Forty proposals were submitted for the architectural competition for the seat of Lesy ČR

Hradec Králové - The international architectural competition for the design of a wooden headquarters for the state-owned enterprise Lesy České republiky (Les ČR) received 40 proposals. Interested parties could submit their designs until Thursday. This was stated today by the spokesperson for Les ČR, Eva Jouklová. The estimated cost for the construction of the headquarters, parking lot, and public park is 470 million crowns excluding VAT. If everything goes according to plan, the center could be completed in 2020. Lesy ČR owns half of the forests in the country and the company reports annual profits in billions of crowns.

The documents submitted by the applicants will now be examined by experts on the economics and energy demands of buildings. An international jury led by chairwoman Dorte Mandrup-Poulsen from Denmark will convene in mid-October. They will select five proposals to advance to the second round of the competition. The jury will meet again at the end of January to announce the rankings, award prizes, and grants. "Afterwards, we will present the proposals to the public," said the general director of Lesy ČR, Daniel Szórád.

Within three months after the competition concludes, Lesy ČR will organize two public exhibitions of the proposals in Hradec Králové - at the gallery U Přívozu in the Study and Scientific Library of the City of Hradec Králové.

According to Szórád, the new headquarters should be an example of the use of wood in construction and renewable energy sources. The company is collaborating with the Czech Chamber of Architects, the department of the chief architect of the city of Hradec Králové, as well as the city administration and the municipal forests in preparing the administrative center. Lesy ČR states that a similar administrative wooden building for about 200 employees has not yet been constructed in the Czech Republic.

The new center is expected to replace the inadequate panel building from the 1970s. The building, which previously housed the East Bohemian State Forests, is, according to Les ČR, statically unstable, lacks insulation, does not have air conditioning, and most of the offices do not meet today’s standards.

Lesy ČR has been based in Hradec Králové since its establishment on January 1, 1992.