CZECH BUSINESS weekly 36/2006 - Intelligent housing

Engineering and development company Starcon is to unveil its first “intelligent housing” project at the end of October, managing director Dušan Přikryl said. “I don’t think you can find an apartment in Prague that has so many devices integrated into one home,” he said of the easyHome project. The package of installations, equipment and apartment decorations — offered to developers and investors in residential development — is an absolute innovation for the local market, according to Přikryl. The easyHome package includes, for example, sound systems and audiovisual equipment; central controls for illumination and electrical installations; electronic burglar and fire alarm systems; and a central air-conditioning system. The apartments cost on average 20 percent more than a “normal” apartment.

The first model of an “intelligent” apartment is being built in Viniční Rezidence Salabka, located near the Troja chateau and the Prague Zoo in Prague 7. Purchased by Starcon to implement its easyHome concept, the three-room, 110 square meter apartment is part of a larger 10-apartment villa. The model apartment will be open for selected clients for about six months, before being put on sale. According to Přikryl, the apartment is likely to cost Kč 12 million (€ 425, 560). Starcon has teamed up on the project with suppliers including electronics firm Siemens, sanitary equipment maker Geberit, Deltalight and audiovisual company Bang & Olufsen.

Investors are already expressing interest in the concept, Přikryl said. Starcon is in talks with an unnamed foreign investor interested in implementing the easyHome concept in Prague next year, he added. The investor is working on the development of 20 to 30 apartments in the luxury segment.

Established in 2004, Starcon has worked toward bringing novelties in the industrial, commercial and residential real estate sectors in the country. The company’s first large project was the construction of a new manufacturing site in the Czech Republic for the Danish company Fibertex. It was also the first test of Starcon’s flexible development method of constructing industrial complexes, which boasts faster construction, an individual approach to investors, and a better price.

By: Martina Marečková