April the 23rd, 2021 - The Zagreb Gredelj zone has been needing life to be breathed back into it for some time now, and the earthquake of March 2020 presented an opportunity amid the chaos to get the wheels moving on precisely that.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, since yesterday, the City of Zagreb has been hosting a large European conference to make up for the event missed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. It regards a two-day European conference dedicated to the Architectural Policies of RE-USE ARCHITECTURE, in which the Zagreb Gredelj zone revitalisation plans are being revealed.

It was supposed to be held here in the Croatian capital in June last year, during Croatia's presidency of the European Union, but due to the epidemiological situation it was moved to April the 22nd and 23rd this year. It is otherwise held twice a year, as part of each EU member state's presidency, and it is even more interesting that the premiere presentation of the project of unique development potential for Zagreb, a new city within the city, through the revitalisation of the huge space of the former Railway Wagon Factory, the so-called area of Gredelj.

According to the announcements regarding the presentation of the Zagreb Gredelj project, which will bring a new modern urban block to the City of Zagreb, modelled on Western European capitals, a video presentation of the urban revitalisation of the former Gredelj factory, an area between Zagreb's main railway and bus station, along Branimirova street, is expected.

The film is based on studies and public presentations that many experts from various fields have worked on since back in 1995: Zagreb's Studio 3LHD, the Dutch-Croatian studio De Architekten Cie., PwC Advisory, Colliers International, HDC, Institut IGH and MS Partners.

At the initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the developed solution includes the new construction and revitalisation of industrial heritage covering as much as 420,000 m2. The Zagreb-Gredelj zone study was conceived as a link to the reconstruction of the city centre after March 2020's earthquake, which will finally connect the north and south of Zagreb.

It is set to be presented to the public by architect Marko Dabrovic, one of the members and procurator of 3LHD, who after last year's earthquake presented the Zagreb Gredelj zone in media appearances, adding that it was an opportunity to solve one of the biggest urban connection problems in Zagreb.

"Zagreb deserves a large, international urban tender for the Gredelj zone in order to expand the debate and look into it all as much as is possible, and ultimately choose the solution that is of the highest quality and optimal," Rajka Bunjevac said, adding that major natural disasters hit Croatia last year (the earthquake of March 2020 in Zagreb and its surroundings and the earthquakes on December the 28th and 29th, 2020, with an epicentre about 60 kilometre south of Zagreb) showed all the maladaptation of our urban structures to natural disasters and the vulnerability of our architectural heritage.

They show, she added, the uneven level of development of parts of the country, decades of lack of systematic access to the urban renewal of cities, the consequences of emigration from rural parts of the country and the quality of construction which is unacceptable for the 21st century.

Sustainable urban development and urban renewal focused on various aspects of use, ie the reuse of urban ''tissue'', are the open topics of the conference, which is expected to discuss issues of reconstruction and revitalisation, the activation of abandoned areas, the breathing of life back into neglected zones or individual buildings and their circular management.

The European Conference on Architectural Policies is otherwise important in the context of guidelines for improving the quality of an area, and following these findings, Croatia adopted its national architectural policies for the period from 2013 to 2020.

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To briefly recall, Gredelj's bankruptcy began back on October the 1st, 2012, and an encouraging letter of intent from an Austrian railway company is a possible path to its end. Could an Austrian acquisition be the end of Gredelj's long list of problems?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes on the 23rd of January, 2019, the Austrian company OBB-Technische Services GmbH operating in the Austrian Federal Railways has provided a letter of intent on expressing an interest in the possible purchase of Croatia's TŽV Gredelj d.o.o., which is in bankruptcy.

This information has now been officially confirmed, as have the decisions made by Gredelj following it, the company promptly authorised bankruptcy trustee Tomislav Đurić to initiate some preliminary talks. As the Austrians are, at least formally, the only interested party, perhaps this is the way for Gredelj to finally claw its way out of the dark tunnel of bankruptcy. Despite its issues, it wouldn't be right to exclude its importance, or that other interested investors, including those which are already familiar with the situation won't pop up at the last minute, the same can be said for the potential of Russian capital suddenly knocking at the door.

The first meeting between the aforementioned Austrian railway company and Gredelj's bankruptcy trustee should be held this month, but the final position on this possibility, which has suddenly been opened up as a possible solution to Gredelj's acquisition, will still have to be waited on for a certain period. This delay is key to assessing the viability of investing in TŽV Gredelj, but is also the determining factor on how to complete the bankruptcy proceedings which commenced back on the 1st of October 2012, Most importantly, this order of things needs to take place because of which the process which is being conducted - the plan to settle the company's bankruptcy and provide a final resolution to its creditors.

This manufacturing company and ex-component of Croatian Railways will not be sold below the asking price, but will also not be liquidated through the sale of large tangible assets. "TŽV Gredelj, with its 410 employees, is the only company in the region that can carry out all [types of] repairs on locomotives and wagons, both those that are simpler and those which are more complex," stated Đurić, dismissing the worrying Gredelj liquidation scenario.

Several meetings with representatives of the Austrian railway company are expected to be organised. Other important aspects, such as all the data on Gredelj's technological and production capabilities, first became known to the Austrians on the basis of their recent collaboration with LocoTech.

Just how things will proceed between the currently interested Austrian railway company and Gredelj is yet to be seen and the enfeebled Croatian company is far from out of the woods it entered back in 2012 yet. However, a concrete expression of interest from the Austrians, who are typically very serious in such matters, is a step in the right direction.

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Click here for the original article by Suzana Varosanec on Poslovni Dnevnik

Railcar Factory Gredelj and Rail Transport of Montenegro have brokered a deal on the renovation of six passenger railcars, as a result of an international public tender