Evacuated families still waiting to return to their Sta Venera homes
They were evacuated on February 8
Six families evacuated from two apartment blocks in Sta Venera on February 8 are still waiting to return to their homes.
The families were evacuated from their Quarries Street properties with only 15 minutes notice after cracks developed in their walls.
“The properties from which the families were evacuated are being assessed to determine whether the residents may safely return," Justice and Construction Reform Minister Jonathan Attard told Nationalist MP Darren Carabott in reply to a parliamentary question.
“The Building Construction Authority will continue to assist the affected families until architects say it is safe for them to return.”
The minister said works at a nearby construction site have been suspended.
The BCA and the local council will also evaluate approved permits in the area because of concerns that other properties may have been built on fragile foundations. Architects and developers will be required to agree on a method statement before works resume at the construction site.
The residents had said at the time of their evacuation that they first raised concerns with the BCA on January 15 after noticing new cracks in their walls.
After further complaints, the site contractor installed gauges to monitor the cracks. As the cracks widened significantly, a police report was filed through an architect and the BCA ordered the evacuation.
Emergency precautionary works were made on one of the properties adjacent to the construction site, shoring it up to reduce any immediate risk.
The construction project’s architect, Anthony Robinson, subsequently told the residents that although no excavation had taken place, piling works were 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 was 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.
He said the project team would be “evaluating the consequences of further piling works and considering alternatives that cause fewer vibrations”.