Application submitted for a building permit for the construction of the Valkane Hotel

The Hotel Valkane company submitted to the City of Pula a request for a building permit for the construction of the Valkane Hotel, along with all the necessary documentation. The existing conceptual project of a 5-star hotel, which was presented to the public and city councilors in April 2022, has now been developed into a master project that has been fully developed in accordance with the valid location permit and the conceptual solution presented.

"We are entering the final phase, followed by construction. This is now an exclusively administrative procedure in which, fortunately, there is no room for new politicization. With the main project that we have now submitted with the request for a building permit, we have once again confirmed everything we have been saying from the beginning, which is that the project does not envisage any interventions in the coastal zone and that the Lungomare and the beach remain accessible and open to everyone. As we have repeated many times, the hotel project maximally respects the environment in which it is located, and at every step its implementation took place in an orderly manner according to the procedures and rules of the local government and public laws and regulations, which has been confirmed by the institutions of the Republic of Croatia on several occasions. After we receive the building permit, we will start preparing the detailed design and cost estimate, tender for the contractor, and if everything goes according to plan, we will begin construction in the last quarter of this year.", said the technical director of the Valkane hotel Zoran Kostić.

The Valkane Hotel will be located within the former quarry, and its construction will renovate the area from which stone exploitation ended in 1965. The hotel will have 180 rooms and 183 underground parking spaces, which will fully meet the needs of the hotel. The planned value of the project has increased due to the current market situation and is now estimated at 100 million euros excluding VAT. The hotel will employ around 250 employees year-round. The outer edge of the hotel is 160 meters from the sea, while in front of the hotel there will be a park that will be open to all citizens, and it is also planned to plant 150-200 new trees that will further enhance the space.

"For us, this project is extremely interesting and challenging because it is located in an abandoned quarry where human hands have long ago changed the morphology of the terrain, and on the other hand, it is located in a beautiful setting of a Mediterranean forest, in close, but not direct contact with the seashore. The concept of the project is based on restoring the ambient values ​​of the devastated landscape. The four floors of the lower part of the hotel lean against the rock of the former quarry, and its cascading and broken facade is a kind of reminiscence of a green quarry. Vehicle access for all types of vehicles is planned exclusively from the rear, i.e. the eastern road branching off Veruda Street, where the main entrance is located. The entrance floor with public facilities is located on the upper level of the former quarry, in front of which there is a large garden terrace, and above the entrance floor there are two more floors with accommodation units designed as a transparent pavilion among the treetops. In the space between the Lungomare road/promenade and the hotel building itself, a large park has been designed according to the principle of erasing the boundaries between public and private and is open and accessible to all citizens and guests. This large space contains various sports and recreational facilities, walkways, and two single-storey buildings integrated into the natural environment - a restaurant and a catering facility with accompanying facilities. We are proud of the work that has been done, and the next step includes the development of the interior and the preparation of construction documentation.", He said Silvije Novak from 3LHD, the company that designed the hotel.

As a reminder, as part of the project, the investor also financed the construction of a water supply network of a distribution main pipeline in Veruda Street with a connection to the Valkane Hotel, and about 400 meters of main pipeline and about 200 meters of connection to the hotel were built. After obtaining a usage permit, the network was taken over by the utility company Vodovod Pula into its ownership without compensation, and it has now been used by residents of the local boards of Veruda and Stoja for a year. Likewise, in cooperation with Croatian Forests and the utility company Herculanea, the forest in Valkane was cleaned, and large quantities of hazardous waste, dried greenery and branches were removed from it, making the area more accessible and safer for numerous citizens who use it daily for recreation and vacation. In December last year, a building permit was issued for a service road to the future hotel. The road will be built in parallel with the start of construction of the hotel at the expense of the investor, and it remains the property of the City of Pula, which will also manage it. 

Source and photo: Hotel Valkane