Lesy ČR commissioned an update of the project for the construction of a new wooden headquarters

Hradec Králové - The state-owned enterprise Lesy České republiky (LČR) has commissioned work on the revision and supplementation of project documentation for the construction of its new headquarters in Hradec Králové. The planned headquarters is expected to be the largest administrative wooden structure in the Czech Republic. The company, which manages almost half of the forests in the Czech Republic, announced this today in a press release. Lesy ČR began preparing the construction as early as 2015, but halted everything three years later due to worsening management caused by the bark beetle calamity.

"We are going into this with the aim of building a passive house that will be a model administrative wooden structure, utilizing wood to the maximum in its load-bearing structure and equipment," said LČR General Director Dalibor Šafařík.

The original project, titled Forests in the Forest, was created by architects Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof based on their victory in an international architectural competition in 2016. The update of the project and related engineering networks will now be done for 54 million crowns excluding VAT by a consortium of Chybik+Krisfof, K4, and Iva Stolka.

The consortium of architects and designers will process the project documentation and ensure the necessary opinions from state administration bodies by October 2025. In the fall of 2025, the company aims to have a building permit so that it can subsequently announce a competition for a construction firm. The actual construction could begin in 2026 and last for three years. The original building permit has expired.

"Much has changed since then, including material prices and construction conditions, so it is necessary to update and supplement the project. Therefore, it is premature to state the total cost of the construction now," said Šafařík.

Seven years ago, the company estimated the construction cost at half a billion crowns excluding tax. Last year, the state forests spoke of costs at 1.5 billion crowns.

According to the original design, the layout of the building was to resemble a tree, consisting of five branches. The two-story building with 8,000 square meters of office space was originally planned to accommodate 180 to 200 officials.

The preparation of the new headquarters was initiated under the leadership of then-general director Daniel Szórád. The main part of the headquarters is located in a building made of panel construction from the 1970s. According to LČR, the building is statically unstable, not insulated, lacks air conditioning, and most offices do not meet standards.

The new headquarters in Hradec Králové is to be in the same location as the current headquarters, on the site of the company's warehouses. According to the original plans, the current office buildings were to be demolished after construction. Instead, builders were to create a publicly accessible forest park, and a parking lot for 200 cars was planned nearby. For the construction of the entire area, Lesy ČR had previously exchanged the necessary land with the city of Hradec Králové.

Lesy ČR has not yet published financial results for last year. For the first three quarters of last year, the company's gross profit fell by 37 percent to 4.63 billion crowns from 7.39 billion in the same period two years ago. The main reason for the decline in profit was a reduction in timber harvesting, and there was also a decrease in timber prices.