Brownfields in UK and Czech Republic An Engineer’s Experience Presentation for COBRAMAN Training Programme 5 th Training, 21 st – 22 nd September 2010 Dr. Martin Duris

Introduction  PBA – Engineering Consultancy  500 staff in total  400 staff in UK, 100 overseas  Prague Office since 1999  Brownfields Regeneration and Land Development are the main business areas  HQ located in Reading, former industrial centre in SE England

Reading  History – industrial city: brewing, biscuits (Huntley and Palmers), bulbs, bricks  Dull, undesirable place to live in or visit

Reading  Regeneration over the past 20 years has changed Reading out of recognition  Production changed to high tech IT companies (Microsoft, Oracle) with offices in the centre, leading to pedestrianisation  Huntley & Palmers demolished, just one building left

Reading  City centre regeneration included construction of a major shopping centre – The Oracle

Reading  New business was also attracted with extensive regeneration of edge of town sites: - Thames Valley Park, former coal- fired power station -Green Park, former landfill & other low grade land -Madejski Stadium, former landfill, now home to a Premierships team

Reading

 Reading is now one of the top SE destinations for retail (The Oracle Centre)  The Reading area is one of the best performing regions in the country  It has become a desirable destination

Prague & Czech Republic  Has not benefitted from the post-WWII growth as UK  Many old factories, dilapidated industrial estates  Poor maintenance, poor quality of construction, heavy pollution  Sometimes arrogant decision-making by the ruling party left big scars  Proper regeneration activities started only 10 to 15 years ago  Issues identical to UK, but delayed, some issues more prominent, lack of public funds

Prague  Zizkov Cargo Station redevelopment  Former cargo station, full of old tracks, buildings and contamination  Massive size – 55 ha  Two private developers – Discovery and Sekyra Group  Discovery – northern part, 30 ha, 1 st phase 6 ha  Future uses – residential, office, retail (300m x 120m), hotel  Project value CZK 6 billion

Zizkov Cargo Station

Prague  Laser Centre Dolni Brezany  ELI – Extreme Light Infrastructure (laser)  Former wood processing plant  Site 8 ha, buildings 35,000 m2  EU-funded, supported by Ministry of Education & Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences  Four buildings: laser hall, labs, offices, lecture halls, library, gallery  Project value CZK 1 billion

ELI Laser Centre

Engineer’s role  Developments can be Engineer - led  Green Park – PBA were approached by the landowner 25 years ago for advice on how to develop the land  Opportunities identified, PBA approached Prudential as a potential investor  Green Park has become one of Pru’s flagship projects  Same story with Thames Valley Park  PBA still look to introduce potential investors to land that needs another use (quarries, landfill sites, etc)

Brownfield vs. Greenfield  Often high clean-up costs, public funding often necessary (gas works, heavy metal manufacturing particularly onerous)  Service diversions and tight access frequent issues  Advantages in town centre – connectivity to public transport and well served by the utilities  Greater attention now given to retain & restore industrial buildings – more sustainable, retains character of the site  Greater emphasis placed on retaining or establishing communities through mixed use developments, even business parks  Some recent redevelopments were too sweeping, removed character & critically damaged or destroyed communities

Image & Wealth  Regeneration stimulates growth, but:  Needs to be supported by local availability of skills  Businesses need to be willing to relocate and/or expand (attractive image)  New communities must be created  Mix of old character and new imaginative landscaping  Public money needed for clean-up

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