Trolleybuses for the entire Eastern bloc have been manufactured here for several decades. Then the area became one of the largest brownfields in the Czech Republic for a long time. And just today, the construction of the first hall of the modern Panattoni Park North Island was inaugurated here. The circle has closed, the new industry continues a rich tradition and brings what the region with the highest unemployment and the lowest average gross wage in the Czech Republic desires the most: skilled jobs and work with high added value. The builder Panattoni is building the first hall with an area of 20,000 sqm and its part will be immediately occupied by the world’s leading manufacturer of electrical connectors, chip card readers and cable harnesses Amphenol Tuchel Industrial.
The fact that the first tenant of the new park will be Amphenol has several advantages for the Islanders. The company is moving to the new location from the center of Ostrov, which will allow freight to be brought to the outskirts of the city. Because 70% of the workforce is made up of people from Ostrov, relocation will not increase their commuting distances. And with the planned expansion of production, the number of employees will also increase from the existing 300 to 350. The new hall will produce a very wide range of products – components for medical technology, agricultural and construction machinery, photovoltaic systems, battery storage and heat pumps. The fact is that the connectors produced by Amphenol Industrial are part of the lighting of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Amphenol Tuchel Industrial operates in the segments of industry, automation, railways, medical technology, electromobility and mobile communications. It is one of the most stable employers in the Karlovy Vary region for a long time, and part of its philosophy is to support the professional growth of its own employees. “Revenues increased in double digits during the period and we now expect to continue to grow at twice the market average. Next year, for the first time in the company’s history, we will achieve sales of 100 million euros. We are well on our way to becoming a leader in the production of charging connectors for electric vehicles,” said Joachim Schmidt, CEO of Amphenol Tuchel Industrial GmbH.
“The industrial zone does not refer to the former Škoda Ostrov only by memory, but it is literally physically connected with it. In the initial phase, we managed to recycle the vast majority of demolition waste, which instead of being taken to a landfill found use directly on the site as a substitute for natural resources. Panattoni Park North Island is therefore a completely unique project of circular economy, which meets the requirements of the time in connection with the Green Agreement and decarbonization. I am convinced that a pioneering investment will pave the way for building industrial infrastructure in new low-emission conditions. Both planned buildings will aspire to an exceptionally high rating in the BREEAM environmental certification according to the latest standards,” says Pavel Sovička, Panattoni’s General Manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
“For me, Panattoni will always be a company that has relieved us of a huge and long-unresolved burden in the form of the dilapidated Škoda Ostrov complex. I respect her as a company that was willing to invest huge sums in complete revitalization. And what else but modern industry could there be? I am convinced that together we are writing a new chapter in island industry, and I hope that this will be a very successful chapter. I wish Panattoni and the Island that prestigious investors would find their way to us. I believe that our doors will always be wide open,” says the mayor of Ostrov, Jan Bureš.
