In panel houses in the Czech Republic, three million people currently live

Prague - From the 1950s until 1995, approximately 80,000 panel houses with 1.2 million apartments were built in the Czech Republic, housing about three million residents. They were built as part of centrally managed housing development, largely provided by housing cooperatives. In an interview with ČTK, Martin Hanák, director of the methodological department of the Union of Czech and Moravian Housing Cooperatives (SČMBD), stated this. Opinions on panel houses vary, but according to him, it is hard to imagine satisfying the demand for housing without panel housing estates.

A panel house is constructed from prefabricated parts, panels. According to Hanák, they were built according to standardized projects. "In our territory, we can find panel houses in 16 basic structural systems, which can be divided into many regional and material variants. The demand for mass production of panel houses has stamped the face of most Czech cities in the form of panel housing estates," Hanák further stated.

According to current statistics, there are 4.37 million apartments in the Czech Republic, of which 3.83 million are permanently inhabited. Of these occupied apartments, 2.16 million are in apartment buildings. More than half of them are in panel houses. According to Hanák, the last panel houses in the Czech Republic were completed in the Prague housing estates of Černý Most and Stodůlky in 1995. The decision to build them was made before 1990.

According to Hanák, a crucial moment for the construction of panel houses was the decision of the communist government in 1959 to establish a new type of cooperative - a building housing cooperative. "To support residents' interest in this construction, generous grant conditions were set, including a non-repayable state subsidy and a long-term loan enabling the financing of construction. The construction of panel houses reached its peak support and thus expansion during the period from 1969 to 1989," Hanák added.

Unfortunately, he states, the requirement for quantity of construction preceded quality in the interests of central planners at that time. As he further stated, in 1990, the share of panel houses in the total completed construction of apartment buildings was 98 percent. In 1980, it was 89 percent. In the 1990s, it began to decline sharply. In 1994, it was still 76 percent, but by the following year, it was only one-fifth.

"Opinions on living in panel housing estates vary. From the memorable assessment of President Václav Havel, who called them rabbit hutches, to evaluations stemming from sociological surveys among residents of panel housing estates. They expressed a relatively high level of satisfaction with their housing," said Hanák.

Regarding new development projects, the most luxurious ones can dazzle with their solutions, but apartments in more affordable projects exceed those in panel houses in very few aspects. "The developers' understandable desire to maximize profit leads to such apartment layouts, which I am not convinced are better than the original ones. Similarly, the quality of the work performed and materials used is compromised by the effort to maximize profit," Hanák further indicated.

The first panel house in the Czech Republic is considered to be the building in Prague's Ďáblice on U Prefy street. This Wednesday marks 65 years since the first residents moved in. It contains 12 residential units of 3+1, nearly 100 square meters in size. "It should be noted that it was not a typical panel building, as it was not built in any of the standardized structural systems. Unlike its successors, it differed not only by the above-standard size of the apartments but also because it has a slightly sloping gable roof with decorative cornices instead of a flat roof, and the outer panels were plastered for exterior effect," Hanák informed.

According to him, the first truly standardized project was built in 1954 in Zlín. The G-40 panel method was used (G stands for the then Gottwaldov and 40 represents the number of apartments in each house) and became the first standardized structural system. "For this reason, most experts perceive this building as the first panel house in Czechoslovakia," Hanák added.

The number of completed apartments in the Czech Republic since 1971:

Year	Number
1971	70,226
1972	75,414
1973	77,695
1974	85,616
1975	97,104
1976	86,350
1977	87,872
1978	83,273
1979	77,094
1980	80,661
1981	63,084
1982	61,400
1983	57,078
1984	57,298
1985	66,678
1986	47,080
1987	49,000
1988	50,700
1989	55,073
1990	44,594
1991	41,719
1992	36,397
1993	31,509
1994	18,162

Source: ČSÚ

Note: According to SČMBD, the proportion of apartments in panel houses was approximately 90 percent of the total number in the 1970s and 1980s. Even in 1994, it accounted for about three-quarters, but a year later it was only one-fifth.