Developers are satisfied with the new Prague building regulations

Source
Filip Sušanka

Publisher
ČTK
27.10.2014 14:45

Prague - The largest developers building apartments in Prague welcome the development and approval of new Prague building regulations (PSP). Their abolition would supposedly be a bad step and would set the city back years. This arises from the responses of representatives of the largest development companies that CTK contacted today.
    The owner and chairman of the board of Central Group, Dušan Kunovský, considers the new regulations a small revolution. "From our perspective and especially from an urban planning point of view, it is a small revolution and a conceptual direction for spatial development similar to what is happening in Western European metropolises. The new PSP provides a legal framework for slowing the overall growth of the Prague agglomeration towards 'the fields' and, conversely, supports its city-creating development and the creation of complex urban units," stated Kunovský.
    He praises, for example, the easing of some parameters important for the occupancy permits of apartments, which he says have thus far been among the strictest in Europe. "I am referring to the definitions of setback distances, the amount of daylight, the removal of the sunlight requirement, and so on. At the same time, the new PSP eliminates some anachronisms such as the requirement for direct lighting of stairwells, which lacks relevance in the age of elevators, and significantly clarifies and simplifies the technical standards for new real estate," listed some positive changes the head of Central Group.
    A similar opinion is held by the CEO of Skanska Reality, Naďa Ptáčková. "We view positively, for example, the softening of the requirement for mandatory sunlight in interior spaces, as a north-facing apartment could not previously be permitted as a residential unit but only as a studio, in which the owner could not have registered permanent residence. We would also approach other Western European metropolises by limiting urban expansion at the expense of open spaces and prioritizing the development of infill sites and unused areas in the center, where complete infrastructure is already built," believes Ptáčková, who sees referencing the regulations to the new metropolitan plan as problematic. "That still does not exist and is not on the horizon," pointed out Ptáčková.
    The CEO and Chairman of the Board of Ekospol, Evžen Korec, appreciates the new building regulations most for limiting some nonsensical regulations. "At the same time, however, they also introduce new regulations that I believe are inappropriate. Specifically, in some zones, including the outskirts of Prague, they limit the maximum number of above-ground parking spaces, which is wrong," claims Korec.
    However, he criticizes the fact that the regulations were pushed through by the outgoing leadership of the Prague magistrate without prior agreement with the opposition. "The fact that there was no agreement on the new Prague building regulations among all political parties in Prague and not even with the Ministry of Regional Development is, in my opinion, their greatest negative," criticized the adoption of the fundamental building standard the head of Ekospol.
    All responding developers agree that abolishing the regulations or significantly rewriting them would be a mistake and would set the capital city back many years. The first results are said to be visible only after several years.
    The Prague building regulations are an implementing regulation to the building law. They specify the conditions under which construction can take place in the capital city. The Prague council approved it this July, and it came into effect on October 1. Before the elections, there was a large debate surrounding the regulations. The company BigBoard opposed the regulations, which among other things regulate advertising in the city. In contrast, architects welcomed the adoption of the regulations.
    According to the regulations, new standalone billboards will not be allowed, and when the current ones expire their building permits, companies will have to remove the giant advertising hoardings and areas. In addition to regulating advertising over six square meters, the regulations set building height rules, limit urban expansion at the expense of open countryside, and prefer the development of infill and unused areas.

Developers are satisfied with the new Prague building regulations

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