The construction of the Brno ČT studio for 299 million CZK will start on November 20

Brno - The long-delayed construction of the new headquarters for the Brno studio of Czech Television (ČT) will begin on November 20, its spokesperson Hana Orošová announced today. After completion in a year and a half, employees will move from the current premises in the Typos Palace in downtown Brno to the site of the former Zetor in Líšeň. The television will pay the contractors 299 million crowns.
    Czech Television has been considering the new studio for several years. The Typos Palace was originally an apartment building, and the television has been continuously renovating and adapting it since 1961, which was never fully achievable. The new studio will be built according to the needs of the television, housing around 250 employees that the Brno studio had at the end of last year. A complex of studios and other facilities for program production and broadcasting will be created in Líšeň.
    The decision to build was made even before the current general director Petr Dvořák took office; the project was tendered in 2008. It was completed three years ago, at which time the television obtained a building permit. However, at the beginning of 2013, the original project was revised and scaled down. The construction of the studio's attached workshop was postponed. For the time being, the current Židenice studio, as well as warehouses and other facilities in this area, will be utilized. As a result, the original budget was reduced from 660 million to 340 million. The competition also managed to reduce costs by an additional 41 million.
    "It was also investigated whether it would be possible to reconstruct the Typos, but it would be more expensive than building anew, and we would have to operate somewhere else for two years," noted former director of the Brno studio Karel Burian. The new Brno director Jan Souček will be present at the start of the construction.
    Once the current studio is definitively decommissioned, ČT will offer it for sale.