Prague will announce a competition for the Florenc bus station and its surroundings

Prague – The capital city will announce an urban planning competition for the future form of the bus station in Florenc and the adjacent area towards Masaryk Station. Today, the councilors made the decision. The station is owned by the ČSAD Prague company, which plans to build there. On the neighboring plots to the west, Penta Real Estate also plans to build as part of its Masaryčka project.

The study will primarily address the current bus station, the neighboring area of former warehouses, and the freight section of Masaryk Station north of the tracks and east of the main road. Urban planning teams should also consider the broader surroundings of the station. "The area will require, above all, solutions for the basic structure and volumes of construction, coordination of all modes of transport, and the creation of a basic framework for public spaces," states the approved document.

The international competition will take the form of a so-called competition workshop, during which the competing teams communicate with the jury, the city hall, investors, municipal districts, and other concerned parties during the development of their proposals. According to the approved document, five teams are preliminarily expected to participate in the competition, which the jury will select based on their portfolios. Three workshops will take place – in the first, the teams will create a concept, which they will then develop into a proposal in the second round, and after the third meeting, the results will be announced. The first workshop is scheduled for May next year, the second for July, and the competition results are to be announced according to the schedule in October.

Representatives of the city hall's leadership, the councils of Prague 1, Prague 2, Prague 3, Prague 7, and Prague 8, the city Institute of Planning and Development (IPR), landowners of the addressed plots, and the company ONplan, which will organize the competition, will be involved in the competition's management. In addition, a broader working group will be established, including other stakeholders. The jury will consist of five experts and one representative each from the capital city, IPR, Penta, and ČSAD Prague.

Recently, disputes have arisen regarding Penta's construction around Masaryk Station. It has been criticized by the opposition in Prague 1, the Czech National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the National Heritage Institute, and the Club for Old Prague.

The opposition in Prague 1 demanded that the city hall appeal against the zoning decision for the construction, which did not happen. The first two blocks of buildings directly at Masaryk Station now have valid zoning decisions, and according to Penta's earlier statements, construction is set to begin at the beginning of next year.

According to statements from city leadership, the city hall has agreed with Penta that in the second part of the project, which is planned towards Florenc, at least 40 percent of the apartments will be for housing.