Ústí n.O. will announce a competition for the use of the former Perla site

Ústí nad Orlicí - Ústí nad Orlicí will announce an architectural-urban competition for the future use of the former textile factory Perla, which belongs to the city. It should bring not only proposals from architects but also a division of the project into stages, its economics, and an estimate of costs. The city hall has set basic requirements that the proposals must respect, said mayor Petr Hájek (Sdružení Oušťáci) today to ČTK.
    "We want a new children and youth center, housing, transportation, and parking spaces for the city center to be addressed in the area. At the same time, we emphasized the need for public greenery," Hájek stated. The rest depends on the creators' ingenuity, the only limiting factor is the zoning plan, which anticipates areas for housing and light manufacturing. The conditions for the competition were approved by the city council on Monday.
    The competition will be announced on September 27, and proposals will be accepted until the end of January. In February and March, they will be evaluated by an expert jury, and the results will be presented in a public exhibition. A similar competition has never been held in Ústí, and it will cost the city a total of 1.1 million crowns. The winner of the competition will receive 400,000 crowns, the second place will get 250,000, and the third will receive 150,000 crowns. Additional money will be allocated for awards for contributions to the competition and for covering the organization of the competition. "We want to attract renowned design offices with the amounts offered, because the area of Perla is valuable to the city," said Hájek. The site covers an area of nearly 32,000 m², of which the built-up area represents over 27,000 square meters.
    The former textile factory was purchased by the city hall in 2010 for 30 million crowns. The factory went bankrupt a year earlier and previously employed 400 workers. The city hall plans to sell part of the land and buildings to developers.
    In the past, the city conducted a survey among residents regarding the use of Perla. Among the suggestions were a library or a children's center. Architecture students also proposed that a pedestrian zone could be created near the site. Currently, part of the site contains a parking lot, storage facilities, small production, and two stores, but a larger portion is vacant.