Firefighters have demolished one of the buildings of the former UP factories in Bučovice

Bučovice - Firefighters yesterday detonated the oldest production building in the area of the former UP factories in Bučovice in the Vyškov region. For the final part of the demolition, they used about ten kilograms of explosives, said explosives expert Martin Červenka to reporters after the action. The city purchased the site this year for 27 million CZK, where a residential area will be developed.

The three-story building, measuring 60 by 20 meters, came down shortly before 3 PM. "As part of the training for the explosives experts, we have been shooting at it since Monday. We tested various penetrations and breaches,” said Červenka. According to him, everything went according to plan, and there were no complications.

The six-hectare complex has been declining since 1995, when furniture production ceased. The city purchased it from a private owner in the winter. There are three main buildings and about 15 smaller ones. Bučovice has already started clearance work in the spring, and a demolition company began operations on the site in July.

Demolition work will continue, and the city aims to clear the area by next year. The costs for demolishing and cleaning the site are estimated at about 25 million CZK. The only building that is not set for demolition is the so-called Drucker Villa, which is intended to remain a reminder of the former glory of the enterprise.

"We have already instructed architects to develop the potential for the entire site. Most of the area should be used for the construction of family houses, and part for smaller apartment buildings. In the western part, there should remain an open space for the construction of probably some multifunctional cultural hall and sports arena,” said the mayor of the city, Jiří Horák (KDU-ČSL). He added that several dozen parcels for houses should be created in the area.

Firefighter explosives experts trained at the former UP factories already at the end of June. They used 15 kilograms of explosives on a roofless building with three outer walls at that time. Along with them, scientific workers from the VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava and the Ostrava-Radvanice Research Institute also utilized the site for experiments with explosives. They still plan exercises at the site for firefighter dog handlers in August.

The factory in Bučovice was among the top furniture manufacturers in former Czechoslovakia and was part of the United Applied Arts Factories based in Brno. The conglomerate had other factories, for example, in nearby Rousínov, Koryčany in the Kroměříž region, and Uherský Brod. The Bučovice factory specialized in bedrooms but struggled to secure sales after the fall of communism.