Fair-faced concrete eye-catcher for new training facility

The design of the new 21 m high fire service training centre allows maximum and special usage
of every inch of the building for various training activities. Being partly built arching over, the
inner as well as the outer walls can be perfectly used for trainings in high altitudes and above
free depth, thus preparing the fire service crew not only physically but for special rescue
missions too. There will be well shafts, polygons with very limited space and artificial trees.
Firefighters from all over the Czech Republic will undergo their education and training at the
new centre.

The most outstanding element and a real eye-catcher is the monolithic climbing wall on the
exterior side of the building. The basis of the building are two monolithic structures forming the
front and rear façade and creating the most demanding training polygons of the facility. In total,
the climbing wall is seven storeys high and offers a unique training place with its complicated
shape and narrow manholes resembling a variety of shafts and wells.

Tailor-made custom formwork units for unique shape
The geometry of the design is highly complex and thus required special formwork expertise as
well as an individualized approach. In total, there are seven pouring sections, all being unique in
their shape. “For the construction of the climbing wall, Doka designed a tailor-made formwork
solution consisting of 94 special formwork elements adding up to a total area of 700 m². On
average, the individual elements are three meters high and were shored up by the Load-bearing
tower Staxo 100”, says Martin Paškrta, Engineer at Česká Doka.

Once formwork planning had been completed, the Doka Pre-assembly Service embarked
assembling the formwork units for the seven sections and delivered them to the construction
site. “Doka supplied the formwork components and special formwork units just-in-time. The
formwork did not pile up on site and construction could move forward smoothly and fast. This
was a great help for us”, explained Petr Vinš, Construction Manager at Stylbau.

Part of the customized formwork was also used for a polygon with cramped manholes, where
there is also a six-storey well with an inner diameter of 100 centimetres and a maze of circular
manholes. Moreover, there are two walls only being one meter apart and thus, creating an
additional training shaft. Framed formwork Framax Xlife with Xlife panels was the right solution
for these vertical structures. Stair tower 250, Folding platform K and additional edge protection
systems provided for safety on site.

Once construction of the training facility has been completed, parts of the building surface will
be visible. Therefore, high emphasis was put on achieving a high-end surface quality in fairfaced
concrete. The formwork units were fitted with high quality formwork sheets ensuring the
required surface result.

Česká Doka is proud of supplying a sophisticated formwork solution for this special project. Not
only because this new training facility benefits the public good but also because many of Doka’s
employees are volunteering in their local firefighter brigades. Thus, it is likely that some of them
will return to the training centre – not as formwork experts but as firefighters undergoing
trainings.