Metrostav supported the evacuated house, people will return around Thursday

photo: David Marvan

Prague - The construction company Metrostav has secured the evacuated residential building Prague Marina in Prague's Holešovice with support columns, the building is stable, said company spokesperson František Polák today to ČTK. On Thursday, a specialist will check the structure of the luxury building, and immediately afterward, the owners will be able to return to their apartments. The cause of the structural problems is still unclear. However, according to Polák, the movements of the building may have been caused by high temperatures.
"The project is secured and stable. Measurements have shown that the building has not moved since Sunday," Polák said. Metrostav has installed a network of iron supports in the basement and first floor, which support the building. However, this is a temporary solution. "First, it is necessary to determine the cause or causes, only then will we decide how to proceed," he added. One possible cause could be thermal shock. The building is made of concrete and steel, with metal reacting to temperature changes differently than concrete.
Similar sentiments were expressed by structural engineer Václav Kučera, who stated that the structural solution of the Holešovice building is very unusual. Precisely for this reason, the so-called climatic load could be behind the structural issues. Temperatures can also sometimes disrupt bridges or the exteriors of panel buildings. However, thermal shock is only one of the possibilities.
"Possible additional causes could be deficiencies in the project, defects in the execution of the steel supports, or it could even be a hidden material defect," Kučera stated. According to him, an expert assessment was only commissioned today.
According to one of the owners, Marcela Vilímková, apartment owners will hold a committee meeting on Thursday to discuss a common approach "to protect their interests". The woman is dissatisfied, among other things, that she does not have enough official information. "Given that the cause is still unknown, it is concerning for me as a layperson, for example, that the contractor is now already informing about a possible return of people to the building," Vilímková told ČTK.
In part of one of the residential buildings, several supporting columns were deformed on Sunday. Firefighters then had to evacuate about 30 people that same evening. Polák stated that Metrostav, as the contractor, secured 28 rooms for the residents at one of Prague's most expensive hotels - the Hilton. The actual replacement of the defective structural elements will take place while full operations are ongoing. Thus, according to Metrostav, people will no longer have to leave their homes. However, Polák could not yet estimate when the repairs would take place.
The Prague Marina project has built 338 apartments on the waterfront by the Holešovice port, most of which have already been sold. An approximately ninety-square-meter apartment is sold for five million crowns, but there are also apartments with an area of 200 square meters, priced at more than 15 million crowns.
The police are investigating the case for suspicion of committing the crime of public endangerment through negligence.