A new, vibrant centre on the right bank of the Vltava
Land owned by the City of Prague and the Prague Public Transit Company, which is located right next to the Palmovka transport hub, represents the largest development area in the wider city centre which the city controls in property terms. PDS is preparing a completely new district with the ambition of it becoming a vibrant centre on the right bank of the Vltava. It will consist of residential and office buildings with restaurants, cafés, shops, and services. Civic amenities are also planned in the form of a primary school and a cultural centre with a library.
Great attention will be paid to high-quality public space. Palmovka is expected to have a central park with a promenade, several smaller squares and a number of courtyards, which will be pleasant places for children and adults thanks to high quality landscape architecture.

Urban planning study of Palmovka
For the key part of the Palmovka development area, the so-called ‘Pentagon’, the Prague 8 municipality initiated the creation of an urban planning study based on the agreement of all cooperating partners (Prague City Hall, the Prague 8 municipal district, the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, and PDS), which captures the consensus of these partners on the urban concept for the area and which forms the basis of the ongoing changes to the zoning plan. The urban planning study prepared by Unit architects respects the existing values of the site, incorporates residential and office buildings into it, and creates an attractive public space between them. The study is based on the principles of sustainable development and a compact city with a sufficient amount of well-designed green spaces and parks.

Palmovka spatial model
A physical model of Palmovka is also based on the aforementioned urban planning study, which illustrates the possibilities of the concept of development of the new municipal district. It emerged from collaboration between PDS and architecture students of the Czech Technical University in Prague on the urban and architectural design of Palmovka in the 2021-2022 academic year.
A total of 45 students from three studios at the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague (Kohout-Tichý, Juha-Tuček and Stempel-Beneš) created a 2 x 3 metre physical model of Palmovka in one semester which contains 60 various buildings in 12 blocks. Upon completion, the model was successfully presented at the prestigious MIPIM 2022 real estate trade show in Cannes, France, where it was positively received. It was then brought to the PDS headquarters in the Radniční domy building in the centre of Prague, and can be visited by appointment.

First projects at Palmovka
On 8 hectares of municipal land, 2,200 municipal flats and around 40,000-50,000 m² of space are being prepared which can be used for offices, retail (restaurants, cafés, small shops and services) and other noncommercial purposes (especially a primary school, cultural or community centres, library, and children’s leisure activities). Implementation will take place in stages over a period of 5-15 years (until 2035). PDS is gradually publishing individual sub-projects. These include, for example, the Palmovka – Zenklova residential building, for which PDS has selected the MS Architects studio as designer. Additional sub-projects will be announced in 2024, and tenders will be announced for their designers.

Palmovka – Zenklova
On City of Prague land in a clearing near the intersection of Zenklova street and the Libeň bridge, PDS is preparing the construction of two multi-functional buildings intended for municipal rental housing with 21 residential units. Non-residential spaces suitable for retail and administrative use are planned on the ground floor and first two floors. One of the buildings will also include an entrance to the new metro station.
In January 2022, PDS announced a tender for the architectural designer for the entire site and project documentation for the first of the buildings. Based on the result of the tender, PDS started cooperation with MS Architects, with whom a contract was signed for design work; project preparation is underway. Intensive project preparation was underway in 2023, and the permitting process will commence in 2024 if optimal progress is made, with the necessary permits expected to be obtained during 2025.

Headquarters of EUSPA – the European Union Agency for the Space Programme
A key shift for the location is the revitalisation of the never-completed Centrum Nová Palmovka building, which the City of Prague, the Czech Finance Ministry and Ministry of Transport have agreed is a suitable building to house the new headquarters of the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), and in August 2022 a future lease agreement was signed between the City of Prague and the Finance Ministry in relation to the building. In the second half of 2022, PDS, on the authority of the Prague City Council and in cooperation with both ministries and EUSPA, started to prepare a project for the transformation of this building for its new purpose. In 2023, PDS prepared transformation documentation by defining a detailed assignment for next steps and implementation of the transformation of the Centrum Nová Palmovka building into the EUSPA headquarters. These documents served as a key input into the tender documentation, on the basis of which the City of Prague will select a Design & Build contractor.