News Article Panattoni builds brownfield project near Karlovy Vary
by Property Forum | Industrial

Amphenol, a major producer of electronic and fibre optic connectors, cable and interconnect systems, is relocating its production plant within Ostrov in the Karlovy Vary Region. Panattoni Park Ostrov North was created by revitalizing the devastated site after the Škoda Pilsen trolleybus production plant, one of the largest brownfields in the Czech Republic.


“I am pleased that the first tenant of our industrial park in Ostrov is a manufacturing company that employs almost exclusively local citizens. The Panattoni Park Ostrov North project thus continues the production tradition of the site, which served for the production of trolleybuses for the entire Eastern Bloc in the past. A great benefit for Ostrov will also be the transfer of related freight transport from the original location in the urban built-up area to our site with a quick connection to the Ostrov bypass,” said Pavel Sovička, Panattoni’s Managing Director for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

"We are pleased to be able to represent Amphenol in this transaction. Personally, I believe that the new premises will enable the company to produce even more efficiently and contribute to its further growth. At the same time, we are pleased that, after six years of preparatory work, thanks to us, the new Panattoni Park Ostrov North industrial zone will finally come to life,” adds Jan Hřivnacký, Head of Industrial Real Estate Leasing at CBRE.

Amphenol Tuchel Industrial focuses on industry, automation, railways, medical technology, electromobility and mobile communications. Operating in the Karlovy Vary Region for almost 20 years, it employs almost 200 assembly workers and over 100 administrative and other staff. In addition to expanding production, the company also created a competence centre for development and development projects last year. Thanks to its location in the middle of Europe, the plant can also serve as a distribution centre for the products of the entire Amphenol Industrial group.

Based on the approved zoning plan and the issued building permit, two buildings will be built on the reclaimed brownfield after Škoda Ostrov which aspire to the highest BREEAM environmental certification. In addition to the one occupied by Amphenol, the plan also includes a larger building with an area of over 100,000 sqm, which may attract one of the growing e-commerce companies. The town of Ostrov is discussing a change in the zoning plan to enable increase the height of this hall (or part of it) to 22.5 m. The need for the increase was due to the emergence of state-of-art technologies to automate the operation of distribution centres. The increase in the volume of online shopping, as well as the trend of occupying the smallest possible area of land, has given rise to technologies that can be effectively installed in buildings over 20 m high thanks to smart production and storage management.