The hotel complex “Miramare” was built in the 60’s in Moraitika, Corfu.

It was first renovated in the 1990s.

In 2014, a radical renovation was decided, based on a complete architectural and electro-mechanical installations redesign, in order to create a luxury, high-class five-star hotel.

As a consequence, it was considered necessary to perform statics interventions on the existing reinforced concrete “load-bearing” frames of the individual buildings, which had been extensively damaged due to erosion.

The greatest damage occurred mainly in the two-storey buildings that were very close to the sea.

The buildings were independent successive suites, tangent to each other, built in diagonal arrays.

The strengthening should additionally provide for the construction of a new balcony, as an extension of the ground floor roof slab.

The statics and earthquake-resistance design suggested the change of the existing building skeleton into a thin-walled multi-cellular reinforced concrete structure, in order to replace the existing linear structural elements and at the same time to “encase” them and protect them from further “erosion”.

The cells were made of shotcrete, on a lightweight steel frame, which served as a remaining steel formwork.

The increased strength of the concrete cells “allowed” the construction of the desired balconies as an additional structural element.

The above – described type of strengthening interventions proved to be very fast in construction and very economical.

In fact, it allowed us – on the outside of the buildings – to construct the new “load-bearing” structure in combination with the ETICS (external thermal insulating composite systems) and – on the inside of the buildings – to pass the E / M installations through the gap between the “load-bearing” structure and the drywall, which is the final surface of the walls.