Grant Map EU

The Old Town in Bielsko Biała is situated on a hill in the city centre and covers an area of about 10 hectares. It is formed of two integrated areas. First of these – “the medieval city” – includes an area of about 6 hectares and its spatial layout reach as far back as the 13th century. Its central part covers a market square surrounded by four frontages. The second area, the so-called ring, includes residential and services quarters, ramparts, two sacred facilities and Sułkowski Dukes’ Castle. The Old Town in Bielsko Biała is a district of the city which underwent progressive degradation of technical and building infrastructure in the last few years. In 1998 a construction disaster took place when one of the tenement houses next to the market square collapsed. Other significant problems cover also impoverishment of people living in the Old Town and progressing social degradation.

As a result, the city authorities undertook activities aiming at economic and social revival of this part of the city. Strategic documents were developed that provide a complex method of achieving Old Town revival (e.g. Strategy for Revitalisation of the Old Town in Bielsko Biała, Programme for Revitalisation of Urban Areas in Bielsko Biała), moreover, repairs of individual municipal buildings situated within the area of the Old Town were began and in 2004 an application was submitted under the IROP, which concerned co-financing for the modernisation of the territorial development network and slab of the market square.

The project aims at beautiful tidy and attractive district of the city that has increasing economic, touristic and cultural potential. The achievement of this objective depends on the implementation of the subsequently planned activities. Under stage I the territorial development network was modernised and reconstructed and the slab of the market square underwent complex reconstruction (substantive scope of the submitted application). As for the territorial development network, the following elements were modernised: water supply network, sewerage and sanitary systems, heat distribution networks, power and gas grids, tele-technical networks and road surface.

From the perspective of residents of the whole city, as well as potential investors and private owners of tenement houses situated near the market square, the complex renovation of the market square slab constitutes a significant issue. The revitalisation of the Old Town in Bielsko Biała relays on return to the historical roots, restoration of its appearance from many years past and connecting it to a new function. Project implementation resulted, inter alia, in the presentation of an archaeological exhibition “Urban scales” on the market square, construction of a fountain complex with the statuette of Neptune, historic well, a clock and a water course, what is more the monument of Saint John of Nepomuk was reconstructed. Reconstruction of old historic monuments and the use of stylish elements, such as special benches and illuminating spotlight of the slab constitute an interesting flagship of the “New Old Town”. At this point it should be also mentioned that the city obtained resources for the repair of municipal tenement houses not only from the ERDF but also from the governmental and self-governmental resources. All these activities are a very strong incentive for the private owners of certain tenement houses near the market square. Moreover, this part of the city starts to enjoy visible interest of the potential investors. Hence revitalisation is not only a process leading to the reconstruction of neglected buildings but also to social and economic revival of neglected districts.

The project advantages cover:

• Very complex financial montage (own contribution, contributions from the administrators of the networks, credit from BGK, EU);
• Cooperation with private entities involved in the project implementation (administrators of individual territorial development networks);
• Strong programming basis (programming documents, e.g. Strategy for Revitalisation of the Old Town in Bielsko Biała, Programme for Revitalisation of Urban Areas in Bielsko Biała);
• Clear division into stages of the revitalisation process, which provides for the future-oriented approach of the city authorities.
• The complexity of the approach apart from the repair of public spaces and cubature facilities covers also the implementation of social programmes facilitating the process of solving problems related to marginalisation. For instance, the project “Against Helplessness” co-financed from the PHARE 2002 resources was implemented by the Municipal Social Assistance Centre in Bielsko Biała within the period from 1 December 2004 to 30 November 2005.

The project is complementary with the project covering the stage I of the revitalisation of the Old Town in Bielsko Biała since the majority of people using the support are residents of the degraded areas of the Old Town in Bielsko Biała.
Vocational Activity Support Point was established within the framework of the project, where the project participants obtained psychological support, vocational activation services, trainings and broadly-conceived vocational and business guidance. The Municipal Social Assistance Centre also obtained co-financing from SOP Human Resources Development for continuation of the activity performed by the Support Point.