Building Planica Nordic Centre

Planica back in times

Chairlift, forest road and maintenance works on the flying hill

The Organizing Committee of the Planica Nordic Centre

Architectural competition

Bloudek's Giant hill

Ski jumping hills for children and youth

Čaplja Service facility

Ski flying hill by Gorišek brothers

The central facility for cross-country skiing

Cross-country tracks

Lighting of the Bloudek's Giant Hill

Descent down the cable - zipline

Many events in the past made an impact on Planica.

First activities started back in 2007, with the purchase of the land. When the Government of the Republic of Slovenia became the owner, it also took on responsibility to maintain the infrastructure and invest in it. In order to set priorities, we relied largely on the fact that the Ski Flying World Championship was about to take place in 2010. As requested by FIS, we then completed the following:

• Fill the landing area with soil, according to the profile measurements during the previous World Cup
• Set the landing area - at the length of 185 m - 33. 3 m wide, at 215 m - 37.0 m wide, at 240 m - 38,5 m wide, at U-point - 40m wide (a fall line)
• Renew and rebuild security fences
• Lengthen the fences at the upper part of the landing area (from 18.5 m to the kick-off)
• Measure the differences between start positions, which can be no more than 40 cm apart (measured vertically)
• Seperate the cabins for the judges
• Set the wall in front of the judge, which should not exceed height of 1.0 m
• Rebuild and refurbish all the stairs and paths from the bottom to the inrun
• Build a brand new chairlift that runs from the bottom to the starting point of the inrun

CCI works by:

KOMIN inženiring d.o.o.
The total value of the works carried out - Flying hill by brothers Gorišek € 1,407,326.34.

SGP TEHNIK d.d.
The total value of the works carried out - Chairlift Heron € 1,669,020.00.

GOZDNO GOSPODARSTVO BLED d.o.o.
The total value of works - Forest road € 215,202.18.

The Organizing Committee of the Planica Nordic Centre consisted of:
• Mojca Plestenjak, MIZŠ
• Jelko Gros, ZŠRS Planica
• Daniel Oblak, ZŠRS Planica
• Franci Petek, SAS
• Primož Finžgar, SAS
• Peter Petriček, SAS

The Committee had a considerable impact on the improvement of the programme and the implementation of reforms. The latter were carried out with the help of architecture competitions. The Ministry Representative was in charge of the finances provided by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), while the representatives of the Planica Institute of Sports took over the investment management, and later, the infrastructure management. The Committee reviewed and confirmed full documentation for the investment. Its members suggested solutions related to sports technology, which were then adopted by the building designers. The Committee confirmed the designs for individual stages in investment process.

Based on the results from the competition brief, written materials, their own interpretation of the competition brief, and after reviewing the received reports, the committee carried out the evluation. The assessment drew heavily on on the knowledge of ski jumping and cross-country experts in order to organize events, as well as to provide natural conservation and heritage protection.

After the detailed review of the reports and after the discussion, the Commission came to conclusion that the assessment should be based predominantly on the attittude to the symbollix view of Planica landscape, including the placement of architecture in space.

The solutions that made significant inroads into the landscape and with respect to nature as well as the heritage introduced some new facilities and arrangements, got better results. The next stage in the assessment was the evaluation of the functional aspect of solutions of the Planica Nordic Centre.

The construction of both jumping hills took 15 month, from July 2011 to October 2012. The opening jump was made by Aleš Hlebanja (on 139 m long jumping hill) and Primož Peterka (on 104 m long jumping hill) on 14 October. The great long jumping hill with 139 m HS stands on the very same location as the old Bloudek giant hill, while the middle one is next to it. The name Bloudek Giant hill is a listed building, as well as the axis of the jumping hill.

CCI works by:

GH Holding d.d.
Investment values: € 5,815,866.98

Suppliers of the equipment:

Plastics – OYC.E. Lindgren, System for restraining of the snow – Seil Frey, Snow miling roller for the inrun – Punt International d.o.o., In-run ski track – Mana Original d.o.o., System for freezing in-run track – Kota d.o.o.

Those jumping hills are located between Bloudek's giant hill and Flying hill of Gorišek brothers. Their construction took place between April 2013 and February 2014. Ski jumping hills for youth are 80 m HS and 61 m HS, while those for children range from 45 m HS, 30 m HS to 15 m HS. Among them, there is an uphill lift, which enables easy access to all the in-runs. That means more jumps during one training unit.

