Ostrava will announce an architectural competition for the renovation of the slaughterhouse

Ostrava - The city of Ostrava will announce an architectural competition for the restoration of the historic city slaughterhouse. To save time, however, it will not announce an open competition but will hold a so-called invited architectural competition, during which several selected architectural firms will be approached. Mayor Tomáš Macura (ANO) said this to reporters today.

Some time ago, the city purchased not only the slaughterhouse but also the former Bauhaus hobby store for 80 million crowns, which it had been trying to acquire for several years. Although not all city councilors agree with the purchase, the city leadership remains convinced that the heritage-protected slaughterhouse should be restored and used for cultural purposes. Therefore, city officials would like to prepare the renovation of the building within this term and at least sign a contract with the company that will renovate the building. For this reason, the city wants to use the invited competition, which is less time-consuming.

The city council has now decided to award a small-scale contract for the preparation of the architectural competition, which architect Ludvík Grym should prepare for the city. According to the mayor, the Office of the Chief Architect is currently busy preparing other architectural competitions.

The competition is to be organizationally prepared by December so that the city can announce it by the end of the year. The competition will be in two rounds, and the city wants to approach foreign architects as well. "In the first round, a certain larger number of firms will be invited; we have an idea of six to ten. The evaluation of the first round should take place around February 2017. In the first round, two to three winning designs will be selected, which will be further developed. The task for the second round will be more detailed," explained Macura.

The city wants to evaluate the second round of the competition next April, when a public contract for the preparation of project documentation based on the winning design will also be announced. According to the mayor, the city would like to restore the building to its original form as much as possible.

The municipal slaughterhouse building in the city center was established in 1881. However, in 1994, the municipal district of Moravská Ostrava and Přívoz sold the land covering two hectares, along with the slaughterhouse building, to the Bauhaus company for more than 38 million crowns. The company subsequently built its hobby market in close proximity to the slaughterhouse.

However, the slaughterhouse fell into disrepair and was never restored; the store later also ceased operations. The city has long been trying to reacquire the heritage-protected slaughterhouse. According to the latest expert assessment, the value of the area is over 90 million crowns.