Tweet
Destructive Construction? Residents of 32 Abovyan St. Concerned About
Damage to Building's Foundations
Sona Avagyan
hetq 14:15, April 7, 2012
The facts that large cracks have appeared ին apartment
walls and that the State Urban Construction Inspectorate found a
number of building code violations, hasn't stopped Ashot
Simonyan from digging away underneath the landmark building at 32
Abovyan Street in downtown Yerevan.
Workers were back at the site earlier today with picks and shovels,
prompting nervous residents upstairs, afraid that the
building's foundations are being weakened, to call the
mayor's hot line and other municipal agencies.
Unfortunately, no one from the city picked up the phone, given that
today is a non-work day. Hopefully, the building will stand upright
till Monday.
Building resident Sedrak Arakelyan told Hetq that a work blueprint is
affixed to the tarp surrounding the work site and it
doesn't show the tree that now stands on the sidewalk.
Simonyan told this reporter that the tree will remain standing.
`It never even crossed my mind to touch that
tree,' he said.
Simonyan also said that all ongoing construction is according to the
work permit he received.
Building residents, however, have consistently pointed to numerous
violations. A top concern of theirs is that the basement construction
is weakening the foundations of the 78 year-old structure. Cracks have
appeared in their walls and some doors no longer close properly.
Simonyan claims that the violations uncovered by the Inspectorate have
been taken care of.
He scoffed at the idea that serious problems have plagued the
construction work.
`Hey, it's an old building. Those cracks
aren't my doing. They examined those cracks and found no
structural damage.'
Simonyan failed to name which organization or agency had conducted the
examination.
The builder originally wanted to operate a cafe or restaurant in the
basement. After residents complained, Simonyan is now talking about
opening some kind of store.
From: A. Papazian
Damage to Building's Foundations
Sona Avagyan
hetq 14:15, April 7, 2012
The facts that large cracks have appeared ին apartment
walls and that the State Urban Construction Inspectorate found a
number of building code violations, hasn't stopped Ashot
Simonyan from digging away underneath the landmark building at 32
Abovyan Street in downtown Yerevan.
Workers were back at the site earlier today with picks and shovels,
prompting nervous residents upstairs, afraid that the
building's foundations are being weakened, to call the
mayor's hot line and other municipal agencies.
Unfortunately, no one from the city picked up the phone, given that
today is a non-work day. Hopefully, the building will stand upright
till Monday.
Building resident Sedrak Arakelyan told Hetq that a work blueprint is
affixed to the tarp surrounding the work site and it
doesn't show the tree that now stands on the sidewalk.
Simonyan told this reporter that the tree will remain standing.
`It never even crossed my mind to touch that
tree,' he said.
Simonyan also said that all ongoing construction is according to the
work permit he received.
Building residents, however, have consistently pointed to numerous
violations. A top concern of theirs is that the basement construction
is weakening the foundations of the 78 year-old structure. Cracks have
appeared in their walls and some doors no longer close properly.
Simonyan claims that the violations uncovered by the Inspectorate have
been taken care of.
He scoffed at the idea that serious problems have plagued the
construction work.
`Hey, it's an old building. Those cracks
aren't my doing. They examined those cracks and found no
structural damage.'
Simonyan failed to name which organization or agency had conducted the
examination.
The builder originally wanted to operate a cafe or restaurant in the
basement. After residents complained, Simonyan is now talking about
opening some kind of store.
From: A. Papazian