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Only a year after the collapse: Construction in Haifa Bay will be demolished "in the coming month"

Despite warnings from safety experts and the mayor's calls for rehabilitation, nothing was done with the collapsing symbol of Haifa, which was not restored - nor was it destroyed.

In the meantime, BZN was also required to examine the condition of the remaining chimney, and to submit an alternative architectural proposal that would "correspond" with the mythological structure. Chronicle of Procrastination

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• Haifa

• BZN

• Einat Klish Rotem

Yoav Itiel

Thursday, 17 June 2021, 08:24 Updated: 08:27

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This week marks in Haifa a year since the collapse of one of the "bricks" of the refineries, the symbol of Haifa. Despite the statements, promises and even warnings - nothing was done: the demolition of the building was not completed as required by safety experts, and certainly has not yet been restored and restored to its original condition as demanded by the mayor. When it comes to demolition, the municipality is referring to the refineries - and the BZN promises that this will happen "soon".

Meanwhile, the prominent symbol of the city, which due to its huge size and viewable distance, stands ashamed, when the amount needed to rehabilitate the building has not been raised. The area is now fearful of another collapse, joining a long line of "white elephants" in Haifa, stuck between conflicting interests of the municipality and owners in one bureaucratic entanglement. Without funding or a set schedule for their restoration, old buildings such as the Bat Galim Beach Casino building "At the Dolphin junction, and even the faltering project to renew the Talpiot market structure,That work on it began even before the construction of the BZN collapsed.

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Nothing was done.

Construction that collapsed in Haifa, June 2020 (Photo: Flash 90, Meir Vaknin)

The building collapsed on Friday, June 12, 2020, 80 years after the "bricks" - the huge iconic cooling towers of Haifa refineries and the most recognizable symbol of Haifa Bay - were inaugurated in March 1940. In 2009 they ceased operations when they were replaced by modern cooling towers.

The two cooling towers, 76 meters high and with a maximum diameter of about 80 meters, were designed by the Scottish architect James Madison Wilson and earned the Mandatory Land of Israel the local nickname "bricks" for their shape, which resembled white jars of the time.

Across the industrial world one can still find such in other petrochemical plants.

Since the collapse, the visitor center in the other building has also been closed for fear of human life, if the "problematic" construction continues to collapse.

The mayor, Einat Klish Rotem, an architect, urban planner and with a doctorate in the field of renovation and restoration of industrial cities, appeared immediately on the day of the collapse in front of the Bazan gates and announced that "these buildings need to be preserved, renovated, are very important." We must stay here, we must take care of them. "In response to the question, she added:" I unequivocally call for the restoration of the collapsed construction "- while immediately reserving that it is not certain that this will be possible.

The collapse of construction last June

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Documentation of the collapse of the brickyard: A structure from the cooling chimneys of the refineries in Haifa collapsed (Photo: Our Ata, Haifa Municipality traffic light control, Uri Reshef and Yigal Danino; Editing: Amit Simcha)

The same is true of the joint local committee for the Haifa Municipality and the Ministry of Defense, headed by Uri Ilan, which sent the company a "demand for the restoration and restoration of a collapsed conservation building." With the Department of Conservation in the Haifa Municipality in conjunction with a schedule proposed for the performance of these works.

Instead of restoration - "Mention"

This position of the mayor was contrary to that of others from Haifa and the surrounding area such as deputy, Adv. David Etzioni; Moti Meir, director of business development and innovation at the Haifa Economic Society; or Eli Dokorsky, mayor of nearby Kiryat Bialik.

"For me, this is the symbol of everything. Evil in the Haifa metropolitan area must be destroyed, "says Walla! City Council member Adv. Sarit Golan, who also serves as chair of the Association of Cities for the Environment - Haifa Bay" and a member of the municipality's conservation committee. She is also willing to give up both bricks. "The only thing these bricklayers symbolize to me is what needs to be done - to close BZN just as the CEOs' committee recommended a year after the collapse, and eliminate the petrochemical industry that pollutes us for a hundred years."

Klish Rotem in the Bazan, on the day of the construction collapse (Photo: Official website, Reuven Cohen, Haifa Municipality spokeswoman)

Experts from the BZN immediately determined that it was not possible to rehabilitate the collapsed structure. Of the Technion, hired BZN to examine the "construction" that collapsed, and they stated unequivocally as early as July last year that this is a dangerous structure and that its initiated and planned demolition must be carried out immediately. This is because due to the collapse of the neck area that supports the special structure, the structure was severely damaged, which caused its stability to be undermined. The situation is even worse as a result of the impact of the upper part on the remaining structure and the poor physical condition of the concrete and steel. "A slight earthquake could cause the structure to lose stability," experts said.

Moshe Kaplinsky, CEO of BZN, said at the time that "the collapse of the 'Lebanon' is a difficult event that we all grieve over. It is a historic and symbolic structure, which for many of us was the landscape we grew up on. However, in light of the unequivocal findings from the opinion, It is clear to the management of BZN - with great sorrow - that rapid steps must be taken to prevent further collapse in an unsafe manner. "Immediately afterwards, the BZN group approached the Haifa municipality with the findings, requesting that construction be declared a dangerous structure, and receive urgent instructions for demolition. .

The petrochemical plants and refineries in Haifa Bay (Photo: Flash 90, Yaniv Nadav)

A month later, the Haifa Municipality's Conservation Committee ordered the demolition of the building, as well as a "complete restoration of the building." The BZN had no intention of financing the construction of a huge structure without an operational need and more in a complex whose future is shrouded in fog. Nothing happened. No demolition or restoration.

Seven months later, in March 2021, in the same conservation committee, the city engineer, architect Ariel Waterman, announced. After the deputy mayor's spokeswoman, Adv. Keren Goldschmidt, who also serves as the committee's legal advisor, met with BZN representatives - "it was understood that such a structure could not really be rebuilt." He proposed instead an architectural "mention", "a design that could correspond with the fact that it stood there for construction." Committee Chairman Michi Alper asked to be returned with suggestions.

BZN was urgently required to complete a survey in which it would report on the physical condition of the other buildings for preservation in the complex, including Western construction, and a schedule for their care.

The committee found that ORL will submit a "architectural and Frogrmtit three-dimensional, including architectural design competition rectangular mention collapsed", just as it offered a year ago architect Michal Kimmel-clusters, a native of the city in an interview with Walla !.

Meanwhile, regarding the demolition is required for safety reasons stated - is nothing.

BZN: The demolition - soon

"The opposite is true," say the Haifa municipality in response to allegations of procrastination. "Construction will be demolished in the coming month after it became clear that it cannot be rehabilitated. This was even raised by the conservation committee, which updated its decision accordingly and approved the demolition under a dangerous building order. "An uncontrolled collapse of the structure that could also damage the second building."

The company stated that the group "prepared an orderly dismantling plan" for the construction, which will be implemented "soon."

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