The Dornych project by the Crestyl Group, which will replace the old shopping centre in the vicinity of Brno’s main railway station in the coming years, received a building permit at the turn of the year. Dornych will offer a freely accessible public space flanked by several smaller buildings. The lower floors of the new buildings will be reserved for shops and services, while the upper floors will house rental housing and offices. The first large tenant announced is the EUC clinic, which will occupy one building. The new space will also have a strong emphasis on a wide range of restaurants, cafes and bars – they are expected to grow into five thousand square metres of space.
The EUC clinic will occupy the entire building adjacent to Dornych Street. In addition to surgeries and facilities, there will be two pharmacies on an area of over 6,000 square metres. “The EUC medical group has the largest network of outpatient clinics in the Czech Republic and we are pleased that it has chosen Dornych for its development in Brno,” says Lenka Preslová, Commercial Director for Commercial Real Estate at Crestyl. “We are in intensive negotiations with other large tenants for both offices and shops, and will soon announce more names. The interest from potential future tenants so far confirms to us that Dornych will be a unique project that will offer a unique combination of different types of use and breathe new life into this area in the city centre,” Preslová adds.
The hallmark of Dornych, apart from the huge public space, should be a completely unique range of restaurants, bars and cafés, which should occupy five thousand square metres of space. In addition to independent establishments, Dornych will also offer a so-called food hall – a modern “market” with restaurants, bistros and cafés. “This concept means the end of guesswork about what type of restaurant one wants to go to, because at one table everyone will find their own taste, no matter who they go out for breakfast, lunch or dinner with. At Dornych, we want to include a wide range of culinary concepts – different bistros, restaurants, bars, cafes, food trucks, classic pubs, as well as takeaway offerings. The wide selection will satisfy not only office users, but also visitors to the shops or residents of the rental property,” says Lenka Preslová.
As part of the Dornych project, the current dilapidated huge building will be replaced by a partially roofed, freely accessible public space with a total area of 25,000 m2, around which six smaller buildings will be built. They will house rental housing, offices, restaurants, shops and services – specifically 186 apartments, 26,000 sqm of office space and 27,000 sqm of retail space. The buildings will have a maximum of seven to eight floors. Parking is planned in underground garages. The entire project will of course be connected to the street network and the underpass under the station and will link the historic city centre with the planned South Quarter. The total investment in the project is over seven billion crowns.
“The building permit is a milestone for us in the preparation of the entire project. Following its acquisition, we are now in the process of tendering for a contractor. We would like to move forward significantly with all the preparations by the summer, while at the same time we do not want to close existing shops before the builders are ready to start work. The current timetable therefore envisages that the closure of the existing building and its demolition will take place in the autumn of this year. The project is expected to be completed in approximately three years from the start of demolition,” says Jaromír Krb, Crestyl’s development director.
The Dornych complex is designed to meet all the exacting requirements of the highest level of the prestigious global LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for sustainable projects. This represents a set of guidelines for the design, construction, operation and management of buildings that are environmentally friendly to the environment and their surroundings. This will include, of course, charging stations for electric cars and electric bikes, energy-efficient lighting, a bike room and changing rooms with showers in the offices, as well as full use of rainwater for irrigation of the greenery and flushing, for example. Thanks to its architectural concept and, for example, the use of ground/water heat pumps, the project manages to reduce energy consumption by up to 40% compared to similar multifunctional buildings in Crestyl’s portfolio.
Foreign and local architects are involved in the overall concept and architectural design. The main architect is the international planning and architectural studio MTDI, led by Mark Tryzybowicz, who is personally involved in the project and has years of experience in the implementation of major buildings around the world. The most recent project he is behind is Bratislava’s Eurovea mixed-use centre with offices, shops, apartments, restaurants, a park and a promenade on the Danube riverbank, which connects the river to the city centre. The Dornych project also involves an important local partner, the Brno-based Arch.Design studio. In more than twenty years of its existence, it has realised projects all over the country and collected numerous awards for architecture.
