caused by the pandemic, the City of Ostrava and the Moravian-Silesian Region once again participated in the prestigious international investment event MIPIM, held in the French city of Cannes. This year’s MIPIM took place from 15 to 18 March, and Ostrava offered potential investors a range of attractive development sites at various locations, including the historic city centre and the Mošnov industrial zone. The central theme of the City’s MIPIM 2022 presentation was the concert hall project – which has become a symbol of the huge transformation that Ostrava is now undergoing.
City officials, including Mayor Tomáš Macura, had several meetings with investors to present a range of sites that Ostrava is currently offering for development. The key sites are at Ostrčilova St., Středoškolská St., Plzeňská St., Českobratrská St. and Masná St., all of which are designed for residential developments and services. The City always takes a comprehensive approach to each development site, considering its specific features and the way in which the new development will enhance the entire surrounding area. The goal is to consolidate individual plots into larger sites for developments that will contribute to ongoing revitalization, and a key priority is to ensure that both new developments and renovations of existing buildings achieve high levels of architectural quality.
MIPIM is one of the main events in the annual calendar at Cannes. It focuses on the real estate market, investment opportunities and development projects (both residential and commercial), architectural trends, and urban planning and development. The event is attended by large numbers of developers and investors, development agencies, end users, expert consultants, architects, and representatives of national and local/regional governments.
Redevelopment of a city centre square is beginning to take shape
Ostrava has announced the winner of a competition to design the redevelopment of a city centre square in Ostrava (Náměstí Dr. E. Beneše) and the surrounding area. The purpose of the competition was to determine what this important public space should look like and how it should be used.
The redeveloped space will be harmoniously integrated with the newly reconstructed Ostravica department store building, and the revitalization will transform the square into a pleasant area for relaxation as well as a venue for various community activities. The plans also take into account the possible construction of a new building on the site of the former German community centre (Německý dům).
The City announced the competition last summer, and the jury recently chose the winning entry, submitted by a group of architects – Jiří Mika, Martin Materna, Markéta Káňová, Petr Svoboda, Adéla Kudlová, and Vendula Bažová.
The competition entries will be presented to the public in a special exhibition held at Ostrava’s Municipal Studio for Urban Planning and Architecture (MAPPA). The exhibition opens on 30 March.
Visualization: team of authors (see above)
New university degree will help address the shortage of dentists in the region
The Moravian-Silesian Region and the City of Ostrava will contribute a substantial sum of funding to support a new degree programme at the University of Ostrava’s Medical Faculty: Dental Medicine. This project is a response to the current shortage of dentists in Ostrava and the entire region.
Up to 20 students will graduate in Dental Medicine every year. The trainee dentists will have access to state-of-the-art modern facilities, including a simulated dental surgery (at Ostrava University Hospital) with dentists’ chairs and the latest equipment.
The University is aiming to admit the first students to the new programme this September.
More information is available HERE (only in Czech).
Photograph: Moravian-Silesian Region
Architecturally valuable office building in Poruba is undergoing renovation
Poruba’s “Black Pearl”, an office building of outstanding architectural quality in the modernist “Brussels style”, is currently being renovated. After 15 years of standing vacant and becoming increasingly derelict, the investor has launched a project to restore this high-rise tower to its former glory (along with adjacent buildings).
The investor, MIRTESS a.s., has joined forces with renowned Ostrava architect David Kotek and his Projektstudio EUCZ, which designed the reconstruction.
Work has already begun on the main tower block, which will be offered for commercial use. The neighbouring buildings will be renovated during the subsequent phase of the project. The investor aims to preserve the Black Pearl’s historic value while also maximizing its energy efficiency. Negotiations with a potential strategic tenant are currently underway.
See HERE for more information about the project (only in Czech).
Visualization: Projektstudio EUCZ s.r.o.
Members of the public can contribute to the revitalization of a popular Ostrava park
Ostrava’s Municipal Studio for Urban Planning and Architecture (MAPPA) is making preparations for the revitalization of one of the city’s largest parks (Sad Dr. M. Horákové, opposite the Regional Authority building). MAPPA is currently drawing up the documentation for a competition to find the winning design; the competition will be announced later this year.
Competition entries will have to take into consideration the opinions and expectations of the general public, so MAPPA is asking Ostrava residents for their views on the park as it is now and what they would like to change. Citizens were able to contribute their opinions via an online questionnaire until the end of March, as well as in the park itself; during the last week in March, staff from MAPPA approached passers-by and offered them the opportunity to express their opinions.
As part of this public consultation phase, MAPPA also held a public meeting on 24 March at the Skelet Café (directly opposite the park). The meeting offered an opportunity for people to discuss the planned revitalization with MAPPA staff and local government representatives – including Deputy Mayor Zuzana Bajgarová and the Mayor of the Moravská Ostrava municipal district Petr Veselka.
Photograph: MAPPA
Flights from Ostrava to Warsaw resumed at the end of March
On 28 March, the Polish airline LOT resumed its scheduled flights between Ostrava and Warsaw. There will be five flights per week in each direction. At Warsaw Airport passengers can transfer to a wide range of destinations in Europe, North America and Asia.
