Bouygues Bâtiment International, a subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, has begun works to rebuild and extend the Černý Most shopping centre in Prague, Czech Republic. Worth a total of €73 million, this is the second largest project Bouygues Construction has ever carried out in the country. 

The contract was signed between VCES (the local subsidiary of Bouygues Bâtiment International) and Unibail-Rodamco. It includes refurbishing the existing mall and constructing a further 40,000 m² of space devoted to shops, restaurants, cinemas, etc. The floor area will increase by half, which will make it possible to house three times more businesses. 

The works will be carried out in a constrained environment, as the shopping mall will remain open seven days a week during the entire construction period. To avoid disturbing customers, the Bouygues
Bâtiment International teams will enforce a rigid protocol whereby the renovation of the existing buildings is carried out at night, while the construction of new zones, during the day, will meticulously follow a particular rigorous organisation. 

The project will last 18 months. Site works got under way this summer, and will be completed in the spring of 2013. More than 500 people will be working on the site in peak periods. 

Designed according to the principles of sustainable construction, the shopping centre is aiming for BREEAM^® certification^[1]. Numerous measures are being taken to support this environmental ambition, including storage and reuse of rainwater, refrigeration units with a very high energy efficiency coefficient, use of triple glazing for glazed walkways, etc. 

This contract demonstrates the dynamic presence of VCES, the local subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, on the Czech market. The company recently handed over the architecture faculty at the Czech Technical University in Prague and it is currently constructing the headquarters of Komerční Banka, a subsidiary of Société Générale.
Bouygues Construction possesses acknowledged know-how in constructing shopping centres. In France, it handed over the Aubervilliers shopping centre in March and it is currently working on the Beaugrenelle shopping centre, in the southwest of Paris. Outside France, it is building three shopping malls in Switzerland and a further one in Poland.

^[1] The British certification guaranteeing the environmental quality of a building (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method).