On 5th of July, a groundbreaking ceremony for a new seat of the Silesian Museum took place at the construction site. At present, after over two months of works, construction crews of a consortium of Budimex S.A. and Ferrovial Agroman S.A. – the prime contractor of the building – is preparing the ground to lay a foundation slab.
To do that more than ten meters deep excavation is being prepared. Then a subsoil is stabilized with lean concrete and covered by insulation matting. Afterwards, a reinforcement of the foundation slab and form-works are to be commenced. First elements of the subsoil has already been stabilized in the east part of the construction site and works on the reinforcement begun.
Meanwhile, the reinforcement of the foundation slab was already formed in the north part of the site where a so called central hall will be built. The hall is to link all the existing coal-mine buildings, grand foyer and a car park creating an underground route.
As the building will be mostly hidden under the ground level and it needs a fair-sized excavation, the soil is still being removed. According to Budimex about twenty thousands of heavy lorries are needed to remove the soil. “Until now, more than half of the soil from the excavation has been removed. We also concluded the first phase of protective works on the “Warszawa” mine shaft and foundation of the historic mine’s buildings. Also, restoration works in those buildings were already commenced” – said Grzegorz Tymich, Contract Director at Budimex S.A.
The new seat of the Silesian Musuem is to be delivered by the consortium not later than in March 2013. The construction work will cost PLN 207,8 million. An overall budget of the investment is PLN 324 million, 85% of the qualified costs are to be covered by the European Union funds.
Pictures taken on 13th of September by the Silesian Museum’s team.