Brownfields Invest Czech
The first annual Brownfields Invest Czech 2006 international conference took place on November 8th and 9th in the compelling environment of the former sewage-treatment plant in Prague-Bubenec. The conference was organised by the Investment and Business Development Agency CzechInvest in cooperation with the British Embassy in Prague, UK Trade & Investment government agency, the Association for Foreign Investment AFI, Earth Tech CZ s.r.o., and in media partnership with Economia a.s.
A total of 175 participants took part in the conference, 92 of whom were from the private sector (representatives of consulting, development, finance and architectural firms, other specialists from the area of brownfield regeneration and private owners of brownfield sites). 64 participants were representatives of public institutions, which very often are the owners of neglected brownfield sites, and representatives of regions and other state organisations. An additional 19 specialists from Great Britain, most of whom actively participated in the conference's panel discussions and workshops, were also in attendance.
The conference was dedicated to issues associated with obsolete and disused sites, and their renewed utilisation following implementation of the revitalisation process. An interactive approach to handling these issues was guaranteed by inviting to the conference specialists in all of the relevant fields concerning the revitalisation of brownfields. Thus the programme for the entire first day was conceived as a discussion between the panellists in which the audience participated through their responses and questions. Thanks to this discussion, possible recommendations for formulating the National Brownfield Regeneration Strategy were outlined.
On the second day of the conference, panellists in workshops focused on specific projects and the solution of problems associated with regeneration of the sites involved. An interesting site was chosen for each workshop and documentation about the sites was posted on the internet roughly three weeks before the conference was convened so that the active participants in the workshops, as well as other interested parties, could familiarise themselves with the sites and prepare proposals for dealing with them or present methodologies for handling the specific problems related to the given type of brownfield. Throughout the conference, investment opportunities in the area of brownfields were presented in the form of exhibition panels with information on individual sites, thus providing an offer for participants as well as investors and developers who expressed interest in investing in brownfields in the future.
Supporting themes of the conference consisted in the presentation of the current results of the ongoing research study of brownfield sites, the fundamental propositions establishing the National Brownfield Regeneration Strategy, and the project "Brownfields 3000 - from derelict site to attractive location". The main goal was to gain from the discussion additional ideas and suggestions for the NBFRS and to involve the broader expert public in the creation of this document. Through the publication of the current results of the study, we would like to continue this discussion with other informed specialists who can give us their input on the formulation of the National Brownfield Regeneration Strategy.
