FIRST-RATE ARCHITECTURE AND HIGH-QUALITY OF IMPLEMENTATION
SMART PARKING AVAILABLE
The restored location beneath the castle will shift the focus of active life in the centre to where it has always been. The real centre of the city will return to its original position and the completion of Podhradie will fully realize the symbolism of the castle as a central point of Bratislava.
The Vydrica project is developed by VYDRICA DEVELOPMENT, a.s., a joint venture of Vydrica, a.s., and Lucron’s Luxembourg-based parent company Ikopart and the project manager is Lucron. In cooperation with domestic and international teams of architects and urbanists, the project was revived and redesigned after being on hold for many years.
Established in 2005, Lucron is a renowned Slovak residential real estate development company. Its portfolio includes the development projects - Nesto, Rakyta, Urban Residence, Malé Krasňany, Eden Park and Jaskový rad in Bratislava, and Arboria in Trnava. Lucron is a member of IKO Real Estate, an international real estate development group based in Luxembourg with more than 30 years of experience in real estate. In addition to commercial and residential housing development projects in Luxembourg and Belgium, the group also invested in the iconic building of Chaplin’s World - the Charlie Chaplin museum in Switzerland.
After many years of waiting, Bratislavské Podhradie (loosely translated as “Bratislava castle town”) will acquire a comprehensive appearance. The construction of Vydrica will be the last piece that will fill the empty space in Podhradie. The unification of the historical centre will return the living public space to the inhabitants of Bratislava and will result in an extended promenade.
Construction begins at the Fishermen’s Guild and ends in front of the Water Tower. The creation of an attractive public area with a living parterre. Connecting streets and creating smaller parks.
Construction of Vydrica towards the city centre. Extension of streets as per the original historical land line and enlargement of the public space with opportunities for relaxation, social and cultural activities.
Completion of the construction of Vydrica and pedestrian barrier-free connection of the historic site to the centre and the Bratislava promenade. New connections to the castle and the castle hill.
Continue reading to discover interesting facts about Vydrica.
The project has three stages. The first stage is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2024. The completion of the project as a whole and its individual stages depends on obtaining the necessary permits and approvals. Owners will be able to move into flats completed in earlier stages as construction work continues on subsequent stages.
Vydrica is a unique location. Only 370 flats will be built and, therefore, they have been priced accordingly. Across the world, premium locations in city centres and along city riverfronts where there is limited land for building attract the highest quality projects, which is naturally reflected in prices.
All prices of flats available for sale are displayed on the project’s website. In each stage, we will only offer a limited number of flats for sale at a price that corresponds to the current situation on the market and progress in construction work. In this way, sudden price hikes and the use of inflation clauses will be avoided.
We believe that developers should not transfer their business risk to their clients. Therefore, there are no inflation clauses in our contracts, and we will do our best to continue this policy. We believe that strategic planning of construction projects and sales is the best policy. Our clients can be sure that once they have signed a contract, the price of the flat is final and will not change.
Experts and the general public have been debating the future form of this unique location under the castle hill since the 1990s. Experts agreed that Vydrica should not be a historical replica, but rather an authentic new urban space with harmonious and coherent architecture based on simplicity, the highest quality of materials, and attention to detail. How one feels about the chosen architectural style is, of course, a matter of subjective opinion. The best Slovak urbanists and architects worked on the Vydrica project to ensure the new development would become a natural extension of Bratislava’s Old Town, completing the empty space under the castle hill and, most importantly, bringing this area back to life.
In the past, a central feature of city life under the castle was the variety and diversity of the maze of streets and alleys here, which we have sought to emulate and reinvent. The scale of Vydrica respects the scale of the streets of the Old Town and largely preserves the original layout of Floriánska, Vydrická and Oeserov rad streets. We have also kept the original street names. We are looking forward to seeing the streets filled with Vydrica’s residents and visitors, who will breathe life back into this unique urban space.
History will be presented in Vydrica in a way that meets the needs of a new contemporary neighbourhood. One of Bratislava’s most treasured landmarks, the Water Tower, will finally be restored to its former glory, and become a central feature of a high-quality public space to be enjoyed by the residents and Vydrica alike. The ice pits will be restored and opened to the public and there will be various fragments and artefacts scattered across the area to remind its visitors of the local history.
The future look of the Water Tower was selected by a design competition won by Slovakia-based architecture and design studio – Superatelier. The winning proposal highlights the historic value of the Water Tower, while creating a unique public space in its vicinity that will become an ideal meeting place and cultural and social venue in the future.
The Vydrica project will not obstruct the view of the castle, as large open spaces have been left around the Water Tower and Rybársky cech to allow the view to be enjoyed. A person of average height will be able to see the castle from anywhere on the riverbank, from inside and outside these open areas. Once this last piece of Podhradie falls into place, it will change the relationship between the city and the castle.
Yes. The stabilisation of the castle cliff is a key step in the preparation of the Vydrica project, which is why we engaged leading Slovak and international experts in geotechnics, engineering geology and structural analysis for this purpose. The slope stabilisation works in the area above the first stage of the development project were successfully completed in January 2022 and the work above the second and third stage are now underway. The entire process is being closely monitored on an ongoing basis. The slope stabilisation will thus significantly reinforce the stability of the castle cliff and the overall safety of the site.
Vydrica will be a car-free pedestrian zone, so all car traffic will be diverted to an underground car park connected to the main road at two points. Sufficient capacity for car traffic has been ensured in all development projects built around Vydrica which has been confirmed by a traffic study. Given its location in the heart of the historic city centre, we will encourage and promote the use of bicycles, river transport, integrated public transport, car-sharing services and full use of 24-hour car parks.
Parking spaces will be rented rather than sold. Vydrica will make use of modern shared parking technologies to make the underground car park with 730 parking spaces as efficient as possible.
We believe building a lift connecting Vydrica with Bratislava Castle is a good idea, as this will provide easy access for people coming from the river or the city centre to Alexander Dubček Square or to Palisády. Given that this involves a highly exposed and technically complex area that will impact the overall appearance of the castle cliff in the future, technical and visual designs must be discussed with several stakeholders. The stakeholders include the city council, which owns part of the land on which a lift would be built. We are now analysing possible designs and evaluating possible solutions.
Finding a suitable solution for the underpass under the SNP bridge from Rybné námestie is a very important detail to us, as this will be a gateway to Vydrica. Consultations with the city authorities are still ongoing and it is therefore too early to talk about the final design. But it has already been decided that the underpass will be named “Podchod pamäti”.
