Pole Mokotowskie. Renovation of Finnish houses has come to a halt, contract terminated. “The contractor did not meet the conditions”

At the end of July, officials from the Greenery Board terminated the contract with the contractor who, in early 2022, won the tender for the renovation of two characteristic Finnish houses in Pole Mokotowskie near the National Library.

– The company responsible for the renovation did not meet the terms of the contract, i.e. did not complete the work on time. Therefore, on July 31, 2024, we terminated the contract with the contractor – informs Karolina Kwiecień-Łukaszewska, spokeswoman for the Zieleni Management Board. – We are currently in the process of taking over the construction site (…). Our goal is to announce a (new – ed.) tender as soon as possible – she adds.

According to information provided by Kwiecień-Łukaszewska, the renovation has so far cost less than PLN 210,000. – This is the cost of making water and sewage, telecommunications and electricity connections – explains the spokeswoman for the Greenery Board.

In May 2021, the Warsaw Council allocated two million złoty for the renovation of houses that will host cultural, educational, and artistic events in the future. The one where Ryszard Kapuściński lived is to be transformed into the center of the reportage.

How will the selection of the next contractor affect the price and when will the renovation be completed? – The cost will be known only after the completion of the construction inventory and settlement with the contractor (with whom the contract has just been terminated – ed.). Then an investor's cost estimate will be created based on what remains to be done – explains Karolina Kwiecień-Łukaszewska.

The completion date for the work, which began over two and a half years ago, is not known. Just re-preparing the documents for the tender could take several months. It is also not certain whether the money earmarked for this purpose three years ago will be enough to complete the investment due to inflation and the large increase in the prices of construction services and materials in recent years.

The wooden Finnish houses were donated to Warsaw in 1945 by the Soviet Union. Nearly 170 wooden houses were erected on Pole Mokotowskie – two remain.

The renovation works that have begun are being carried out under the supervision of a conservator. The original concept, although controversial due to the poor technical condition of the preserved buildings, assumed demolition and reuse of some of the materials.

– Unfortunately, after the Finnish houses were demolished, it turned out that they were not suitable for reuse – Karolina Kwiecień-Łukaszewska, spokeswoman for the Greenery Board, explained the reason for the delays at the beginning of the year.

Therefore, a decision was made to change the concept and rebuild the entire structure from scratch, with new foundations, and the work was to be completed in July.

Currently, all that remains of Ryszard Kapuściński's house is one wall supported by planks and cracked foundations. Until recently, there was also a second one, which did not survive the conservation and collapsed. The whole is overgrown with dense vegetation, including almost two-meter-high trees, which managed to grow even more during the renovation.

All that remains of the second house is the corner, held up vertically by rotten and decayed boards.