The building of the former workshops of the State Railways in Prague-Bubny was demolished

Today already a historic photo...

Prague - The investor has completed the demolition of the largest building in the premises of the unused Prague-Bubny railway station - the former workshops of the state railways. This was confirmed today to ČTK by the spokesperson for the landowner Orco Property Group, Eva Kučmášová. According to industrial heritage expert Benjamin Fragner, this building was the most valuable in the area. However, it lost its heritage protection six years ago.
    "The main hall, that is, the building of the former workshop, has been demolished. However, this is just the beginning of the work; other buildings awaiting demolition are still to come," Kučmášová said. According to her, the work should take about three months.
    The Deputy Mayor of Prague, Matěj Stropnický, commented on the demolition of the largest building on his Facebook profile. "Approximately only five percent of the original halls remain. The work of destruction is essentially already completed in this case. Now the city must consult again on what to do next," Stropnický wrote, adding a photo of the demolition site to his status.
    The development company Orco Property Group acquired the buildings and land in the Bubny railway area in 2006. At that time, eight objects in the area were under heritage protection, listed by the Ministry of Culture (MK) in 2004. After repeated requests from the owner in 2008, the MK first removed the protection from five objects and then, a few months later, from two more.
    The buildings are subject to a demolition order issued five years ago, which, after several extensions, will expire at the end of this year. The company will preserve only the waterworks facility, which remains the only one still under heritage protection and is not subject to demolition.
    The municipal district of Prague 7 opposed the demolition of the former workshop building, as did the city hall management. According to Fragner, the heritage-protected waterworks is just a small structure, incomparable to the workshops that lost their heritage protection, which were typical buildings of their time and played a defining role for the area in question. Martin Kadrman from the heritage association for the protection and development of cultural heritage (ASORKD) also expressed protest against the demolition.
    The investor claims to have called on the city district management for joint discussions about the future of the site as early as March this year, but no one allegedly responded to the call. Local politicians only made their voices heard at the end of the week before last, when the first construction and demolition machines entered the site.
    The development area of Bubny-Zátory, located between the Vltavská and Nádraží Holešovice metro stations, is one of 15 large development areas in the capital city, subject to a construction ban. The owner of part of the land, Orco Property Group, plans to build a new district on 27 hectares. The original project included the construction of luxury and classic apartments, office spaces, a new school, healthcare facilities, and a university campus. A total of 1.2 million square meters of above-ground space is expected to be built, half of which would be office space and a third residential space. However, this week on Tuesday, Prague councilors suspended the process for a change to the zoning plan for Bubny, which would have allowed construction.