The repair of Gočár's gymnasium in Hradec Králové is complete

photo: Ester Havlová

Hradec Králové - The demanding reconstruction of the listed building of the J. K. Tyl Gymnasium in Hradec Králové is completed after more than a year and a half. Students are expected to start their classes in the repaired building on March 10. This was announced to reporters today by regional councilor Josef Dvořák (ČSSD). The repair cost 80 million crowns excluding VAT and was accompanied by several months of delays. Including VAT, the price amounted to about 99.5 million crowns, with approximately two-thirds of the repair costs covered by grants from European Union funds. The J. K. Tyl Gymnasium is the largest school of its kind in the region, with 600 students.
    The school was designed by architect Josef Gočár in 1924. The building, along with the Museum of Eastern Bohemia and the Elbe power plant Hučák, is the most significant structure of the early modern architecture in the region. During the repairs, students studied in temporary facilities at the former Institute for the Deaf and Dumb on Pospíšilova Street.
    The renovation of the gymnasium was originally supposed to be completed before last summer's holidays so that students could learn in the new building from September 1. Later, the completion date was postponed to last autumn. The construction was particularly delayed because the original plans for the 90-year-old building were not available. "The project thus had to incorporate some additional works during the demolition, which could not be anticipated at that moment," the regional office stated earlier. The delay was also caused by the furnishing of the building with new furniture.
    The repair cost more money than the outcome of the tender. The winning company Prima offered a price of 67.5 million crowns excluding VAT in the tender. This represented a price 40 percent lower than the region originally estimated. However, after the work began in the historic building, it became clear that the project had not accounted for a number of works that were not included in the original budget.
    For example, the technology for installing the parquet floors had to be changed compared to the original project. It was only during construction that it was discovered that a second layer of parquet had been glued to the asphalt on top of the first layer, and therefore neither layer of parquet could be reused. Changes also affected the reconstruction of the parking lot, the remediation of the ceiling on the fourth floor, or the cleaning of the outdoor surfaces of artificial stone.
    Problems also accompanied the selection of the construction contractor. Initially, the region intended to select a company in the fall of 2011 by narrowing the number of competitors through a lottery. However, due to suspicions of manipulation of the lottery, the region canceled the tender and announced a new one without the lottery. In the first tender, 13 companies competed for the contract, and in the second, 11. Construction began in June 2012.