January the 14th, 2026 – Who exactly will be the one to demolish the now entirely burned out, blackened skeleton of the former Vjesnik building?
As Poslovni Dnevnik/VL/Branimir Bradaric writes, immediately after the tragic fire that engulfed the Vjesnik building, it was clear that this, one of the most recognisable symbols of Zagreb, would have to be demolished. Likewise, it was expected, especially by professionals, that the company EURCO from Vinkovci would be among the shortlisted candidates for the job. This company is otherwise widely considered one of the strongest Croatian companies in the field of demolition, environmental remediation and special construction work.
This soon proved to be true when Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property Branko Bačić said that the Vjesnik building would be demolished by the aforementioned company, and that the value of the works would stand at around 5.3 million euros. The fact that the Vjesnik building was built in 1972, is 57 metres high and has 16 floors speaks volumes about how demanding and sensitive this job is set to be. An additional problem is that experts from the Croatian Earthquake Engineering Centre have made it clear that it is dangerous to enter the now unsafe building, that its mechanical resistance and safety have been very significantly compromised, and that there is a risk of partial or complete collapse of the building.
The complexity of this massive project is also demonstrated by the fact that there is flammable waste within the skyscraper, namely that there are four containers with a capacity of 28 cubic metres each, but that they are all empty to a limit called “dead mass”. These containers must be properly emptied and cleaned before removal. What is positive is that there are no installations passing through the Vjesnik building complex that could cause problems in the surrounding areas at the time of removal of the building’s skeleton.
“EURCO stated in its offer that it would demolish Vjesnik mechanically, they have many years of experience and excellent references. EURCO removed the tallest building in Croatia, which is the coke oven chimney in Bakar, and there are also numerous other buildings that they have removed, including bridges over the Sava River. We accepted the offer that was the safest, most economically advantageous for us, and with which EURCO convinced us that it had experience,” explained Minister Bačić.
The owner of this Vinkovci-based company, Željko Majstorović, said that he didn’t want to make any statements to the media until the contract for the job had been officially signed, but that the company’s references clearly show what kind of company EURCO is.
What is known about this company is that it was founded back in 1991 and is still headquartered in Vinkovci. The company’s activities include demolition and removal of buildings, rehabilitation of landfills, construction of special-purpose facilities, and engineering and environmental protection. EURCO is considered the leading Croatian demolition and removal company, ranked 68th in the world in this industry according to research by the international magazine Demolition & Recycling International. The references of this Vinkovci-based company state that they stand out for their large and technically demanding demolitions, specialised machinery, environmental remediation projects, and fast execution of works in crisis situations.
When it comes to demolition work in question, the Vjesnik demolition project will certainly be their most important job to date. Across Croatia, they have completed around 200 demolition jobs, the most famous of which are the demolition of the Marjan Hotel in Split and the aforementioned demolition of the Bakar coke oven chimney, which, at 256 metres tall, was once the tallest chimney in Croatia. The demolition of a warehouse in the Port of Rijeka has also been mentioned, as is the company’s participation in the demolition of the Maksimir stadium, the removal of buildings in Banovina after the 2020 earthquake, the removal of the Heineken Karlovac cellars, and the list goes on.
Such jobs require highly skilled workers, as well as machinery that is among the most advanced in the country. There are heavy hydraulic excavators for the demolition of tall buildings, special shears and crushers for reinforced concrete, machines for selective deconstruction, equipment for the rehabilitation of landfills, transport machinery, proper equipment for working at height and in dangerous zones.
Despite all these references and very many years of experience in demanding demolition projects, the Vjesnik demolition project will be additionally complicated because it is a job that will be carried out in the city itself, where traffic is often extremely heavy. However, according to the provisions of the contract, EURCO has a deadline of 30 days to complete the first phase and open the underpass on Slavonska Avenija to traffic, while they have a deadline of three months to demolish and remove the building in its entirety.
All construction materials and waste from the former Vjesnik building must be disposed of at a recycling yard that meets all legal obligations, or at a location that has a permit to dispose of them there. All of this indicates that exceptional organisation will be required for the realisation of this work in order to meet the given deadlines.
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