The police have charged two people due to the roof collapse of a hall in Česká Třebová

Česká Třebová - The police are prosecuting two individuals for endangerment through negligence due to the roof collapse of the sports hall in Česká Třebová in January. According to Czech Television, these individuals are the designers. The structure collapsed on January 14 during a floorball match, but all attendees managed to escape. The police have refused to disclose who specifically is being prosecuted, said Lenka Vilímková, spokesperson for the Orlickoústecká police. The roof was constructed by the company Cecolegno, which filed for insolvency in mid-May. In its justification, it states that the roof collapse was caused by the designers' error.

"The decision has not been delivered to all authorized parties, and for this reason, we cannot provide more information," Vilímková said. It is not yet clear whether the number of accused might increase. The roof collapsed just a few days after the final inspection when there were 80 people in the hall. The total damage was estimated at around 16 million crowns.

The regional authority built the facility for 58 million crowns for the Higher Vocational School and Technical Secondary School, which no longer had a sufficient gym. The collapse damaged the flooring, lights, electrical installations, and interior equipment, such as sound systems, air conditioning, and a special rubber surface that was on the floor during the floorball tournament. The damaged construction part is being claimed by the region from the construction supplier, while the equipment is expected to be replaced from insurance.

The roof of the hall, constructed with wooden trusses and a truss frame, was built by Cecolegno as a subcontractor for the general contractor, Profistav Litomyšl. For the planned new roofing, glued trusses have been chosen, which will be spaced six meters apart instead of the previous three meters. At the same time, they will have a different profile, increasing the usable height of the hall by 1.5 meters.

According to the head of the property and building regulations department of the regional office, Michal Votřel, the company Cecolegno had its own designers for the roof construction. "The project for the building was ours, from the region, including the roof, but they said they would take their own designer and their own structural engineer for the roof. They did not use our project and used their own designer, who designed it independently, including their own production," Votřel told ČTK.

The company Cecolegno, which specializes in wooden constructions, filed for insolvency on May 18, linked to a bankruptcy petition. It stated that the key factor for this decision was indeed the contract in Česká Třebová. "Just before the completion handover, however, the entire roofing of the sports hall collapsed due to an error by the project subcontractors of the proposer. As a result of the media campaign, the proposer gradually lost all previously agreed construction contracts worth over 16 million crowns... At the same time, the proposer nearly lost all of its employees, who moved to competitors," states the insolvency petition.

Suppliers began demanding payment of all receivables from the company and shifted to advance payments. However, the City Court in Prague rejected the insolvency petition on June 21 because some attachments lacked required details and were not supplemented in time. Today, ČTK was unable to contact Cecolegno.

According to the insolvency register, Cecolegno owes dozens of legal entities. As of April 30, it had liabilities amounting to more than ten million crowns. "We are also among those registered in the insolvency proceedings. However, I am afraid that the company is bankrupt, and there will be nothing left of it," Michal Facek, CEO of Pila Facek, told ČTK.