The Prague City Council has approved the intention to launch a tender for a contractor to be entrusted with the transformation of the unfinished torso of the Prague 8 City Hall building. The Nová Palmovka Centre will become the new European Space Research Centre (EUSPA). The city is preparing this project for the Ministries of Transport and Finance, with which it is cooperating intensively.
Prague has previously signed a hosting agreement with the space programme agency, under which the European Space Programme Agency (EUSPA) is now based in premises on Vltavská in Prague 7. In 2021, the Prague Development Company (PDS) was appointed to prepare the design of the new headquarters on the city's land at Palmovka in Prague 8, and in the following period, it worked on the contractual documentation for the future agreement. In 2022, a future lease agreement for the use of the Nová Palmovka Centre for EUSPA was concluded between the City of Prague and the Ministry of Finance, with the lease relationship lasting 25 years. PDS has prepared technical conditions for the tender for the public contract.
"As part of the tender, we plan to find one experienced contractor for the design and implementation part of the transformation of the Nová Palmovka Centre. This will help the coherence and efficiency of the whole process and EUSPA will be able to use the headquarters as soon as possible given the contractual obligations of the city. The construction works should start at the beginning of next year," says Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor for Territorial and Strategic Development. If approved by the City Council, the public contract will be awarded in the form of a so-called Design & Build. The transformation of the building will thus consist of three steps: the construction of the extension of the existing office building, the project preparation of the adaptation of the building to the needs of EUSPA (the so-called fit-out of the office building) and the related permits, and the subsequent construction of the fit-out. "Prague approves the intention to select a contractor who will provide all the necessary activities and construction works so that the agreement of all parties is fulfilled and EUSPA can fully develop in Prague. The cost of this European-wide significant construction will be close to CZK 2 billion (€84.154 million), but the effect on the economy of the city and the whole Czech Republic should make this investment worthwhile in a short time," says Zdeněk Kovářík, Prague City Councillor for Budget.
"Thanks to the active approach of the PDS to the entrusted municipal real estate, it can be competently estimated that in 2022 alone, the market value of the real estate on Palmovka (Nová Palmovka Centre) increased in the order of hundreds of millions of crowns. Further project preparation and the complete completion of the building for a long-term and highly creditworthy tenant will significantly increase the value of the city property," says Adam Zábranský, Councillor for Property, Legislation and Transparency. If the optimal timetables are met, EUSPA is expected to start operating at Palmovka in 2025.
