Ostrava has signed a contract with the contractor for the new concert hall

Ostrava - The City of Ostrava has signed a contract with the contractor for the reconstruction of the City Cultural House of Ostrava and the extension of the concert hall. The builders will begin excavating the construction pit in the coming days. This was stated to reporters today by the Deputy Mayor for Investments Břetislav Riger (Ostravak).

The city selected the contractor at the end of February. The contract was won by a consortium of companies IMOS Brno and IPS Třinec, which offered a price of approximately 2.8 billion crowns. "The deadline for submitting objections has already passed, and no one utilized this deadline. This means we saved some time," said Riger.

He added that excavation of the construction pit could start in the coming days. Before selecting the contractor, the city had paused this part of the preparatory phase of the construction, which repeatedly earned criticism from some opposition councilors. However, the city's leadership defended its decision by stating that if the selection process had been complicated, the pit could remain for a long time, posing a risk of flooding.

"The construction pit should be completed, according to expectations, by the end of October. We would then smoothly transition to the next phase of construction. Even after the pit is excavated, the work will primarily be underground at first, so the construction will start to be visible around the middle of next year," said Riger.

The construction of the concert hall, designed by American architect Steven Holl, is among the most controversial projects in the city. Some councilors have previously criticized its financial demands and the financial burden associated with it for the city. The entire project, including equipment and technology, could cost around 4.1 billion crowns. The city still expects to complete the construction in 2027.

Ostrava presented the design of the concert hall in July 2019 when it announced the results of the largest architectural competition in the modern history of the city. The authors of the winning proposal are Steven Holl Architects from New York and Architecture Acts from Prague. The American magazine Architizer ranked the project among the ten most anticipated buildings in the world in 2021. The new complex will serve as a musical, cultural, production, and educational space and will also be the headquarters of the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava.

The concert hall will have 1,300 seats. The project also includes a theater hall with a capacity of 490 seats, a chamber multifunctional hall with 515 seats, a lecture multifunctional hall with 120 seats, and an educational center with 200 seats. The complex will also feature a recording studio, restaurant, café, and other spaces. The city has attempted to build a new hall six times in the past, first in the 1860s, and most recently in 1969.