The number of offices made from renovated brownfields will be increasing

CMC architects: Holešovice Mills - Phase I (photo Ester Havlová)

Prague - Due to the dwindling supply of available land in the center of Prague, construction companies will increasingly attract old, unused, or neglected buildings, also known as brownfields. Offices created by the reconstruction of deteriorating structures currently make up about ten percent of the total office space in the metropolis, but their numbers are expected to grow. This was agreed upon by representatives of international consulting firms that were approached by ČTK.
    "I think we will witness much more massive construction on brownfields, similarly to what happened in Karlín," said real estate expert Martijn Kanters. "In Prague, we already see that some office buildings built on greenfield sites are starting to have problems. The number one criterion regarding location is access to the metro, which opens opportunities for brownfields near or directly above metro stations," he added.
    In Karlín, the regeneration of brownfields has primarily been represented by the company Real Estate Karlin Group. In Holešovice, the company AFI Europe Czech Republic converted the former grain store into office space.
    Other areas attractive for the redevelopment of dilapidated buildings into offices, according to experts, include not only Karlín and Holešovice but also Smíchov, Žižkov, and Vysočany. Companies, in the future, will likely be able to place their employees in offices at the site of the current Pankrác prison.
    Analyst Lenka Hartmanová estimated that there are currently about 200,000 square meters of office space available in Prague created from old buildings. Approximately 650,000 square meters are planned. The total area of office space in the metropolis exceeded 2.5 million square meters by the end of last year.
    Offices built from brownfields, according to Pavla Marková from King Sturge, meet all the technical standards that new buildings offer. Additionally, when successfully reconstructed, they utilize the atmosphere of the original buildings. "If historical parts are preserved and sensitively incorporated into the modern structure, the result is often a higher quality and more attractive product than completely modern buildings, all of which look the same," added Kanters from DTZ.
    The costs associated with regeneration are, according to Kanters, often higher than for greenfield construction. However, the return on investment is also reportedly higher, so the final difference is not that significant.