After the devastating fire in downtown Essen early Monday morning, the affected residential complex had to be demolished.
The boss of the owner company Vivawest, Uwe Eichner, said on Tuesday at a press conference in Essen.
The damage is in the tens of millions.
Demolition and renovation of the fire site, including the underground car park below, are very time-consuming.
Vivawest is now mainly concerned with finding new apartments for the 128 people affected.
A four-legged police robot was also used to investigate the scene of the fire on Tuesday afternoon.
The 35-kilo walking robot was presented just a few weeks ago at a meeting with NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) in Duisburg.
He used cameras and sensors to examine the house, which was in danger of collapsing and is still closed to the public.
"He may be able to give the fire investigators valuable information.
First of all, he should give us an overview of what the building looks like," said the deputy project manager from the State Office for Central Police Services (LZPD), Dominic Reese, shortly before the operation.
The North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Construction, Ina Scharrenbach (CDU), spoke to fire victims in Essen.
Very different people are affected - from the 86-year-old and a wheelchair user living alone to families, the minister said afterwards at the press conference.
She is relieved that the three injured, who had suffered smoke inhalation, have now been able to leave the hospital.
Statements on the cause of the fire and the reasons for the very rapid spread of the fire are still not possible, emphasized the Vivawest boss.
Expert opinions would have to be awaited for this.
After studying the construction files, there are no indications of irregularities or botched construction of the house, which was completed in 2015, emphasized Essen's head of regulatory affairs, Christian Kromberg.
"There were no difficulties either in the building permit process or in the building inspection. We can and must assume at this point in time that everything went correctly," said the Essen department head.
The fire victims either found private accommodation or were provided with apartments and hotel rooms at the expense of Vivawest.
"No one was homeless," Kromberg said.
The city makes it possible for those affected to retrieve burned ID cards and papers unbureaucratically, i.e. without an appointment and without costs.
A spokeswoman said around 100,000 euros in donations had already been collected for those affected in the city.
In the fire, the four-and-a-half-storey residential complex was completely ablaze in a very short time, 35 apartments burned out completely, and a total of 39 can no longer be used.
128 people had to look for new accommodation on Monday.