Started the land survey for the tallest building in Ostrava and in the Czech Republic

Ostrava – On the plot between 28th October Street and the Nová Karolina shopping center in the center of Ostrava, where the Ostrava company RT Torax plans to build the tallest building in the Czech Republic, the ground phase of the engineering-geological survey has begun. The goal is to verify the information important for the construction of a building with a planned height of 200 meters in the area of the Karolina coking plant through drilling. This was announced today by the company spokesman Jindřich Vaněk.

The plot, covering an area of 8300 m², which directly borders the supporting embankment of the Frýdlant bridges, is referred to as Slza due to its shape. A new landmark of Ostrava, a commercial and administrative center with a hotel and apartments, is to be built there. According to earlier information, the building should have 60 floors and cost over two billion crowns.

Vaněk stated that based on the results of the survey, it would be possible to finalize the architectural design of the building and definitively determine its height and other parameters. "We want to build a building that Ostrava will be proud of. It will be an exceptional building not only for its height. We are paying extraordinary attention to architecture, but also to energy independence and minimizing the carbon footprint,” said Tomáš Häring, partner and founder of RT Torax.

The engineering-geological work is being conducted in three layers at different depths. "In the shallow layer, about 12 meters below the surface, the condition of the soil and groundwater after the remediation of the area, completed in 2010, will be assessed. At depths of 70 meters and below, the thickness and relations of individual geological layers, as well as the concentrations and amounts of mining gases, will be verified,” Vaněk added. At the greatest depth of about 150 meters, the situation after the completed mining activities will be monitored and the condition of the former mining works will be verified.

Intensive coal mining has been ongoing in the Ostrava region since the 19th century, and as early as 1887, a protective pillar was established that blocked the mining of coal beneath the center of Ostrava. Mining was also prohibited in the Karolina area, but until 1982, a coke plant was in operation there, the last parts of which were demolished in 1985. The area, seven times larger than Prague's Wenceslas Square, was remediated and decontaminated for nearly two billion crowns between 1997 and 2010.

In the Nová Karolina project, which represents the largest investment in Ostrava's history since 1989, a shopping center, an administrative building, and residential buildings were created there. The preparatory and design work for the new skyscraper will be coordinated by a working group established at the end of last year. Its members include representatives of the city, the city district of Moravská Ostrava and Přívoz, architects, and geologists.

"Currently, we are finalizing the architectural design of the entire building and other design activities necessary for the future connection of the new building to the surrounding linear constructions and engineering networks,” Vaněk stated. The company must apply for a building permit by December 2022, and the building must be completed by May 2026.