After Santa Venera evacuation, BCA moves to check nearby planned developments

The authorities will review several other planned developments in Santa Venera to ensure they pose no danger, Building and Construction Authority (BCA) CEO Roderick Bonnici told concerned residents at a meeting held a day after an emergency evacuation.

The BCA ordered a precautionary evacuation of residents from two apartment blocks in Triq Misraħ il-Barrieri after damage was noticed linked to works at a construction site.

The development (PA/05033/ 24), set to transform a vacant plot into a block of apartments, penthouses and a semi-basement parking level, straddles Triq Misraħ il-Barrieri and Triq is-Soll.

As the name suggests, many of the properties on Triq Misraħ il-Barrieri are believed to have been built on the site of an old quarry, resulting in relatively weak foundations. Those on Triq is-Soll are believed to have stronger foundations.

At an occasionally rowdy public meeting on Monday afternoon, the project’s architect, Anthony Robinson, told residents that, though no excavation had taken place on site, piling work was under way to reinforce the planned building’s foundations.

Piling is a technique widely used to reinforce building foundations, particularly in areas where rock conditions are weak. In the case of this development, piles 14 metres (roughly four- and-a-half floors) deep were embedded into the bedrock to stabilise the foundations.

Robinson said it is likely that the vibrations caused by the piling works may have disrupted loosened material in the foundations of properties several doors down from the building site, prompting Sunday’s precautionary evacuation and emergency works to secure one property deemed to be at risk.

In a statement yesterday, the BCA said six families remain in alternative accommodation.

Sitting alongside Bonnici, Robinson told residents during the meeting that the project team would be “evaluating the consequences of further piling works and considering alternatives that cause fewer vibrations”.

Architects would be drafting a new method statement, outlining how they plan to work, which would need to be approved by the BCA before works resumed.

Addressing concerns raised by several residents about other planned developments in the neighbourhood, Bonnici said the BCA, together with the Santa Venera local council, would be reviewing all other ongoing works in the area to ensure their safety.

Planning records show several other planned developments in the area, including an application for another apartment block on Triq is-Soll, just metres away from the current works, by the same developer and architect.

Some residents had flagged risks to their properties in objections sent to the planning authority as part of the project’s screening process back in 2024.

One resident, writing in August 2024, warned that excavation works on the site “are going to cause great structural damage that our maisonette would become uninhabitable, or worse, our grave”, fearing that an adjacent garage already in poor condition would collapse as a result of the works.

More recently, on January 15, residents raised the alarm over works. The next day, the BCA issued a stop works notice, barring any further work on the site. Later that same day, the project’s architect filed a statement certifying that “all structures within the excavation affected zone of the site are safe and that the ongoing works shall not affect the structural integrity of these same structures”, prompting works to continue.

The properties evacuated on Sunday both lie outside the excavation affected zone, an area established by law adjacent to the excavation area.

The, BCA issued another stop works notice last Friday, citing “further investigation” on the site.