Information on the project
The Investment and Business Development Agency CzechInvest has long been involved with the issue of brownfields. In cooperation with individual regions, the agency conducted the first Research Study for the Location of Brownfields , which is related to the National Brownfield Regeneration Strategy. The publicly accessible National Database of Brownfields is one of the instruments for fulfilling the goals of the Strategy.
In addition to providing comprehensive information on individual sites, the aim of this portal is also to provide information on possibilities of financing the regeneration of brownfields. This primarily concerns the maximum utilisation of available financing from European Union structural funds by 2013.
Analysis of EU Operational Programmes identifies activities which can be supported from European Union resources in connection with the revitalisation of brownfields. The portal will continually provide information on how much money is available from European and national resources for the support of brownfield regeneration and under what conditions it is possible to obtain grants.
Thanks to the database, it is possible to make detailed comparisons of all information on plans of support with individual sites and to choose which projects are most suitable for a given location. Documents and information on the issue of brownfields comprise an important part of the portal.
The aim of regeneration is to increase the attractiveness and value of a given site to the level where it is able to directly compete with construction on a greenfield. A sufficient offer of revitalised sites and assurance of cost-gap financing from the public sector will help to reduce the unnecessary appropriation of land for investments on greenfields, which are contrary to the principles of sustainable development.
These principles are laid out in the Declaration of Understanding of 3 November 2006 concluded between Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech s.r.o., the Moravia-Silesia region, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Investment and Business Development Agency CzechInvest and civic associations, in which CzechInvest undertakes, among other things, to set up a public national database of brownfields.
A brownfield is defined as a property – land, structure, complex – which is not sufficiently utilised, is neglected and possibly contaminated, cannot be effectively utilised without undergoing regeneration, and arose as the result of industrial, agricultural, residential, military or other activities.
Research Study for the Location of Brownfields
According to the 2007 Research Study for the Location of Brownfields, there are currently 2,355 brownfields covering roughly 11,000 hectares in the Czech Republic. The above-mentioned number of brownfields is not final, of course. The study analysed data from all regions with the exception of Prague, took into account brownfields from a certain minimum size and did not include brownfields that resulted from mining activities.
National Brownfield Regeneration Strategy
The regeneration of brownfields has hitherto been conducted unsystematically in the Czech Republic. Primarily an individual approach at the municipal level has been applied. The National Brownfield Regeneration Strategy represents a significant step toward centralisation of handling the issue of brownfields.
This strategic document is currently undergoing an approval process.
National Database of Brownfields
The database serves:
- for the registration of brownfields throughout the entire Czech Republic.
- for the selection of sites for their future utilisation and acceleration of their regeneration.
- as a basis for setting regeneration priorities and formulation of regeneration programmes and plans.
- for selection of sites for projects with state aid.
- for statistical purposes.