Prague had to suspend the renovation of the Spirála theater due to increased costs

Prague - The company Výstaviště Praha, owned by the capital city, had to suspend the renovation of the dilapidated Spirála theater due to a significant increase in costs. Adam Zábranský (Pirates), a Prague councilor, said this to ČTK. The additional costs exceeded the legal limit, so the company had to issue a new tender for the completion of the construction, according to him. At the same time, it managed to save on another investment, so it will not need additional funds from the city budget.

So far, the repairs have been handled by VW Wachal, Váhostav - SK, and Gradior Tech for the contracted price of 153.2 million crowns excluding VAT.

Zábranský said that the company has already issued the tender and is now waiting for the city council to approve the financing. "We will not have to allocate additional money; it will just be a transfer from one project to another," he explained. He added that the council should make a decision on this within a few weeks.

After that, Výstaviště Praha will be able to select a new contractor and complete the reconstruction, which was supposed to be finished by mid this year according to last year’s information. If another company or companies are successful in the tender, the subsequent handover of the unfinished building will be complicated, but according to the law, there was no other solution to the situation.

The Spirála theater was created in 1991 by converting the Panoramic Theater from 1960 with a tubular steel dome designed by Ferdinand Lederer, which is a reduced version of the roof structure of Pavilion Z at the exhibition grounds in Brno. The structure of the dome was preserved during the renovation in 1991 as a technical and cultural monument. The theater became famous after its renovation with the Czech version of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which was performed there from 1994 to 1998.