The City of Prague is planning to promote the construction of new, affordable flats on land it owns by allowing people to build on it themselves under the German model of ‘baugruppe’. Put simply, groups of people agree on the parameters of a project and assign a project manager to oversee and guide the work. The idea is that the final price for a flat built in this way should be cheaper than the standard price for new ones, because the developer’s margin isn’t included. Prague’s Institute for Planning and Development is promoting the concept with the support of deputy mayor Petr Hlaváček. At the moment, eight locations Prague controls are being considered: Ohradní, Bulovka, U Plynárny, Lipence, Závist, Zlíchov, Vysočanská and Perucká. What’s in it for Prague? “The city would get some of the flats for its own use that it would either rent to people carrying out essential professions for the running of the city like health workers, teachers and firemen,” said the city councilor for residential issue Adam Zábranský.