The Ostrava–Warsaw service was first launched on 25 October 2020. However, it was suspended at the end of March 2021 due to the global pandemic and related travel restrictions.
The timetable has been designed so that passengers can transfer easily to their end destination. Warsaw now acts as a hub, enabling passengers from the Moravian-Silesian Region to access over 80 destinations including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris and numerous other European cities, as well as intercontinental flights to New York, Chicago, Toronto, Seoul and more.
Until 30 June 2022, Ostrava Airport is offering free parking for passengers using this route. See HERE for more details of this offer.
North Moravian start-up is one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies
One of the City’s strategic goals is to improve the business environment in Ostrava. A key role in this process is played by the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre (MSIC), which works with its partners to provide a range of services, implement projects, create collaborative networks and engage in other activities that enhance conditions for business and innovation in the Region. The MSIC runs a number of programmes, details of which are given regularly in this Newsletter.
One of the companies that benefited from the MSIC’s support in its initial phase – and which has now achieved remarkable success – is Skladon, which provides fulfilment for Czech and foreign e-shops. Last year the company’s income grew by 175 million CZK, and the prestigious London-based Financial Times ranked it among Europe’s fastest-growing businesses.
Skladon is a logistics and technology company that provides complete logistics services including rapid delivery worldwide. Based at a site in Mošnov directly adjacent to Ostrava Airport, the company has dispatched goods to 182 different countries so far. In the upcoming two years, the company plans to expand into other countries as well as enlarging its Mošnov operation by more than 50 percent.
E-commerce has experienced huge growth in recent years. During the COVID pandemic, many companies accelerated their digitalization processes and shifted their focus to online solutions. The closure of many physical retail outlets also encouraged consumers to make increasing use of e-shops.
Ostrava organized a conference on new trends helping cities to become more resilient in the face of climate change
On 22 March, Ostrava hosted the international “CLAIRO conference: Livable and climate resilient cities”. At the heart of the discussions were new trends that are helping cities to become more resilient to climate change, including the valuable role played by greenery in urban settings and its influence on air quality. The conference featured speakers and experts from all over Europe.
CLAIRO (CLear AIR and CLimate Adaptation in Ostrava) is a research project focusing on air quality. Its aim is to demonstrate how planting appropriate greenery (which is then treated with special substances) can contribute to systematic improvements in air quality. Ostrava is the only Czech city to have received a grant from the prestigious European UIA (Urban Innovative Actions) programme, and it is implementing the project in conjunction with several partners. For more details about the project see https://clairo.ostrava.cz/.
OTHER NEWS
An international art competition is being held for a mural above the Bazaly stadium
The City of Ostrava and the Moravian-Silesian Region are announcing an open international art competition to decide on the design of a mural that will adorn a huge wall above the Bazaly football stadium in Ostrava. The retaining wall has a surface area of 4000 square metres.
Artists from the Czech Republic and other countries will compete for the chance to create a mural at this prominent location. The design should reflect the dramatic and substantial transformation experienced by Ostrava and the Moravian-Silesian Region in recent years. It should also respond to the specific features (whether historical, social or sporting) of the city/region as such – including an appropriate commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Baník Ostrava sports club, which is inextricably associated with the Bazaly site.
The deadline for submitting competition entries is 10 May 2022. The complete terms and conditions for the competition can be viewed at www.streetart.ostrava.cz.
New exhibition will offer a unique collection of texts connected with our region
The exhibition “Literary Memory of the Region 1918–2018” can be seen at Ostrava’s Central Library. It displays a unique collection of texts connected with the literary tradition of this culturally distinctive region.
The aim of the exhibition is to showcase the unique character of the prose and poetry created within North Moravia and Czech Silesia, tracing how this literary production has reflected the region’s historical, social and cultural evolution over the past century. It will be inspirational for anybody with an interest in literature or simply in the region itself. The curators have set out to present a concise overview of the literature written here in the period 1918–2018, which has helped to create the region’s unique identity.
The exhibition will run until 26 August 2022, and numerous accompanying events are being held as part of it.
See HERE for more information (only in Czech).
Socially responsible sports projects will receive subsidies from the City
Ostrava’s City Assembly has approved a new scheme that will provide 10 million CZK of funding for socially responsible sports projects in the city.
The new subsidy programme will fund sports clubs and organizations that make sport available to everybody – children and young people, disabled people, socially disadvantaged people, seniors, refugees from Ukraine, as well as students from Ostrava’s schools and members of the general public.
The funding will be targeted particularly at projects to organize camps, sports coaching in schools, programmes helping Ukrainian refugees to participate in sports, and activities at public sports facilities (for example ensuring that the facilities are open to everybody, not only to members of sports clubs).
A seminar and workshop will be held in March for interested parties. For more information about the scheme, including details of the terms and conditions, see the website www.fajnovysport.cz (only in Czech).