Crumbling ice rink a threat to public safety

By Bill Lehane and Klára Jiřičná

STAFF WRITERS

The danger posed by Prague's crumbling Štvanice Ice Stadium is even worse than originally feared and could threaten public safety in the whole surrounding area on the urban island, The Prague Post has learned.

An expert analysis by Prague's Technical and Testing Institute for Construction (TZÚS) has advised City Hall it is not safe for the public to even come near the derelict 80-year-old arena.

Jiří Chour, head of Prague 7's building and territorial planning department, said the test results had shown the danger posed by the stadium extended beyond the site itself.

The stadium has been sealed off since January after it failed a safety inspection by city structural engineers, leading Prague 7 to commission the detailed expert report from TZÚS.

"Before this analysis, we thought the risk was only that the stadium may collapse internally, but now we know what may even happen is that the structure will tumble outside its own area," Chour said, adding that this could potentially endanger people on the island.

"The inner part of the stadium is damaged, while the steel construction above the ice-rink seems OK," he continued. "However, the wooden structures above the stands are in danger of falling down and taking the steel structures with them."

Chour said TZÚS had found the only alternative to demolishing the stadium was to retain some original parts of the structure in a renovation that would come at great expense to the city.

"The TZÚS result gave two possibilities," he said. "Firstly, that it is dangerous and it may fall, and therefore the building should be demolished. Secondly, if there are some valuable parts, it could undergo a costly reconstruction. Now it is upon the owner, [City Hall], to choose."

The wooden stadium, which was the country's first artificial ice rink, has been skated in by generations of Czechs since it opened in 1931, and was the scene of host Czechoslovakia's victory in the 1947 World Ice Hockey Championships.

City Hall reclaimed the keys to the stadium from operators Apex Club earlier this month after a three-year court battle over poor upkeep of the aging facility.

City Hall terminated Apex Club's tenancy agreement in 2008 over concerns about its management of the property, and the District Court and Municipal Court later backed the city in subsequent lawsuits taken by the civic association.

Prague Councilor Aleksandra Udženija (Civic Democrats, ODS) said Štvanice's current state showed that Apex Club "had not fulfilled their responsibilities for the operation and maintenance of the stadium."

Conservationist Ondřej Ševců said earlier this month he believed a wood-rotting fungus caused by a long-running leak was to blame, telling Czech Radio the wooden elements of the structure had become a "fatal problem" for the stadium.

Developers MeridianSpa have already presented plans to city authorities for the redevelopment of the island into a modern multi-use leisure facility.

Udženija said the development plan prioritized replacing the ice rink and dismissed media reports that the site may be redeveloped into a hotel complex.

"Our priority is to preserve the ice rink so Praguers can keep skating at Štvanice as they always have," she said.

She added that the project also envisaged expanding the site with other leisure and sports facilities including "tennis courts, a cycling path and an inline skating path along the whole island, a children's playground and other components."

The stadium has been a listed cultural monument for the past eight years, and the Culture Ministry has previously said its approval would be needed for any changes to the building.

Situated on the Vltava River in central Prague, the small island of Štvanice is also home to a skate park that draws 10,000 spectators each July to the Prague round of the World Cup of Skateboarding.

The writers can be reached at news@praguepost.com