The construction of the kindergarten by the dam in Jablonec nad Nisou will begin with demolition

Jablonec nad Nisou – The construction of a kindergarten by the dam in Jablonec nad Nisou will begin in spring with demolition. The original unsuitable building must be removed, and ČEZ must also relocate the transformer station; only then can work on the construction of the kindergarten itself begin, said Deputy Mayor Jakub Chuchlík (Pirates) to CTK. According to him, work on the kindergarten for 156 children should then start at the end of the holidays or the beginning of the new school year. The cost is preliminarily estimated by the designers at 120 million crowns, and it will be co-financed from European funds.

According to Chuchlík, the city should receive a building permit for the kindergarten at the beginning of next year, but the actual start of construction will be complicated. The old school cannot be demolished all at once. "A part will be demolished, a retaining wall will be created so the transformer station can be moved to that place, which is ČEZ's action, so we need to coordinate that together. Then the rest of the building will be demolished. It has three separate contractors," the mayor’s deputy noted.

The new kindergarten will be built by the dam on the site of the Free School, which has moved out of the premises, as well as on the site of a special kindergarten that was an annex of MŠ Palackého. "After several variants of assessing the use of the existing buildings, we concluded that it would be best to demolish the area and build anew. Those buildings were created in the past during 'Action Z' and are not in good condition either functionally, structurally, or technically," Chuchlík said. The new kindergarten is expected to welcome its first children in 2026.

The city announced an architectural competition for the design of the kindergarten, receiving 28 proposals. "All had good quality; it wasn't an easy decision at all, there was no proposal that stood out above the others. An important aspect was operational costs and energy intensity. The winning proposal is actually quite modest; its quality lies in its urban-forming behavior. It uses the terrain difference, and on the upper floor at one level, it has all six classrooms of the kindergarten with direct access to the garden," Chuchlík added.

The winning team of architects, including Martin Vančura, Anna Koukolová, and Ateliér Za Mák, placed a gymnasium and a room for leisure activities in the ground floor of the building, allowing for independent operation of this part of the building. According to Chuchlík, the competition was not only about the solution for the new construction of the kindergarten but also the garden and the immediate surroundings. "By positioning the building on the edge of the plot, a large part of the garden will remain free and undeveloped. The team included a landscape architecture studio, and a good solution for the kindergarten garden was part of the proposal," he added.