The sports hall in Č. Budějovice will not be demolished for now

Indoor Sports Center, Atelier 8000

České Budějovice - The old sports hall in České Budějovice in the Dlouhá louka area will not be demolished for now; a new Indoor Sports Center will be built elsewhere - in the former barracks area in Čtyři Dvory. The city has found itself in a stalemate regarding the planned construction after it selected the winner of the architectural competition in February, but the Office for the Protection of Competition canceled it, claiming that some bidders allegedly did not adhere to the expected price limit. Mayor Juraj Thoma (OPB) stated this to the press after the council meeting.
    "Since the old hall will not be demolished, a new athletic corridor and a second so-called training hall will not need to be built. This will reduce the construction costs by tens of millions of crowns," Thoma told ČTK.
    The winner of the architectural competition for the center, which is primarily intended for extra league volleyball players, was the renowned Atelier 8000 in February. At that time, 51 collectives entered the two-round competition. The announcement of the winner was criticized by the opposition in the council, and the demolition of the old hall also stirred emotions among the public.
    The councilors will ultimately decide on the resolution of the stalemate at the next meeting. They will have a preliminary environmental impact statement prepared by the regional office for the selected option, and they will also update the financing. The city plans to gradually build the hall from its own budget by 2017. The cost limit for the construction in the architectural competition was 277 million crowns.
    According to Thoma, the city leadership does not want to wait for a decision from the Office for the Protection of Competition regarding the city's appeal against the validity of the competition, nor do they want to repeat the competition. According to experts on public competitions, the city can announce a small-scale contract using the previous competition. "The Czech Chamber of Architects states that the competition was legitimate according to its rules and is valid. Therefore, the city as the organizer would take the winning proposal from Atelier 8000, the atelier would refine it into a study in a modified version, and the city would use it as a basis for an open selection procedure for the project designer," Thoma explained.
    The modern sports center is intended to serve elite, performance, and recreational sports, as well as the organization of social events with high spectator attendance.