The costs for the new town hall of Prague 7 reached 362 million crowns

Prague - The cost of building the new town hall of Prague 7 on U Průhonu street reached 362 million CZK excluding VAT. Operating costs will be four million. The district will save six to seven million annually. Mayor Jan Čižinský (Praha 7 Sobě) and Deputy Mayor Pavel Zelenka (Praha 7 Sobě) said this in response to a query from ČTK today.

Officials of Prague 7 began working on U Průhonu street from Monday of this week. The town hall had to move out of the building on Kapitána Jaroše quay due to the expiring lease contract. They paid 11 million for rent here. The new building was purchased for 89 million crowns.

"We currently only have an estimate of operating costs; we will find out the reality at the end of at least one year. It should be added that we were in a situation where our 11-million, relatively decent rent ended at the end of 2019. We did an analysis, and we would not have gotten such a rent anymore; now we would pay much more, we estimate up to 19 million,” said Zelenka.

The reconstruction of the original building took 27 months, and the district took it over on February 5 of this year. Currently, minor defects and unfinished work are being addressed. "There are still minor details concerning the furniture. We are also missing kitchens on some floors... but that will be resolved within a week,” said Zelenka.

The town hall is also addressing the accessibility of the office via public transport. Although the tram stop is just a few dozen meters away, the district leadership wants bus line 156, which circles Prague 7, to stop in front of the office. They are currently negotiating with the city organization Ropid, which plans Prague's public transport.

All officials from the building on the quay have been relocated to U Průhonu street. The building has 5,500 square meters of floor area and 202 workplaces. The conference rooms can accommodate 230 people. There is a terrace on the roof where weddings will take place. Outdoor terraces are also on most lower floors. The design of the building came from an international architectural competition.

In the new building, all departments that residents visit have been consolidated. Only the officials dealing with traffic violations are a few dozen meters away at the corner of U Průhonu and Komunardů streets, where they were also located in the past. "All parts of the office are located in our own property; we are not rented anywhere, which is key,” said Zelenka. The designers are also outside the building, but according to Čižinský, they always work for the district only temporarily.

The selection of the new headquarters was accompanied by problems. Former representatives of Prague 7 under the leadership of ODS planned to spend over a billion crowns on a new headquarters. Residents, led by the current mayor, opposed this at the time. They achieved a referendum in which a half-billion limit on total costs was approved. "We met that with a relatively significant reserve,” said Čižinský.

Town hall building on U Průhonu street

Built-up volume of the building	19,604 m3
Gross floor area	5,447 m2
Total usable area of rooms	4,635 m2
Number of office spaces	202
Seats in conference rooms	230

Costs of building the town hall (prices excluding VAT)

Price of the land with the original building	89 million CZK
Renovation costs	241 million CZK
Designers, construction supervision, etc.	21 million CZK
Built-in furniture	10 million CZK
Total costs	362 million CZK

Source: Prague 7 District