The damaged school in Jablonec nad Nisou will be reinforced with a steel structure

Liberec/Jablonec nad Nisou - The building of the Secondary School of Trades and Services in Jablonec nad Nisou, damaged during reconstruction in November, will be reinforced with a steel structure by the Liberec Region. The protection will be carried out by Metrostav, which has experience with similar projects. It is expected to be completed by the end of March so that Podhorská Street can be reopened to traffic. The governor of the Liberec Region, Martin Půta (Mayors for the Liberec Region), said this to reporters today. Podhorská Street, which is part of the road I/14, has been closed to traffic since December 13 due to the danger of the building collapsing.

Work on the construction of the vocational education center began last year, and the school has been empty during this time. The reconstruction uncovered serious structural disruptions in the school building in November, which caused part of the wall on the first and second floors to collapse. The situation was worsened by heavy wet snow that burdened the roof. Therefore, the region, which is the investor, agreed to close the road around the school. According to structural expert Hana Gattermayerová, the likely cause of the disaster was poorly executed work on the building's modifications in the 1980s. The contractor was not responsible for the failure, as they could not have known about the building's weaknesses; everything was hidden by plaster.

"One of the load-bearing walls, which had already been weakened by construction interventions in the past, lost its stability," Gattermayerová described the causes of the disaster. It was a chain reaction, where the weakened wall collapsed, and the wall above it, along with the ceiling, fell, which then caused the vaults in the basement to collapse. The costs for the remediation and reinforcement of the damaged school are estimated at 97 million crowns excluding VAT, while the demolition of the building and construction of a new one would cost almost double that. "The building from 1872 is also a monument," Půta added. Therefore, remediation and completion of the planned educational center will likely take precedence, even though it will be more expensive than initially anticipated. A significant portion is expected to be covered by EU grants.

Before construction can continue, Metrostav must reinforce the building. "A truss steel structure should be created, which will secure the wall facing Podhorské Street, and then the disaster in the courtyard could be addressed," added the head of the regional investment department Jakub Syrovátka. According to him, the builders would gradually provide stability to the building up to the damaged area with supports from the lower floors, so that reconstruction could continue. He did not rule out that the structural engineer might recommend removing further plaster in the building to see if it hides any other similar surprises.