*5.2. Problem Solving Process*

Immediately after receiving the results of the mentioned analyses, the Construction Directorate of Serbia (CDS) initiated a series of procedures intended to solve the problem. Everything was done in cooperation with the tenants, in order to meet their demands. For the needs of internal communication, the citizens of this settlement launched a website [65] as well as a blog related to the topic of smelly buildings, called "poisonous buildings" [68].

Given the situation, two problems had to be resolved—resettlement and temporary or permanent accommodation of the occupants of the problematic facilities, and the establishment of a procedure for further treatment of these facilities. Negotiations between the tenants and the Directorate covered a number of topics that needed to be agreed upon, in order to further treat the tenants as clients of the Directorate. Accordingly, the Directorate offered to finance the rental of the apartment until the buildings were rehabilitated (five euros per square meter of the purchased apartment, with the possibility of increasing the amount), to pay relocation costs, to pay a deposit for renting an apartment and an agency commission and all overhead costs in the purchased apartment in two smelly buildings. On the other side, the tenants asked that the problem in the buildings not be treated as an unpleasant odor, but as a danger to human health, to determine whether "oplatol" or some other substances such as concrete additives really evaporate in the apartments, and to ensure that the Directorate offered clear criteria and methods of rehabilitation to convince the tenants that their apartments will be safe. In order to find the solution for treating the subjected buildings, the CDS has consulted several scientific institutions such as University of Belgrade—Faculty of Technology, Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, the Royal Institute in Belfast and the Heidelberg Institute. However, it was determined that there is no ready solution to eliminate phenol. A special problem in the search for a solution was the fact that the chemical transformation of detected pollutants over time is very possible and that each

treatment, as well as the passage of time, carries with it the possibility of a new generation of pollutants originating from the initial pollution [18].

After a two-year process of negotiating with apartment owners and seeking solutions for the rehabilitation of buildings, the CDS decided to build new facilities for property owners, and to renovate the disputed buildings by 'extracting' pollution from them based on the methodology developed by Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences. The rehabilitation plan includes chemical treatment with hydrogen peroxide, treatment with UV lamps and ozone of all concrete walls where the presence of pollutants was detected, which originated from the coating oil [67].

Research has also shown that the state institutions, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia and the CDS, have accepted responsibility because the harmful insulating material oplatol was used in the construction of that part of the settlement. The core of the problem is the retention of harmful materials on the market and the possibility of their trade, but also the issue of the work of inspection bodies and bodies that control the trade and issue certificates for certain types of materials.

Six years after the occurrence of the problem, the works on the rehabilitation of the "smelly buildings" are nearing completion. The management of the CDS has not yet decided on the purpose of these buildings, but it is assumed [69] that one building will function as a hostel, while apartments in another building will be rented.
