The repair of the Applied Arts School in Karlovy Vary would cost hundreds of millions

Karlovy Vary - The listed building in the area of the Secondary School of Applied Arts in Karlovy Vary is, according to structural engineers, in very poor condition. According to expert assessments, the repair of the building would cost hundreds of millions of crowns, said today CTK councilor of the Karlovy Vary Region, Jaroslav Bradáč (SPO). According to him, the region is leaning more towards the option of demolishing the building rather than renovating it and building a new one in its place.

"Repairing the basic structure without everything else would cost 350 million without tax, plus additional costs. Practically nothing original would remain of the building. So based on this study, we will ask for a position on the removal of heritage protection and we will very likely try to build a new school on that site," said Bradáč.

The costs of demolition and subsequent construction of a new building should be about half. However, the region will have to solve the operation of the school until the new building is completed. "The principal has reorganized the teaching so that it can take place in the part of the school that is not endangered. We want to ask companies and other schools for support in vocational training," the councilor added.

In the building from 1920, the school had, for example, a newly equipped laboratory. However, there were also eight rental apartments, which their residents had to leave practically overnight after being notified by the structural engineer. As compensation, the region contributed a total of 50,000 crowns to each tenant for moving and finding new housing. According to Bradáč, there will probably be no apartments in the new building, which should only serve for school purposes.

The emergency condition of the building on one of the busiest streets in Karlovy Vary was probably caused by the use of aluminous cement in its structures. The same material was used, for example, in the construction of Baťa's house in Marianske Lazne, which was demolished in 2015.