In times of extreme weather, this is what we need to watch out for - a centre for flood safety on the Tisza is being developed

An important investment in terms of climate change is getting underway in Szolnok. The Horváth Építőmester Zrt. (HÉP) is modernising the latter's centre, known as the Defence Unit, on behalf of the Central Tisza Directorate of the National Water Authority (KÖTIVIZIG). The investment, worth approximately 288 million forints, involves building energy efficiency improvements at the centre on Gáz Street in Szolnok.

HÉP has agreed to complete the work in 150 days instead of the original 300 days.

The logistic complex on which the company is working serves the protection of the Central Tisza region. It is here that not only the defence equipment is kept safe, but also the KÖTIVIZIG and the national stock of defence material. The site employs around 35-40 staff from the technical security service of the water department.

More than two thousand square metres of work

During the works, HÉP will also upgrade two buildings, the standby centre and the workshop. The first of these is a 906 square metre, two-storey, flat-roofed building of traditional construction, with offices, storage, common rooms and a boiler room on the ground floor.

The upstairs is also used to provide space for public authority staff carrying out rescue and protection functions in times of flooding or other crisis situations, and for the dispatch centre coordinating this work.

Here, as the wall thickness of the facade and the strip windows are important factors for heating and cooling, the Horváth Építőmester is designed to

• retrofit insulation of the boundaries between heated and unheated spaces,
• retrofitting the building with a 15 cm thick graphite thermal insulation system and replacing the façade windows in the heated spaces with modern triple glazing.
• They will also work on the reinforced concrete slab structure.

The workshop part of the 1319 square metre ground floor workshop (which also has a storage function) will be insulated. The 35 cm reinforced concrete slab will also be reinforced with a 15 cm thick masonry solution, and the entire façade will be replaced with new windows and doors.

Renewable energy generating 50 kW solar panel system will be installed on the flat roof.

Replacing the entire heating technology

Last but not least, the heating systems of both buildings will be upgraded by HÉP: the outdated heating system currently in use will be dismantled together with the gas network, and replaced by a total of ten 16 kW air-to-water heat pumps with radiator network and DHW tanks.

As a result of the architectural modernisation work, the energy performance of buildings will also be significantly improved, i.e. their heat demand will be reduced, so that significantly lower capacity heating systems will be able to produce the necessary heat energy.