Ostrava plans to build a new administrative building. The City Services House will be constructed on Černá louka

The new municipal building will significantly enhance the services provided to citizens, bringing together the agenda of travel documents, identity cards, and driver's licenses, as well as several municipal organizations under one roof in the future. The municipal services building will be located at Černá louka and will offer a pleasant environment for citizens coming here to manage their affairs, as well as modern administrative spaces for employees. Its design will emerge from an architectural competition being prepared by the Municipal Studio of Spatial Planning and Architecture (MAPPA).

The new administrative building will focus on two important departments of the City Hall of Ostrava. The Department of Internal Affairs, responsible for issuing identity cards and travel documents, expects to serve up to 70,000 clients annually in the new building. Approximately 40 employees from this department will work there. The second department located in the new building is the Department of Transportation Administrative Activities, which includes vehicle registration and issuance of driver's licenses. It can be noted that by the end of the year, there were 224,223 registered vehicles and 172,155 drivers in our municipality with extended jurisdiction. Last year, more than 110,000 citizens visited the driver’s license and vehicle registration desks to handle their matters, and more than 6,000 tests for professional competence related to obtaining and improving professional competence for driving motor vehicles were conducted, along with over 12,000 driving tests.

The building will also provide headquarters for the Municipal Police of Ostrava and for municipal organizations such as the Expat Center or MAPPA studio. There are also considerations for a section serving culture, which could be used by the Puppet Theater of Ostrava as an exhibition space. "We want the new office building to be as user-friendly as possible for the citizens it is primarily meant to serve, ensuring effective service operation. We have long struggled with inadequate spaces where two departments of the City Hall are located, as well as the rising costs of these rentals. Based on a financial analysis, we concluded that it is more advantageous for the city in the long term to invest in the construction of a new facility," explains Deputy Mayor Hana Tichánková.

The municipal services building will be located at Černá louka near the Puppet Theater and the residence of Nové Lauby. Its location in the center of Moravian Ostrava, close to public transport stops, and with planned underground parking for citizens and officials, will significantly improve the transport accessibility of both departments. Currently, they are located at two different addresses outside the main City Hall building.

The building will be integrated into a ring development that is to be created around the future Černá louka park. Its placement is based on the spatial study of the area developed by MAPPA studio. "The decision to place the Municipal Services House at Černá louka is not accidental. We want to actively support the revitalization of the area and connect the plan with the planned revitalization of green public space, which is to be the heart of Černá louka and directly connect to the riverbank of the Ostravice," adds Hana Tichánková.

The requirements of the city and its departments, organizations that will be located here, and the needs of citizens have been reflected in the competition assignment. "From the winning architectural proposal, we expect it to bring a building that impressively complements the fabric between the historic Masaryk Square and Černá louka, a building with a quality environment for work, but also clear and friendly for its visitors – clients. A café could be created on the ground floor, thus making the building a new meeting place," states the director of the MAPPA studio, Ondřej Vysloužil. The Municipal Services House could be completed exactly 100 years after the completion of the listed building of the New Town Hall, which was also the result of an architectural competition.

The competition will also provide a conceptual design of the adjacent public space, which must relate to the planned modifications of the Černá louka park area. There is also consideration for historical traces, as city walls ran through the site of the future building, and it is likely that at least fragments of the original stone walls will be found there.

An open competition for the architectural design of the new administrative building will take place in two rounds and will be announced by the middle of this year. Results are expected to be known by the end of 2024. A jury composed of city leaders and renowned architects will evaluate the competition proposals with an emphasis on the quality of urban-architectural solutions, economy, and financial reasonableness. The construction of the Municipal Services House is expected to begin in 2027. The costs for the construction are estimated at 750 million crowns.