Part of the suspended ceiling collapsed in a shopping center near Poznań Główny railway station. Photos showing the collapsed ceiling were posted on the @poznanmoment account shortly after 11 o’clock.
As reported by TVN24 journalist Mateusz Majchrzycki, the store is closed, and its windows are covered with film, making it impossible to see what is happening inside from the outside.
The Greater Poland Voivodeship firefighters did not receive any notification about such an incident on Thursday. The Poznań District Construction Supervision Inspectorate also learned about the event from journalists.
“Today we did not receive any reports of an accident or failure at the Avenida shopping center. If such a situation arises, the facility manager should first eliminate the danger, check for any possible threats, and immediately close the premises,” said Paweł Łukaszewski, the Poznań District Construction Supervision Inspector.
“No one was injured”
The facility owner refused to comment on the incident to TVN24 and directed journalists to the provided press release.
“On September 17, part of the ceiling separated in one of the tenant’s premises, outside the common areas of the shopping center. No one was injured during the incident. The area was immediately fenced off and secured. The event does not affect the normal operation of the shopping center,” the statement said.
Comments were also sought from “H&M”.
Similar case
A similar incident occurred in April 2014. At that time, part of the ceiling of a corridor about 300 square meters in size collapsed. Fortunately, it happened at night when the shopping center was closed.
Then, the Poznań District Construction Supervision Inspectorate conducted an inspection and found that the ceiling panels were damp, overloaded, and had lost their load-bearing capacity, which caused the ceiling to collapse.
The inspectorate also made a decision requiring the shopping center owner to repair the ceiling and reinforce the structure. Essentially, this meant that the building could not be used temporarily.
According to assessments at the time, the weight of the collapsed ceiling was several dozen kilograms per square meter. As they fell, they damaged the sprinkler fire protection system, causing the shopping center to be flooded with water. The entire shopping center was reopened only three months after the ceiling collapse.
The Poznań prosecutor’s office investigated whether the incident posed a significant threat to property and many people’s lives. Investigators failed to identify individuals responsible for the suspended ceiling collapse, so the investigation was discontinued.
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