The renovation of the Hradec Králové gymnasium by Gočár will begin in June

Photo: Ester Havlová

Hradec Králové - The reconstruction of the listed building of the J. K. Tyl Gymnasium in Hradec Králové is set to begin in early June. It is expected to last for a year. Students of the school, which is the largest of its kind in the region with 600 students, should return to the renovated building in September 2013. This was stated today by the spokesman of the regional authority Imrich Diosegi. The repair will be carried out by the Hradec company Prima for 67.5 million crowns excluding VAT, which is 40 percent less than the region originally anticipated.
    "The building has not undergone any major reconstruction since its inception, which has left it architecturally very clean, but the entire complex already shows numerous signs of wear and tear," said the regional governor's deputy Josef Táborský (ČSSD). The region has secured a European subsidy for the renovation from the regional program Northeast.
    The school, designed in 1924 by architect Josef Gočár, will undergo a complete renovation. In cooperation with heritage protectors, builders should also remove some later insensitively executed alterations. The building, along with the Museum of Eastern Bohemia and the Elbe power plant Hučák, is the most significant structure from the early modern architecture in the Hradec Králové Region.
    Since last November, students of the gymnasium have been studying in temporary premises in the former Institute for the Deaf and Mute on Pospíšilova Street. Once the so-called "Hluchák" building is vacated by the students, it will serve as a site for other regional secondary schools.
    The selection of the construction company for the gymnasium renovation was fraught with issues. Initially, the region wanted to choose a company last autumn by narrowing the number of bidders using a so-called lottery. However, due to suspicions of manipulation of the lottery, the region canceled the competition and announced a new tender without a lottery. In the first tender, 13 companies applied for the contract, while in the second, 11 did. The estimated price for the tender was set at 110 million crowns.