the essential
The tenants of the building at 39 rue des Lois in Toulouse, evacuated on Sunday December 22, after a businesswoman alerted the firefighters saying that “the building was moving”, can return to their accommodation, assures the town hall. The latter indicates that shoring work is underway in the basement of the building, but the managers of the restaurant on the ground floor cannot reopen.
Obviously, more fear than harm for the tenants of the building (R + 4), located at 39 rue des Lois in Toulouse, after the visit, on Sunday December 22, of specialists in building risks to inspect this building in the center of city which had just been the subject of an alert. The managers of the La Liégeoise restaurant and tea room called the fire brigade after hearing “big vibrations in the basement ceiling”.
No danger order
Monday, December 23, the Toulouse town hall ensures that it is able to give authorization to tenants – the old building with a red brick facade has twelve apartments for students – to return home. No danger order has been issued, but the co-ownership will have to begin work to shore up the basement, confirmed the vice-president of the Metropolis in charge of ecology, sustainable development and energy transition.
“There is a fragility on the stairs”
“There is a fragility in the stairwell and the shoring needs to be reinforced, explains François Chollet. It is a building that we have known for a year which has problems with the stairwell which is sagging of a few millimeters in the ground You can see it clearly by observing the plinths which are peeling off. It is a building which has undergone numerous works throughout its life. The tenants will be able to return to their accommodation, but the managers of La Liégeoise do not hide their concern.
Because the specialized services of the Capitol have asked the co-ownership “to extend the shoring made in the basement by January 13, 2025”. Furthermore, the city indicates that an “operation ban order has come into force”, it concerns the restaurant-tea room which serves an average of twenty seats at midday. “His manager, who wishes to speak anonymously, recounts his Sunday.
“We felt it vibrate”
“It happened around 11:30 a.m., just before the service. I thought it was the pump in the basement that was bringing up the water. My wife was making waffles and she felt that everything was vibrating. Me, I was cooking for customers. She told me that the floor was moving. I then went into the stairwell and said we have to call the firefighters. We explained to them that we are in a building. there's had work that was never finished. We brought in a bailiff and a lawyer so that the co-ownership could remove a scaffolding installed for work on the roof, then for work on the stairwell. bought the business in July 2024, it has lasted since 2023 but no one told us that there would be such work.”
“We are a total loser”
According to him, “the tenants come to see us and tell us that they are afraid that the building will collapse, there are a lot of students.” His wife recognizes that “from the beginning, to have the scaffolding removed, it was a battle lasting several months.” She continues: “When the scaffolding was finally removed, we discovered hidden defects: water damage, cracks, vibrations. We are a total loser, we have to close our business. We have just found out that the December 17, the decision of the legal procedure, which was in progress, ordered structural works of the building.
In Toulouse, the black series on the reliability of buildings in the city center remains in the memories, after the collapse, on March 9, of a building on rue Saint-Rome. Several buildings have been evacuated or are still under surveillance.
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