The ÚOHS rejected the complaint of the Chamber of Architects regarding Karolina

Brno - The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) rejected the complaint from the Czech Chamber of Architects regarding the procedure of the Ostrava City Hall in the development competition for the construction of the Karolina area. According to the office, the chamber was not entitled to submit such a proposal, as it could not be a supplier, applicant, or interested party for the contract. This was reported today by the Aktuálně.cz portal.
    "It could not be the one that would suffer or face potential damage as a result of the alleged violation of the law," stated the vice-chair of the antimonopoly office, Jindřiška Koblihová, according to the portal's decision.
    The Chamber of Architects was particularly displeased that the Ostrava City Hall canceled the international architectural competition for the design of Karolina. In the end, it backed down from the winning proposal and announced a development competition. According to the architects, the city hall did not comply with the Public Procurement Act in this process.
    "If the office were to close our proposal in the Karolina case without sanctions, such improper practice in public procurement could become a model for other contractors," previously said the spokesperson for the chamber, Markéta Pražanová. The chamber also warned in its complaint about the potential future danger of promoting property interests at the expense of optimal urban-architectural solutions for the area.
    The development competition for the construction of the former coking plant area in Ostrava was won by the Dutch development company Multi Development. They plan to invest approximately 15 billion crowns in the project. On an area seven times larger than Prague's Wenceslas Square, they intend to build a center with shops and entertainment, office buildings, a residential building with two hundred apartments, and spaces for social and sports activities by mid-2010. Upon completion, Nová Karolina is expected to be the largest regeneration project in the inner city of the Czech Republic.
    As part of the project, the reconstruction of historical buildings, such as the headquarters and power plant, known as the double hall, is also being prepared, which will remain in their original state as cultural monuments. Inside, original spaces for concerts or sports events are anticipated, as well as smaller corners suitable for organizing exhibitions.
    Multi Development presented architectural designs for the first phase of the redevelopment project in early May. It is now awaiting the issuance of a zoning decision, and construction work is expected to begin next spring. The first phase should be completed by mid-2010, and the entire complex's construction completion is anticipated in 2016.