NTK filed a lawsuit against Sekyra Group due to the collapse of the formworks

Prague - The National Technical Library (NTK) in Prague's Dejvice has filed a lawsuit against Sekyra Group due to unsuccessful negotiations regarding the removal of defects from the building's exterior cladding. Two glass elements fell from the facade in February 2017. According to an expert report from the Klokner Institute of the Czech Technical University in Prague, the cause of the accident was extreme stress on the glass around the load-bearing point, caused by improper anchoring of the glass elements, NTK stated in today's press release. The Executive Director of Sekyra Group, Leoš Anderle, wrote to ČTK that the company does not acknowledge the fall of the elements as a defect in the work and prefers an out-of-court settlement.

"NTK, which has been awarded many architecture prizes, has been marred for almost two years by temporary metal railings and protective wooden canopies above the entrances. Hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through NTK and the Dejvice Campus perceive this situation very negatively. After many negotiations with the general contractor of the building, Sekyra Group, which led nowhere, we were forced to address the situation through legal means. The library will commemorate the tenth anniversary of its opening this year, and it is disgraceful for the most cited public building of contemporary architecture to be in such a dismal state," said the library's director, Martin Svoboda.

According to Anderle, it was a one-time event whose cause could not be determined. "Mechanical damage or a manufacturing defect in the glass element, which manifested during a sudden change in temperature, seems probable, rather than a systemic defect," he stated. "We also note that the warranty period for the building's facade expired on December 31, 2013," he added.

The director also pointed out that NTK has long been neglecting regular maintenance and servicing of the facade. "After the falling of the element, the identical glass panel underwent a load test in a state-certified testing laboratory and met multiple load requirements beyond what is asked for this product," he wrote. He also indicated that together with the general contractor of the building, Metrostav, the company OHL ŽS, and the facade supplier ALTECH Mladá Boleslav, the firm is ready for a trilateral discussion with NTK to resolve the situation. The filing of the lawsuit is perceived by the company, according to Anderle, as a manifestation of the library's legal caution due to the running of the statute of limitations.

The National Technical Library is the largest and oldest library of technical literature in the Czech Republic. Its history dates back to 1718, and it currently has a capacity of over 1.5 million volumes. The building in the Dejvice campus has served primarily students from surrounding universities since 2009. It electronically provides around 18,000 professional journals from engineering, natural sciences, and medicine, among other services, to students, educators, and researchers across the country.