The first of Ostrava’s planned parking garages is set to become a reality
The new parking garage at Ostrava’s City Hospital will be built by the contractor GEOSAN GROUP. Building work will begin just in a few days. The contractor was chosen by the City in a public tender. The garage will have seven levels, and it will quadruple the current parking capacity at the site, serving both hospital employees and the general public. The ground floor will contain a pharmacy, retail units and technical facilities. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2023. Alternative parking facilities will be provided during the construction work.
Deputy Mayor Zuzana Bajgarová, who is responsible for the City’s investments, gave more details: “Building the new parking garage will be a challenging process that will last for more than two years – but it is a hugely important project not only because it will provide parking for the hospital, but also because it will replace a current parking lot which will soon become the site of the planned research library known as the ‘Black Cube’. Construction work has been delayed by four months due to problems with the supply of building materials caused by the pandemic; some suppliers have been unable to meet their original commitments. We’re delighted that we’ve signed the contract with the Geosan Group, so work can now begin.”
The garage has been designed by the KANIA studio. It will have three underground and four above-ground levels. The City will pay 429.4 million CZK (including VAT) for the building work. The garage will also include 54 bicycle parking spaces, and it will feature a modern ticketing system. The ground floor will include heated and air-conditioned units for the new hospital pharmacy and other retail units, plus public toilets and technical facilities. There will be a bus stop at the side of the garage facing onto Hornopolní Street. The underground levels will be used mainly by hospital staff, the above-ground levels by the general public.
Ostrava’s Deputy Mayor Vladimír Cigánek, who is responsible for transport in the city, explained the arrangements for parking during the building work: “Parking facilities will be available at the Plato gallery throughout the construction process. Signs will be installed to guide drivers there, and there will be public transport services connecting the temporary parking lot with the hospital. We would like to ask people visiting the hospital (and other places in the area) to use public transport in preferences to travelling by car. There will still be an entrance to the hospital complex from Hornopolní Street, but it will only be open to ambulances and patients who are unable to use other forms of transport.”
To travel between the hospital and the temporary parking lot at the Plato gallery, it will be possible to use bus no. 50 (which continues along Českobratrská Street). The route of bus no. 99 will also be changed; it will run from Náměstí Republiky along Cingrova, Českobratrská, Hornopolní and Nemocniční Streets before continuing on its normal route.
The parking garage will be within easy walking distance of the city centre and the Stodolní railway station. Besides walking or using public transport, it will also be possible to make this journey using shared bikes or scooters thanks to Ostrava’s micromobility scheme. The construction of the new parking garage is the first phase in a wider-ranging project to modernize the City Hospital. The Geosan Group will launch construction in October of this year, and the company has 110 weeks to complete the project.
The first phase of construction work will involve preparatory digging to create the underground spaces. Reinforced concrete piles will then be installed as the foundations for the building. The garage is scheduled for completion by the end of 2023.