Today, Nordecon AS entered into a contract for the 5th stage of renovation in St. Paul’s Church in Tartu; with the customer’s reserve, the value of the contract could amount to €5.47 million.
“The Foundation of Tartu St. Paul’s Church has divided the renovation into six stages and so far Nordecon has been honoured to be the contractor during the last two stages. Now we have also managed to win the fifth procurement stage in intense competition,” said Avo Ambur, member of the Nordecon AS Management Board. “This involves great responsibility for the contractor, as along with functioning as a church, it is also an outstanding architectural monument and modern cultural centre."
According to Avo Ambur, the fifth stage of the construction in Tartu St. Paul’s Church mainly involves large-scale renovation of the church concert hall in terms of restoring its plasterwork and wall paintings and constructing the one-time modern reinforced concrete balconies and mosaic concrete floors, which architect Eliel Saarinen had originally designed but were never executed. The interior of the campanile that was damaged by a past fire will also be renovated and its brick front fixed; the spire and outer staircases will be refurbished, the entire brick façade of the church repaired and the roof tiles of the wing replaced. In the final stage, the utilities built in previous stages and other construction parts will be integrated into a whole.
Work will be performed based on the architectural design executed by the Kari Järvinen and Merja Nieminen Architecture Bureau, the designs of special parts compiled by the Maaskola Engineering Bureau, construction design prepared by the Matti Ollila & Co Engineering Bureau and acoustics guidelines drawn up by Akukon OY. The renovation will be completed in November 2014.
St. Paul’s Church in Tartu is the most magnificent among the churches built in Estonia in the 20th century. Tartu St. Paul’s Church with its Art Nouveau architecture was the first new-style church in Estonia. It was designed by a Finnish architect, Eliel Saarinen. The church is being renovated on the principle that St. Paul’s Church is a sacred building, an architectural monument of the 20th century and also a concert hall, which will turn into a great place for performing the masterpieces of sacred music. After the renovation, the church will accommodate 300 performers and an audience of 1,000.
