The new AdMas scientific center in Brno is six months behind schedule

Brno - The new scientific center AdMas, focused on building materials, will be fully operational in Brno at the beginning of next year. Its construction has been delayed by about six months. This information was provided to journalists by representatives of the center today. The project, which has faced a number of issues, will cost nearly 900 million crowns. The Brno University of Technology (VUT) has received 818 million from European funds. The project’s implementation deadline has been extended to the end of the year. Center director Zdeněk Dufek (ČSSD) told ČTK that the center is adhering to the revised schedule, so it should not lose the subsidy.
    The center's buildings have already passed the occupancy inspection; the school is still waiting for the occupancy decision to be finalized. Builders will be repairing minor defects and unfinished work by the end of the year. However, these are reportedly not preventing the occupancy and use of the facility.
    Simultaneously, the relocation and installation of the instrumentation, which is mostly assembled on the premises, will begin. However, the school must repeat the furniture tender. The bids received in the original tender exceeded the price set by the designer by 40%, which is why the original tender was canceled. A judicial expert is currently verifying the correct pricing, after which the tender will be announced again.
    According to Dufek, who is also the head of the South Moravian ČSSD, the center will employ approximately 150 professionals. About a third of the total costs will go to equipment. He has currently estimated the costs at 880 million crowns. "A precise settlement will be available at the end of the year. We do not know the final prices of the equipment, it is possible that some items will be more expensive compared to the original plans due to the CNB's currency intervention," Dufek stated.
    The center has recently received support of 143 million crowns from the Ministry of Education through the national sustainability program for five years. According to experts, this is about 50 percent of the costs, and the center will need to generate the rest itself, for example, through collaboration with construction companies. "This is a cushion for us, a certainty to get the center started," Dufek stated. He noted that AdMaS is already collaborating with 40 to 50 companies, even though the plans were more ambitious. The reason is the recession in the construction market.
    The AdMaS center is currently operating in other VUT laboratories. Its workers have assisted, for example, in addressing the situation in the village of Bulhary in the Břeclav region, where a landslide threatened some houses. "So far, researchers have been working on the faculty's equipment; now there is a chance to double or triple the existing results," stated Rostislav Drochytka, dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at VUT.