CCI works by:

Gorenjska gradbena družba d.d.
Investment value: € 4,023,699.28

Suppliers of the equipment:

Inclined lift – Riko d.o.o., Bridging over the torrent – Hidrotehnik d.d; Plastics – OYC.E. Lindgren, System for restraining of the snow – Seil Frey, Snow miling roller for the inrun – Punt International d.o.o., In-run ski track – Mana Original d.o.o., and System of winches – Dr. Duhovnik d.o.o.

Čaplja Service facility is designed to control the operation of the hills, wardrobes, ski service, storage of hardware as well as enable the socializing among athletes. Imos d.d. has completed its works for the competition for the Planica 2014 World Cup on time. However, after the competition, they were behind schedule, so the Planica Institute of Sports chose a new contractor, which completed the necessary works and eliminated previous shortcomings.
The construction of Čaplja Service facility lasted from April 2013 to March 2014. After the contract with Imos d.d. was terminated, its successor, Kolektor Koling has completed the works in November 2015. Within the project, company Riko d.o.o. conducted the pumping system for snowmaking, irrigation of the jumping hills, and the central control system.

CCI works until halting:

IMOS d.d.
Investment value: € 2,967,767.31

CCI works - completion:

Kolektor Koling d.o.o.
Investment value: € 594,031.51

System for irrigation and snowmaking:

Riko d.o.o.
Investment value: € 785,648.45

The flying hill, which holds 28 world records, has undergone several transformations. The last was launched in 2013, which was terminated due to bankruptcy of the main contractor. Failure to fulfil the contractual obligations and the bankruptcy were the reasons that the construction resumed in June 2014. The building was taken over by a subcontractor Javna razsvetljava d.d. that finished the works until the World Cup started.

CCI works until halting:

SGP Tehnik d.d.
Investment value: € 437,780.50

CCI works – completion:

Javna razsvetljava d.d.
Investment value: € 3,792,663.81

The central facility for cross-country skiing has two functions. During the competition it contains the entire infrastructure necessary for carrying out the competitions at the highest level, however, the remaining time it represents the central facility for introducing all the programmes intended for visitors and athletes. The facility consists of a hall of underground work and a cyllindrical tube in which there is an interpretation centre.

The main attractions of the facility are horizontal and vertical wind tunnel, which are the unique Slovenian products. The vertical wind tunnel extends over six floors, while the flight area extends over two floors. A special attraction of the facility is also the indoor running track for cross-country skiing. In the summer the start-finish area of the ski-running track can be turned into a footbal field.

Investment value: € 10,485,514.84

Supplier of equipment – furniture: Lesnina MG oprema d.d.
Investment value: € 245,994.53

Supply and installation of technological equipment for the interpretative centre was carried out by TSE d.o.o. with consortium partners: Reset d.o.o. and Art rebel 9 d.o.o.
Investment value: € 600,000.00

In 2014, we applied for a building permit. Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Agriculture concluded that, due to a change in the law on nature, an Environmental Impact Assessment needed to be done. The environmental consent was obtained in July 2015, and a building permit in September 2015. The public procurement contract was performed in February 2015, a contract was signed by the selected contractor in July 2015. Selected contractor, Zigrad d.d., started with works in September 2015.
The setting up of cross-country courses encompassed the arrangements of the courses on the landslide under Cipernik and the establishing of connections between the ski area of Slatna and the neighboring forest clearings. The project of building the courses included building three bridges and a skating track. The construction of the courses was completed in record time. It took place from September to November 2015.

CCI works by:

Zigrad d.d.
Investment value: € 965,193.45

The lighting was supposed to open up the possibility to train in late autumn and early winter. The lighting is adjusted in three regimes - 50 lux for the preparation time of facilities, 300 lux for training and 1000 lux for the competition.
Its construction took place on very difficult terrain, without access roads, so the contractor decided for helicopter assembly. The weight of the pillars was such that we needed to hire a Swiss company, one of the few specialized for this type of installation in Europe.
The construction and the installation lasted from November 2014 until August 2015.

CCI works by:

Javna razsvetljava d.d.
Investment value: EUR 342,015.81

When designing the Planica Nordic Centre, we were brainstorming ideas of how to recreate the feeling that a ski jumper feels during flying for the Planica fans. Zipline - riding the cable seemed to be an excellent idea. When a participant descents along the cable, the speed increases. He/She of the flying hill and gets closer to the knoll of the hill as a real flyer would. Flying high over the landing area is saved for the end of the experience. This adrenaline descent is 566 m long and the maximum speed reaches 85 km/h.

CCI works by:

Elan Inventa d.o.o.
Investment value: € 647,900.00