Nový Bor, Českolipsko region are preparing the construction of a wooden building with ten flats

In Nový Bor in the Českolipsko region, preparations are underway for the construction of an apartment building with ten rental flats. It will be a wooden building, it is meant as starter flats, for the elderly or disabled, four flats will be barrier-free, said Mayor Jaromír Dvořák (Mayors for the Liberec Region) today. Construction should start next year. There are not many similar projects in the Liberec Region or in the Czech Republic yet, although in the region wooden buildings make up nearly a fifth of new construction in recent years, but they are mostly family houses.

"Other municipalities are already using wooden buildings for apartment buildings, so we want to try it," Dvořák said. The city has awarded the contract in the design & build mode. "This will save us CZK 30 million," Dvořák said. He said the contract for the project in Nemocniční Street was awarded to Prodesi, a company specialising in wooden buildings. In the Czech Republic, the legislation prevents a greater spread of wooden buildings in residential buildings, fire regulations do not allow the material to be used in buildings with more than four floors and a height of more than 12 metres.

Residential buildings using wood are being built in the Czech Republic, for example by Swedish Skanska, which is building houses with almost 80 flats in Prague's Radlice district. Last year, the Austrian company UBM Development launched the Timber Prague project with 62 new residential units. Work on two wooden buildings with 34 rental flats started in February in Žďár nad Sázavou. The project was prepared by Affordable Housing of Česká spořitelna in cooperation with the town hall and Nema.

The town house will not be the only project in Nový Bor. "Two five-storey apartment buildings are to be built in the Rumburských hrdinů housing estate, and they will be built by the Stavební bytové družstvo Liberec (SBD), with the proviso that we would sell them the land and at the same time we have agreed that several apartments would belong to the town," said Dvořák. While the flats in Nemocniční Street will be more social, the flats in the housing estate will be larger. We are interested in larger apartments for doctors, teachers and the like," the mayor said. However, he said the construction will be preceded by a survey to see if there will be demand for such flats. In this case, however, they will not be wooden buildings.

Interest in wooden buildings in the Liberec Region has been growing in recent years. According to data from the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ), until 2017, builders completed up to a hundred houses with wooden structures each year, while since 2018, on average, around 150 houses are completed each year, mostly family houses. Brick and block houses still dominate new construction, accounting for almost 80 percent of new completions the year before last, but last year's figures are not yet available.

Source: CTK
Photo: UBM Development - Timber Prague