The shopping centre on Dornych, currently housing the Tesco department store, is scheduled for demolition in late November 2024. The Brutalist structure adjacent to Brno’s train station, formerly known as OD Prior, will be replaced by a new mixed development of six buildings, built by the Crestyl development company.
Preparations for the demolition are beginning this week. Pedestrian restrictions will apply from tomorrow, Thursday 15 August.
In the first stage, work will take place on utility networks, both in the parking lot in front of the shopping centre and on the adjacent sidewalk. As a result, the sidewalks and all four pedestrian crossings at the intersection of Úzká and Uhelná will be closed. The alternative route for pedestrians leads through the parking lot behind the OC Dornych building, which will still be open to cars.
Traffic on Úzká will be reduced to the 1+1 mode.
In the second stage, starting on 21 August and lasting until 20 September, in addition to the measures mentioned above, the sidewalk on Dornych will also be closed, from the pedestrian crossing at the viaduct next to the underpass, to the intersection with Úzká. Pedestrians should use the other side of Dornych. The crossing near the intersection with Úzka will remain in operation.
Several shops are still open in the complex. Although the outdoor part of the complex next to Dornych will be closed, access to OC Vaňkovka will be possible at all times, both on the ground floor and via the first-floor footbridge, which is used by around 75,000 people every day.
“The tenants of the shops in the existing department store have already received notices, the building should be vacated by the end of October,” said Jaromír Krb, director of Crestyl. “As for the closures and restrictions, they will be continuously adjusted as the preparatory work related to the relocation of engineering networks progresses. In the second half of November, the actual demolition will begin, which will last approximately four months. The construction of the new project will smoothly follow on from it.”
Six buildings, the tallest of which will have eight floors, will be constructed on the site, together with a partially covered public space. The underpass connection to the main station and the footbridge over Úzka will remain. The development will contain 186 rental apartments, 26,000 square metres of office space, and 27,000 square metres of retail space.
The development will have inbuilt environmentally friendly features, including the use of rainwater for flushing and irrigation, energy-saving lighting systems, and stations for recharging electric cars and bicycles in the garages and bike sheds. The total investment will exceed CZK 7 billion, and is scheduled for completion in 2027.
The shopping centre is one of the last major Brutalist structures remaining in the centre of Brno. It was completed in 1984, as part of the original, much larger project, which covered a large area south of the central bus station and included the relocation of Brno’s main train station and a 22-floor office tower. The project was postponed after the arrival of Soviet troops in 1968, and the shopping centre was eventually the only part that was completed.
