Prague is a hive of building activity, and Helika, a.s., is in the middle of it. Helika is an all-in-one architecture, design and project-management shop based in Prague 9's Letňany neighborhood. Made up of three divisions — architectural, road design and civil and structural engineering — and staffed by more than 100 employees, the company presently supervises a slate of nearly 150 ongoing construction projects ranging from small to large throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Helika is perhaps best-known for its award-winning designs of Prague 9's Sazka Arena and the joint Dutch-Czech financed Centrum Chodov shopping mall in the city's southern reaches. Next month, Helika will announce the completion of its redesign of Prague's Na Míčánkách Palace of Justice located in Prague 10, a joint civil and criminal-justice facility boasting an impressive 2 billion Kč ($89.8 million) price tag.

The Prague Post: What was Helika's breakout project, the one that was the milestone for the company's success in Prague?

Tomáš Weiser: Definitely it would have to be our reconstruction in 2000 of the Czech National Bank [ČNB] building across the street from Obecní dům [on náměstí Republiky]. That's the big one that really put us on the map. Once we completed the ČNB, everyone was very impressed with our performance and it quickly became our No. 1 reference project. From that point onward, we succeeded in securing more elaborate tenders, for example the Národní Technická Knihovna [National Technical Library] in Dejvice, the Na Míčánkách Palace of Justice in Vršovice and the Pediatrics facility of the Motol Polyclinical Hospital. And let's not forget Sazka Arena, for which we won a design award two years ago.

TPP: Then there's the award Helika received for Shopping Centre Galerie Butovice. But still, it seems most of Helika's activities are focused on design and architecture. What percentage of your business is devoted to the company's other divisions, like road design?

TW: It's true that 80 percent of our business is devoted to architectural-design projects. But we still have a very capable in-house unit dedicated to road and bridge conception. It's sad, but road enhancements are the government's second priority, considering that rail links are what consumes the bulk of the Transportation Ministry's budget these days. It's from that budget that most of our road-design projects come.

TPP: What's on the agenda for Helika in the coming months?

TW: We'll be announcing the completion of our wholly privately funded 13 billion Kč Karolina complex, in Ostrava in Moravia. It will be ready in early spring 2007. For this project, we partnered up again with our Dutch colleagues, T+T Design, from our Chodov experience. Karolina will be a joint residential-commercial complex complete with shopping center, condominiums, an office tower and wide boulevards, just like you find in Prague.

TPP: Why do a project in Ostrava?

TW: It's not Ostrava so much as it's Moravia. As you know, these days Prague is chockablock with construction. It takes a tremendously long time to file the required paperwork with the city authority, and permits and authorizations usually take just as long to get approved. What's more, whenever you dig into Prague soil you have to first summon a handful of different authorities before a single Metrostav worker is even permitted to drop a shovel into the ground — for instance, the authority that handles antiquities and archaeological remains [the National Institute for Historical Sites]. Moravia, on the other hand, is desperate for big investment. The approvals process over there is so much faster and easier, and there are less processes to deal with. Less red tape.

TPP: Given the ongoing European Union expansion, would you consider doing a project outside the Czech Republic?

TW: Definitely! We've already submitted building proposals in Bulgaria and, to a much smaller extent, Romania. We've also got some upcoming residential projects for spring 2007 through our daughter development company in Slovakia. So we're not stuck just in Prague, where competition is too high.

TPP: Going back to your projects with T+T Design, what is it about your relationship with them that seems to be the magic charm?

TW: Basically, I suppose it's because the Dutch are impressed with our overall know-how. Though I'd say it's mainly because of our

excellent contacts with the various government funding ministries. We have one of the highest number of full-time employees for an architectural firm in the entire Central European region, compared with some of our main competitors in the sector. Not only that — over 30 percent of our staff is female, and we hire all in-country, which is not common for this industry. Our 72 full-time engineers are either Czech or Slovak, and the entire senior management team of seven persons is Czech as well. So I suppose that's good security for any foreign investor.

TPP: Your 2006–07 revenue forecasts show you beating 2004's gross revenues of around 260 million Kč by an almost additional 40 million Kč. How much bigger can you get? Won't the company eventually reach an upper growth limit?

TW: Like any growing company, we're of course always seeking to expand our operations. Company audits presently show that Helika can accommodate one additional entire division plus perhaps another 30 or so full-time employees. Around here that's what we call our 'critical mass.' Beyond that point, we're not too sure we want to rise just yet. As of right now, we're one of the top-five architectural firms in the country, and our service levels and project references speak for themselves.

TPP: In conclusion, would you agree that architecture is two parts science, one part art?