ČVUT with a German partner will support the construction of an energy-efficient primary school in Postřekov

Postřekov - The University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings of the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT) has become the first Czech member of the German Effizienzhaus Plus network. It supported 39 construction projects in Germany and is known for its intensive transfer of research results into practice, said ČTK spokesperson Andrea Vondráková. The first demonstration building in the Czech Republic will be the construction of a new primary and nursery school in Postřekov next year.

The municipality in the Domažlice region, with 1,130 inhabitants, has an elementary school in a state of disrepair and needs a new building costing over 90 million CZK, for which it has a completed architectural study and is seeking grants. "Now we are addressing co-financing with (ČVUT and the German network), negotiations are just beginning," said the mayor of Postřekov, Jan Kreuz. The city will demolish the primary school for 55 students, which is a defunct experimental building from 1971. The municipality will vacate the nursery school, find another use for it, and move 50 children into the new building. "According to the demographic study we conducted, the number of children is expected to grow slightly," added the mayor.

The University Center UCEEB was established in 2012. It focuses on better living in buildings that consume minimal energy from non-renewable sources. Buildings consume about 40 percent of energy worldwide. "It was therefore natural to follow the global trend towards buildings with zero or even positive energy balance, meaning those that are sources of energy themselves," Vondráková stated.

In Germany, the initiative Netzwerk Effizienzhaus Plus was launched, and in 2011, a demonstration energy-plus house was opened in Berlin. Since then, thanks to co-financing from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, the initiative has supported 39 projects and contributed to the establishment of a network of partners. It intensively transfers construction research into practice.

“ČVUT has a number of innovative projects behind it, such as the very successful Air House for the Solar Decathlon 2013, the extension of the primary and nursery school Oty Pavla in Buštěhrad, and the demonstration house of the Fénix Group in Jeseník. It is therefore natural that we are trying to expand our activities abroad,” said UCEEB director Lukáš Ferkl. According to him, Effizienzhaus Plus is a strong partner, mainly due to its extensive knowledge and experience.

A meeting of Czech and German partners is scheduled for October 17, where the specific form of cooperation will be fine-tuned. The goal of the joint activities is to promote good building practices and to show, through the example of demonstration buildings, that energy-plus houses are not only technologically feasible and aesthetically valuable, but also fit into the cultural environment and provide modern comfort to residents.