Prague has completed the first round of the competition for a new headquarters for rescuers

Prague - Prague has completed the first round of a narrower international architectural-urban design competition for the new headquarters of the medical rescue service (ZZS), which is to be built on land next to the Prosek Polyclinic in Prague 9. The jury selected six participants from the 19 entrants who will advance to the second round and develop their designs by the end of July. The city council approved this today. Currently, the rescuers are based in Korunní Street in a building they share with the municipal police.

Participants who did not advance to the second round may still utilize a fifteen-day period for submitting objections, according to the document approved today. The deadline for completing the competition designs in the second round has been set by the city for July 28. "The subsequent evaluation of the competition designs by the jury is tentatively planned for September 2023," states the document. According to an earlier statement by Deputy Mayor Alexandra Udženija (ODS), the competition should be completed by the end of this year, and the building could be completed in 2030.

According to earlier information, the new building on the land next to the polyclinic should house the dispatch center, a training center for rescuers, administrative facilities, and a facility for servicing and cleaning ambulances. The previous city leadership wanted to place the ZZS in a long-under-construction building in Palmovka, where the Prague 8 Town Hall was originally supposed to be located. However, this plan fell through due to complications with construction. Previously, the city hall considered land in Troja, but the local city hall opposed this.

Prague's ZZS dealt with 142,000 incidents last year, which is 14,500 more year-on-year and the highest in its history. This trend of increase has continued; 2021 was also a record year. Since 1999, the rescuers have been based alongside the Prague municipal police in a building on Korunní Street, and the city leadership has been discussing the construction of a separate headquarters for several years. The annual budget for the ZZS is around half a billion crowns.