The wall of a tenement house in the center of Łódź has collapsed. Five key questions

The incident occurred on Saturday early afternoon in the annex of a building on 1 Maja Street. The day before, the floor in one of the premises of the building, under which work was underway, caved in. The course of Saturday's construction disaster was immortalized by one of the residents of a building located near the damaged tenement house.

The tenement house was inhabited by over 60 people, including a dozen or so children. However, at the time of the construction disaster, there was no one in the building, because the tenants had moved out a week ago to hotels that had been offered to them by the contractor of the cross-city tunnel. According to the original plan, the residents were to return to their homes on September 16.

PKP PLK announced late Saturday evening that starting Sunday, legal support will be launched for residents of the building at 1 Maja Street, which is to help in pursuing claims and preparing applications in their case. The investor also assures that property left by tenants is secured and guarded 24 hours a day.

The city of Łódź has announced assistance to its residents. All those who apply to the office for support are to be granted municipal housing, in a standard no worse than the one in the tenement house at al. 1 Maja 23 in Łódź.

After Saturday's disaster, a crisis team was convened, including representatives of the municipal housing board, district construction supervision, and the investor and contractor. The building's condition is still being examined, and a decision has not been made as to whether and to what extent residents of the undamaged part of the building will be able to return to their homes.

– The disaster damaged the right part of the outbuilding. It seems to me that the return of the residents from this part, the tenants near the eastern staircase, should be postponed and we should wait for the results of technical expertise. It is too early to say whether this part will be demolished or rebuilt – Bohdan Wielanek, District Building Inspector in Łódź, emphasized in front of the TVN24 camera.

Buildings under which the route of the railway tunnel under construction in the city center is located are being abandoned by tenants because vibrations caused by tunneling machines working underground pose a threat to their stability. Especially for buildings that are in poor technical condition.

PKP PLK points out that the building at 1 maja 23 was built at the beginning of the 20th century and – as noted in the press release published after the incident – it has no “basement or solid foundations”.

In the center of Łódź there are many historic and often very dilapidated tenement houses. In order to reduce the risk of a building collapsing, the investor builds shafts in which the ground reinforcements are made. This generates additional costs and delays in completing the investment on time.

For safety reasons, on the section between the Łódź Polesie and Łódź Śródmieście stops, the relocation will affect approximately 900 tenants living at 26 addresses.

This is one of the largest investments currently underway in Poland. The cross-city tunnel under Łódź is a continuation of the construction of Łódź Kaliska – a station that will finally change from a terminal station to a through station. Regional and long-distance trains will be able to travel through the very center of Łódź. As part of the investment, new stops will be built: Łódź Polesie, Łódź Śródmieście and Łódź Koziny.

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The underground railway connection was initially scheduled to be completed in 2024, with train traffic starting in 2025. According to the current schedule, the tunnels are to be ready in June 2026. Trains are to start running under the city in December 2026.

The current value of the project is over PLN 2 billion gross. The basic contract with the contractor PBDiM increased by approximately PLN 380 million.