Poznań. Uninhabited tenement house in danger of collapse. Evacuation of residents. Decision on “immediate demolition”

The tenement house at Roosevelta Street 8 in Poznań is in danger of collapse. The Wielkopolska Voivodeship Office in Poznań reported that on Friday (September 13) “at about 3 p.m. there was a threat of collapse of an uninhabited tenement house”. On Friday evening, the deputy mayor of Poznań, Mariusz Wiśniewski, reported that the district building inspector had made a decision on the “necessity of immediate demolition of the tenement house”.

The officer on duty at the Wielkopolska fire brigade said that the report concerned cracks and bulges in the wall of the tenement house. The firefighters checked the building with special devices to determine whether there were any deviations in the walls and whether the tenement house was not moving.

– This is an old tenement house that has been scaring the residents of Poznań for years. The owner received a decision a long time ago about permission for renovation, but he neglected the matter and almost caused it to collapse. One of the walls bulged – said Witold Rewers, director of the Crisis Management and Security Department of the Poznań City Hall. – It will paralyze traffic on Roosevelta. It will not be possible to run trams on Piątkowo, and there will be replacement transport. Residents cannot return to their homes.

As reported by the office after 6:30 p.m., Roosevelta Street has been designated as a “zero zone” to which no one is allowed. The sidewalk by the buildings is closed to traffic, from the height of the tenement house at Roosevelta Street 9 to the intersection with Krasińskiego Street. The sidewalk on the opposite side (closer to the railway tracks) is available to pedestrians. The tram tracks (in both directions) and the roadway have also been closed to traffic on this section.

In total, 35 residents were evacuated. Municipal Transport Company buses were provided for them, and accommodation was provided for the next few nights.

– Each evacuation usually ends with the provision of an MPK bus, which serves as a place for residents to stay until the final decision is made whether the residents should return to their places of residence – says Witold Rewers, director of the Crisis Management and Security Department of the Poznań City Hall.

As Rewers explains, in this case the residents will not return, part of tenement house no. 9, tenement houses 6 and 7, 2 will also be excluded from use.

– All of the residents who were evacuated from these tenement houses will go to accommodation. Not all of them will go to a hotel, because some will prefer to stay with family or friends – informs Rewers. He adds that one person who is bedridden will be taken to a social welfare home.

The services, the Crisis Management Centre in Poznań, representatives of the city office and the district construction supervision inspector were on site.

Andrzej Borowiak, spokesman for the Greater Poland police, said the services were waiting for an opinion from the building supervision on whether the building in its current state posed any threat. – A report about the poor condition of the walls of the abandoned tenement house was received on the emergency number 112 – he added.

The street from Poznańska Street to Most Teatralny has been closed. Trams are not running. Agnieszka Smogulecka from MPK informed that they have been directed to detours.

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“The owner is responsible for the technical condition of a monument. According to art. 5 of the Act on the Protection and Care of Monuments, he is the one who should ensure conditions for securing and maintaining the monument in the best possible condition, conducting conservation, restoration and construction works, and using the monument in a way that ensures the permanent preservation of its value” – we read on the website of the Poznań City Hall.

As reported by the office, the owner of the tenement house is private individuals. Already in 2022, the Municipal Conservator of Monuments ordered the building to be secured, and the minister extended the deadline for taking action until August 31, 2024.

However, the building owner filed an objection to the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw, which has not ruled on the matter to this day. Until a possible judgment upholding the order becomes final, the Municipal Conservator of Monuments has no possibility of conducting further proceedings.

Earlier, in July 2021, the MKZ imposed a fine of PLN 40,000 on the owner. This decision is also currently being appealed to the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw, which is conducting the proceedings.

– Due to the technical condition, the threat to the safety of people and property resulting from the catastrophic technical condition of this tenement house, I have decided to immediately demolish this facility. I have forwarded the information to the owners' representative, and on Monday this decision will be confirmed with an appropriate document – said Paweł Łukaszewski, district construction supervision inspector.

He emphasized that the technical condition of the facility had been known for many years.

– This tenement house is entered individually in the register of monuments. As a representative of the construction supervision, I could not decide on demolition without the approval of the conservator of monuments. Now I have received such a statement from the conservator. This tenement house is in a state of technical decay, hence the decision to carry out immediate demolition – he added.