The concert hall for Brno will begin to be designed by architects next year

Brno - Next year, the project for a concert hall, which has been sought after by the Brno Philharmonic for about 100 years, is set to progress in Brno. The city council will announce a competition for the designer of the zoning documentation at the beginning of the year. The zoning decision could be valid six months later, after which work on the documentation for the building permit could begin. This was stated by the mayor's assistant responsible for culture, Daniel Rychnovský.
    The city budget for 2009 allocates four million crowns for the construction of the concert hall. The money will be used for the design. Further expenditures are planned for later - from 2010 to 2012, around 200 million crowns is expected to be spent on construction, said Rychnovský.
    The start date for construction will also depend on financing. The construction is estimated to cost around 1.2 billion crowns, with a third of that going towards the construction of underground garages. According to the assistant, this part should be financed by a private investor, and the city believes there should not be any problems in finding one. The space near the Besední dům, where the concert hall is to be built, is right in the city center, which reportedly promises the rentability of the garages.
    Funding for the above-ground part of the construction, costing 800 million crowns, is currently being sought, and negotiations are expected to continue next year, according to Rychnovský. The investment is to be supported by the region, the city, and possibly European funds. "A meeting has also been arranged with Commissioner (Ján) Figeľ, who also supports it," said the assistant.
    The construction of the Janáček Cultural Center has been discussed in Brno for years. Due to the financial demands of the project, the leadership of Brno previously postponed the plans. Rychnovský, who has been in office for three quarters of a year, considers the building one of his main tasks.
    The Janáček Cultural Center is expected to become the home stage for the Brno Philharmonic and the opera and ballet of the National Theatre Brno. Currently, the orchestra performs in the small hall of the Besední dům, while larger concerts are held in the Janáček Theatre. However, neither of these halls is adequate; they have poor acoustics and other shortcomings. "We actually have no idea what our philharmonic sounds like; we would have to go to a quality hall and listen to it there," stated Alena Štěpánková Veselá, chairwoman of the Brno Society of Friends of Music, earlier.