In Pilsen, the construction of a new theater for 820 million started today

Plzeň - In Plzeň, after five years of discussions, the construction of a new theater in the city center officially began today for 818 million crowns excluding VAT. It will replace the inadequate spaces of the Chamber Theater, which is in a state of emergency. The construction will last according to the project for 18 months. The city has set a condition that it must be completed by May 2014 at the latest, so there is a six-month window to make it happen, said Petr Rund (ODS), the mayor's deputy, after signing the contract with the contractor, construction company Hochtief.
     "If it starts now, there is a buffer that it could finish five to six months earlier," he added. According to him, the city will hand over the construction site to the contractor on Friday. "It went very well. The price has been significantly reduced. The estimate was 956 million crowns, but we negotiated a price of 818 million crowns," he stated. The city council had limited the price to 779 million crowns, and the amount of 818 million still had to be approved. A lower price was submitted by one participant, but they did not provide sufficient bank guarantees in case of contract non-fulfillment and ended up second. Six companies applied with offers ranging from 778 to 961 million crowns. Hochtief's offer was the best, he added.
     The theater building, which will include a restaurant, bar, bookstore, ballet school, and underground parking for 200 cars with 36 above-ground spaces, is expected by city and theater officials to be lively throughout the day. It will be created on Jízdecká Street. It will have two auditoriums with a stage in the middle, with seating for 500. Additionally, there will be a studio stage for 150 viewers for artists from the region.
     For the construction, the city will borrow half the funds from the European Investment Bank, the EU will provide a subsidy of 150 million crowns, 100 million crowns were obtained by the region from the sale of buildings of two high schools, and the rest will come from the city's budget, which has not secured state sources.
     "We will start immediately, that is, next week. Because this is such a charitable construction, which are rare today, we will deploy one of our best implementation teams. During peak times, hundreds of people will work here," said Tomáš Bílek, general director of Hochtief. According to him, the construction will be completed by April 2014, after which a three-month trial operation will begin.
     It is not a technically demanding construction. It will be a reinforced concrete skeleton combined with a wall system. However, according to Bílek, it will be challenging to integrate it with the installation of theater technologies, which account for about a quarter of the construction costs and will be the most complicated. "All subcontracting will still be subject to repeated tenders because the price is very tight, so it will be a long battle in preparation," he added.
     Plzeň is the first city in the Czech Republic since 1989 to build a completely new theater including all facilities. The reconstruction of the Chamber Theater, which was created in 1965 from a former cinema, is reportedly not cost-effective. Thanks to the new construction, a four-company theater can be maintained in Plzeň. Audiences will see and hear better, and theater practitioners promise productions with more interesting designs. Plzeň built its first municipal theater in 1832.