Conec develops, manufactures and markets high quality connectors, cables and housing technologies. Its connectivity solutions are used in automation, telecommunications and energy technology, mechanical engineering, agriculture, medical technology, transport and aerospace. A variety of production will take place in the new hall - from components for medical technology to agricultural machinery and equipment or photovoltaic systems to battery storage and heat pumps. The Amphenol Group is an important employer in Ostrava. Currently, 300 people work here, mostly from the Island. Thanks to the expansion of production and the development center, there will be up to 50 new jobs in the new operation, including for highly qualified specialists.
"We moved the shipping department to Ostrov in order to better meet the needs of the growing number of our customers. The island is located in the heart of Europe and in close proximity to our customers, which shortens delivery times and enables more efficient logistics," says Sven Holtgrewe, CEO of Conec. With this move, the company strengthens its position as a reliable partner for customers in the connector industry.
"I am very pleased with the completion of the first building in Panattoni Park Ostrov and its full occupancy by long-term tenants in the Karlovy Vary region. We are fulfilling our promise to bring industry and life back to long-dead brownfields and bring new jobs to the regions. We are already building a second building on the premises, which will aim for an Excellent rating in the BREEAM New Construction international ecological certification," explains Klára Sobotková, regional development director at Panattoni.
Panattoni Park Ostrov North was created by the revitalization of the area after the Škoda Ostrov plant, one of the largest brownfields in the Czech Republic. During the remediation, 12,700 tons of hazardous waste were allocated for ecological disposal according to the type of contamination. During the revitalization of the island area, Panattoni managed to sort and recycle a record 98.7% of the demolition waste, which thus did not have to be taken to the landfill. During the construction of the industrial zone, the developer reused 103,000 tons of recycled material, which replaced primary natural raw materials. This saved roughly 10,300 trucks from traveling outside the campus.
Investments in the amount of five million crowns also went to the construction of a bicycle path in the vicinity of the industrial park. The building materials used and the implementation of state-of-the-art technologies ensure that the buildings on the site aspire to one of the highest BREEAM New Construction sustainability certification awards, the Excellent level. Currently, the construction of the second hall is underway in the industrial park.
"We are happy that in the segment of industrial real estate the continuous growth of companies from the manufacturing sector continues, which we can clearly see in our portfolio this year. At the same time, we are pleased that the premises in the first building of Park Ostrov North have been filled by companies that have been among the very well-established employers in Ostrovsko for a long time. The great asset of the whole place is the excellent transport connections, especially to neighboring Germany. In addition, a brownfield project automatically benefits from the already existing infrastructure, so it is not necessary to spend funds on building a new one and thus create an additional environmental burden," states Milan Kratina, CEO of the Accolade Group.
Škoda's original island plant was built in the late 1950s, and from 1960 trolleybuses were produced here, up to 350 cars per year. After 1989, an independent Škoda Ostrov company was established there, owned by Škoda from Pilsen. However, it gradually moved the focus of production to Pilsen and closed operations in Ostrov in 2004.