Expomedia Investigates Disaster at Hall in Poland

Events being relocated after roof collapse that killed 63 and hurt 160

By Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 2/13/2006

Officials at Expomedia Centres Eastern Europe are investigating the collapse of an exhibit hall roof that killed 63 and injured 160 at Poland's Katowice Intl. Fair, which the company co-owns, and are working to relocate upcoming shows. Meanwhile, convention center architects in the United States said the tragedy could result in lawsuits against the building's owners, and possibly its designers.

According to Zaneta Berus, commercial director of Warsaw Intl. Expocentre EXPO XXI, a division of Expomedia Group Poland, two other buildings at the Katowice facility are still standing, but the entire venue is unusable and will be so for at least three more months.

"It will be months at least before the investigation into the accident is complete," Berus said. "Besides the snow on the roof, other causes are being carefully investigated, like the building's construction, the stability of the soil, and the difference in temperatures inside the building and out."

Local authorities said the collapse was caused by the weight of snow on the roof, but Expomedia officials said the roof was cleared regularly. Subsequently, the Polish government ordered the closure of some other large flat-roofed buildings during a winter in which the country has experienced unusually heavy snowfall.

David Greusel, a partner with architectural firm HOK, said that even if snow isn't the primary cause, chances are good that it exacerbated the problem.

In some cold-weather areas, heating elements are built into roofs to melt snow buildup, but in Katowice, such a system probably either didn't exist or malfunctioned, said Ethan Nelson, vice president of architecture for the Paul Steelman Design Group.

"You have to deal with snow loads as a real issue, and maybe even go beyond what the codes require," Greusel said. "Heating a roof would be expensive. It's probably cheaper to design strong steel supports to withstand the pressure of the snow."

The Katowice venue schedule included the Kuchnia Katowice Kitchen, Kitchen Furniture and Accessories Exhibition in February; and the Foodtarg Frozen Foods, Dairy Products & Meat Products Exhibition and GLOB Intl. Tourism, Tourist, Sport and Sailing expo in March. April's busy schedule included the Body & Style Expo, Ecodom Intl. Fair of Measurement and Economy of Heat and Sources of Energy, INTERECO Intl. Ecological Fair, Lazienka Bathroom Equipment Fair, SAVEX Safety and Production Technique Fair, TARGBUD Intl. Building Fair and the Flowertarg Gardening and Garden Architecture Fair. Another 20 smaller events were also planned over the next few months.

The facility is owned by an entity called MTK, which is 51-percent owned by Expocentres Eastern Europe, a subsidiary of Expomedia Group. The state, the city of Katowice and a handful of private investors own the remaining 49 percent. Berus said they would all meet by mid-February to determine how to proceed.

"Apart from obvious current matters, there is also a need to discuss business reconstruction," Berus said, adding that Expomedia is working quickly to reschedule and relocate as many Katowice shows as possible. "We'll move some to Warsaw or to other Katowice venues or venues in that region. Many of these shows, such as the GLOB tourism show, are very important to the local economy. We'll know more after the shareholders meeting, but the point is to keep the shows in the region."

GLOB fills the entire Katowice facility and reportedly attracts more than 400 exhibitors and 10,000 to 15,000 attendees.

The 10,000 square meter (106,000 square foot) Katowice exhibition facility, located about 200 miles south of Warsaw, collapsed Jan. 29 during the GOLAB Carrier Pigeon Fair, which had more than 120 exhibitors, including groups from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine and Poland. About 500 people were believed to have been inside at the time.

Dominic Barretto, director of Bishopsgate Communications, a public relations firm representing Expomedia, said MTK is assessing its position with its insurance brokers. The main priority, he said, is to identify the cause of the accident.

Nelson said building owners throughout the world are typically responsible for such tragedies. Local laws require buildings to be constructed according to code and inspected regularly, but accidents can occur because of design or construction flaws. In the United States, city building departments must ensure that qualified, licensed people design and build structures, reviewing design plans and inspecting construction progress, but in Poland, Nelson said, something in the process apparently broke down.

Greusel noted that in U.S. public building disasters involving loss of life, building owners are responsible for safety, but architects and structural engineers also bear some legal responsibility. However, that may not be the case in Poland. He noted that in some countries, architects only play advisory roles.

Police and media reports indicated that one of the facility's designers attempted unsuccessfully to commit suicide two days after the accident. Berus said she had heard such reports but could not confirm them.

According to Nelson, most U.S. architectural firms adhere to the Intl. Building Code of 2003 in overseas projects. Many foreign companies are also beginning to adhere to it as well, but there is still deviation from accepted standards in smaller projects.

Expomedia's stock took a sharp downturn after the accident. On Jan. 30, the first day of trading following the tragedy, its shares on the London Stock Exchange lost almost a quarter of their value, closing at £103.5 ($183), but the following day it rebounded to £120.5 ($213) and has held steady since.