Strengthening and Reconstruction of the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium building in Tartu, Estonia

Strengthening and reconstruction of Hugo Treffner Gymnasium building was carried out from 1994 to 1997 in four stages. The mandate of KAREG Consulting Engineers entailed designs of temporary and permanent structures as well as development of a monitoring system and examining the condition of the structure. The foundations on the yard side walls were placed two meter higher than the remaining of foundations of the structure. As a consequence, the above mentioned findings led to forming cracks and brought about the walls of the building to incline. The project involved corner walls and interior walls stabilization, exterior walls strengthening and a new basement area construction. A new reinforced slab was poured, designed using the yield line theory analysis. The use of the selected strengthening options and technique for structural intervention of the walls was found to be a suitable technique to achieve the desired objective.