In the Liberec Region, 650 brownfields need revitalization

Dining hall in Košťálov

Liberec - In the Liberec region, 400 to 650 unused industrial and agricultural sites and properties need revitalization. Currently, about 200 of them are in a database processed by the CzechInvest agency. 72 of these are publicly offered on the server www.brownfieldy.cz, where it was possible to obtain the owners' consent, said Patrik Reichl, director of the regions division at CzechInvest, to journalists today. According to him, the database contains a total of 2,355 locations covering over 10,000 hectares from across the country.
    According to Reichl, the Liberec region has a high proportion of especially abandoned industrial sites. Former textile factories, glassworks, and woodworking plants represent 40 percent of the sites. In contrast, compared to the national average, there are few abandoned agricultural enterprises in the region. Both are related to the character of the region, which has always been oriented towards industrial production. "We are trying to promote the use of abandoned sites more, but investors are still mainly interested in greenfield developments," said Reichl. Only five percent of clients are interested in investing in brownfields, according to him.
    According to regional councilor for development Vít Příkaský, the region has been addressing the issue of unused sites for several years. He had the brownfields mapped and presents them in a dedicated database. Ten of them have been worked out to the stage of specific use, including quantified costs. "Potential investors are primarily interested in the transport accessibility of the sites, resolved property relations, and also possible ecological burdens," said Příkaský to ČTK. However, the question of ownership is often problematic. This is also a reason why interest in utilizing old sites is low, even though revitalization can be funded from 13 national and European funds, which contain tens of billions of crowns.
    A brownfield is a plot of land or object that is not effectively used, is neglected, and in many cases also contaminated. The property cannot be utilized without revitalization, which often involves costs in the range of tens or even hundreds of millions of crowns. The most unused sites in the Liberec region are in the Frýdlantsko area and also in Českolipsko and Novoborsko. These are not only abandoned industrial or agricultural sites but also monuments, residential buildings, and objects that were never completed.
    Despite the high costs, there are examples of successful brownfield revitalizations in the region - the most famous is the Babylon entertainment center in Liberec, which was created from the former Hedva textile factory. The former Kolory plant in Slaná near Semily was transformed by the Beneš and Lát company into a modern foundry and machine shop. The textile factory in Semily now serves the municipal office, and a hotel school is located in the barracks in Turnov.