Lesy ČR have returned to the project of building a new headquarters, estimating the costs at 1.5 billion.

Hradec Králové - The state-owned enterprise Lesy České republiky (LČR) has returned to the project of building a new headquarters for its general directorate in Hradec Králové. If everything goes smoothly, the construction could begin in 2026. The enterprise estimates the costs at approximately 1.5 billion crowns. Dalibor Šafařík, the general director of the company, told the ČTK today. The company started preparing the construction in 2015, but three years later halted the project due to deteriorating economic conditions caused by the bark beetle calamity. Last year, LČR made a profit of five billion crowns and accumulated 9.5 billion crowns in reserves and capital funds.

According to Šafařík, the Ministry of Agriculture, which is the company's founder, has already expressed a positive opinion on the construction of the headquarters, and the government will also comment on it. The enterprise is currently working on updating the original project documentation, which was created by architects Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof based on their victory in an international architectural competition in 2016. Six years ago, the company estimated the construction costs at half a billion crowns before tax.

The enterprise would like to assign the architects the task of updating the documentation through a negotiation procedure without publication. The architects will have to revise the project to ensure it meets today’s energy demands for buildings, and they will also need to adjust and supplement aspects related to electromobility. Once the state forests have the updated documentation in hand, they will apply for a new building permit, as the original one has expired.

The company began preparing the construction of the new headquarters due to the unsatisfactory condition of the current headquarters, which is partially in a state of emergency. The main part of the directorate is located in a panel building from the 1970s. According to LČR, the building is statically unstable, lacks insulation, does not have air conditioning, and most offices do not meet the required standards.

According to Šafařík, the new headquarters would like to present Lesy ČR as an entity using wood as a renewable raw material in construction. The headquarters should not be a pure wooden structure, but at least 90 percent of the above-ground structures should be made of wood.

Architects Chybík and Krištof named the project Forests in the Forest. The building’s floor plan is intended to resemble a tree, consisting of five branches. The two-story building with 8,000 square meters of office space was initially planned to accommodate 180 to 200 employees.

The new headquarters will be located in Hradec Králové in the same area as the current directorate, on the site of the enterprise's warehouses. According to the original plans, the current office buildings were to be demolished after construction. Instead, builders were to create a publicly accessible forest park, with plans for a parking lot for 200 cars nearby. For the construction of the entire complex, Lesy ČR had previously exchanged the necessary plots of land with the city of Hradec Králové.