Two skyscrapers in Pankrác will not be built, the court ruled

Prague - Two new landmarks in the Prague district of Pankrác will not be built for now. The construction of a skyscraper in the shape of the letter V, City Epoque, and a neighboring oval-shaped high-rise, City Epoque Office, has been blocked by the court, which annulled the valid zoning decision, thereby accommodating the objections of a civic association. This is reported by today's Hospodářské noviny. Both buildings were intended to be constructed by the development company Real Estate Investments (ECM), which is currently in bankruptcy.
According to Petr Kužvart from the suing civic association Atelier for the Environment, the Prague officials based their considerations on the assumption that the urban environment is already sufficiently burdened, so further construction is possible if the developer proves that the operation and servicing of the new construction will add only a little burden. "The city court explicitly rejected this approach," Kužvart told the newspaper.
City Court spokesperson Martina Lhotáková confirmed that the decision is binding. "We accepted objections concerning noise and emissions from traffic," Lhotáková told HN, adding that the court returned the case for re-examination. The issuance of a new zoning decision is conditioned, for example, on it containing better noise protection measures.
The case will thus return to the building authority of Prague 4. "We disagree with the ruling, but we will respect it," said the spokeswoman for the magistrate Terezie Krásenská to HN.
The company ECM has been in bankruptcy since July. Creditors have submitted claims totaling a nominal amount of 9.5 billion crowns against ECM. For the first half of this year, ECM has reported a loss of 2.6 million euros, or approximately 64 million crowns.