In the Czech Republic, there are over 11,000 brownfields covering an area of more than 38,000 hectares

Prague - Currently, there are over 11,000 brownfields in the Czech Republic, meaning unused areas. The largest share belongs to former industrial sites. Their area exceeds 38,000 hectares, which is roughly three times more than the size of Plzeň. This is based on estimates by the agency Czech Invest in collaboration with the project Czechia in Data.

According to the project, brownfields create opportunities for investors to initiate new activities on one hand, but on the other hand, they often represent an ecological burden, the removal of which requires significant investment. In Prague, some of the largest brownfields include Bubny-Zátory or the freight stations in Žižkov and Smíchov. In Brno, the site of the former Zbrojovka can be an example.

Almost half of all brownfields in the Czech Republic consist of former industrial properties, according to Czech Invest. They are followed by areas previously used for agriculture or civic amenities. The least represented in the database are properties originally serving tourism, raw material extraction, or transportation.

"One interesting fact can be mentioned in connection with Prague. It is estimated that the area of so-called development and transformation sites and brownfields in our capital would be sufficient for the construction of apartments, civic amenities, and necessary infrastructure for at least one hundred thousand residents," stated Michal Melč, an expert in the real estate department at the consulting company Deloitte. According to some developers, this number is even significantly higher.

According to a survey by CEEC Research and KPMG CR among 40 domestic developers, construction on brownfields increases project costs by an average of 17 percent. The biggest disadvantages, according to them, include ecological burdens, greater distance from highways, and frequent locations within built-up areas of towns.