Potable water tanks and fire water tank, Arłamów, Poland

The Arłamów holiday resort became infamous in the 1980s as the secret playground of the Polish communist elite. It had been a popular destination with Polish prime ministers and party secretaries, leaders of Eastern Europe and even foreign royals.  With the fall of communism in 1989 Arłamów’s golden era came to an end and the compound became municipal property. In mid 1990s the local government sold the hotel, utility buildings and surrounding woodland to a private investor.

The picturesque resort surrounded by 23,000 hectares of Bieszczady highland is currently open to all visitors and remains  a popular destination for summer and winter vacations. It was not surprising that several years ago the new owner laid out plans for the redevelopment of the complex into a state-of-the-art sports and conference centre. The project, worth an estimated 70 million euros, included modernisation of the old hotel building and incorporating it into the newly-built Congress and Sports Centre. When finished the resort will include a five-star hotel for 400 guests, indoor swimming bool, spa, outdoor thermal pools, sports arena, bowling alley, tennis courts, soccer field, small golf course, equestrian centre  and other facilities.

The complex had no access to  a municipal water or sewerage network as it was located in the heart of the woods. As a result the new centre rely on water from wells, which needs to be stored in expansion tanks. After the investor was denied permission to install the tanks on greenfield land the designers from MWM Architects decided to place them in the new hotel building 13 m beneath ground level, directly above strip footings.  

The new location required that the tanks have special characteristics. The key was finding tanks which would be large enough to serve their purpose and fit into the limited space at hand. The tanks were supposed to be lightweight , easy to install and operate, resistant to damage and hygiene certified. Weho tanks produced by Uponor Infra met all these requirements. 

In all  5 Weho tanks were delivered by Uponor Infra to the East European Congress and Sports Centre Arłamów including 4 expansion tanks for drinking water of total capacity 300 m3 and 1 fire sprinkler water tank of 75 m3 capacity, all ring stiffness SN6. The tanks were delivered to installation site in October 2011 by five trucks with pilots and installed within several hours. Installation work began at 7 a.m and by 1 p.m the tanks were lowered onto gravel bedding directly above strip footings. Soon after the Uponor Infra service team welded inspection chimneys  onto the tanks. After installation work was completed the space between the tanks was backfilled with aggregate and compressed to make way for the construction of the ceiling, which shall bear ventilation rooms and an indoor swimming pool. The installation went smoothly. In fact, the investor was surprised at the speed of the work.