The commission selected the winner of the tender for the construction of the stadium in H. Králové

Hradec Králové – The evaluation committee today selected the winner of the tender for the construction of a football stadium in Hradec Králové for almost 600 million crowns excluding VAT. The name of the winner, whom the committee selected from three applicants, has not been disclosed by the city hall. The results of the committee's decision will still be addressed by the city council in March and subsequently by the city assembly. "Until then, the city is not allowed to disclose further information about the winning bid," said city hall spokesperson Kateřina Šmídová to ČTK.

The city has been preparing the construction on the site of a partially demolished multipurpose stadium for over 15 years, and it is one of the priority investments for the city of Hradec Králové, which has a population of one hundred thousand. The current tender, which the city announced on September 4 last year, is the fourth in line.

Originally, four entities applied for the tender, all of which met the qualification requirements. Three entities submitted preliminary bids in February. The committee already determined the winner after the submission of the preliminary bids. Thus, the final round of the tender, in which the city hall was to negotiate further improvements to the offers with the applicants, was eliminated. According to the tender rules, the committee could choose the winner based solely on the preliminary bids.

Even if the city authorities approve the winner, the city cannot yet sign a contract with them. The competition is currently being reviewed in administrative proceedings by the Office for the Protection of Competition due to a complaint from the construction company PORR. PORR is unhappy with some of the tender's requirements and the established evaluation criteria. The city claims it acted correctly.

"The evaluation committee has selected a contractor, who will now need to be approved by the city authorities. Everything is indeed heading towards having a representative multifunctional football stadium in Hradec Králové," stated Mayor Alexandr Hrabálek (ODS).

In the coming days, the city will ask the participants of the tender to provide anonymized visualizations of the stadium, including consent for their publication. "The public will thus have the opportunity to see the proposals that the evaluation committee was selecting from," said Deputy Mayor for Investments Jiří Bláha (ODS).

The city has announced the contract using the Design and Build method. The basic requirements for the size and functions of the stadium were specified by the city. The city expects that the winning contractor could start construction work later this year.

The stadium, which will house the second-league club FC Hradec Králové, is expected to meet UEFA category 4 standards, which are stadiums for international matches. It should also meet the requirement for a multifunctional arena. The arena's capacity is expected to be 8,000 spectators, with the possibility of increasing it to 9,300 seats. All seats are expected to be covered. The city aims to obtain a state subsidy for the construction financing.

The total costs for acquiring the stadium are not expected to exceed 605 million crowns excluding VAT. Last July, the city signed a contract with Arcadis Czech Republic, which will act as the construction manager for 31.8 million crowns excluding VAT. This leaves 573.2 million crowns excluding VAT for the actual construction.