The Construction History and Assessment of Two Heritage Industrial Buildings in Wrocław

Abstract

Industrial buildings from the beginning of the 20th century can still be found in Polish cities. Some of them have already been listed as heritage objects. Those structures where new technical solutions and materials were used, for example concrete, are especially interesting. Some of those objects are currently under a process of restoration with the aim to reconstruct and adapt them for completely new and different utility functions but without losing their important heritage value. In this paper, elements of the assessment procedure of the technical state regarding a historical survey, material examination and structural analysis, are presented on the example of two selected industrial buildings in which reinforced concrete was used as the main structural material. The main aim of the performed diagnostic procedure was verification of the load-bearing capacity of structures of the examined buildings. The calculation made confirmed that in case of not damaged concrete elements they have enough capacity to carry on newly designed loads. That confirmed that old concrete structures, especially in industrial buildings, sometimes have capacity reserves. On the other hand it allows to perform the design of less invasive renovation works or strengthening solutions with the aim to respect their industrial heritage value.