'I live in fear': Residents raise alarm over St Julian's Cresta Quay excavation

Residents overlooking a St Julian’s construction site are to meet with the authorities after they flagged safety concerns about possible irreparable damage to their property. 

Members of the St George’s residents' and owners’ association commissioned a private geological assessment report of the site at Cresta Quay in Dragonara Road, which identified potential failure mechanisms along vertical and horizontal joints.

The report notes that the excavation may cause “catastrophic” damage to the nearby road and the residents' own high-rise buildings.

Animal activist and TV personality Moira Delia was one of the residents who flagged the report to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), highlighting the possible dangers such drilling could pose to their buildings if it is not properly monitored. 

Delia and other residents said the BCA ignored the report.

“All I want is reassurance that our homes are not at risk of any structural damage,” Delia told Times of Malta.

She said she often felt vibrations from the digging in the common parts of the complex and in her apartment on the seventh floor.

“I live in a state of fear in my own home, and I cannot relax when I feel our home vibrate with all the digging.”

She said the report was first flagged to the BCA two weeks ago, and it was only on Saturday that the authority contacted her to meet and discuss the residents’ concerns.

The residents' concerns came days after 13 families were told to evacuate after safety concerns were raised when the foundations of a Naxxar multi-storey development suddenly gave way. The Naxxar residents told Times of Malta that they had sounded the alarm over safety risks for years with the authorities and were close to seeking a court injunction on the works.

The Cresta Quay site is being developed by contractor Anton Camilleri, the same developer for the Naxxar site. 

The Planning Authority approved the construction of the hotel on the Cresta Quay site in 2025, with a built form different from the originally approved one in 2018. 

It was approved together with other developments connected to the Villa Rosa Project proposed by developers Anton and Adelbert Camilleri.

The development includes five levels below the highest street level on Dragonara Road and includes ‘technical spaces’, a Class 3B hotel with 51 rooms and ancillary facilities, including food and beverage outlets. The site will also include a landscaped garden fully accessible to the public above street level.

‘All we want is peace of mind’

Lawyer Claire Bonello, representing the residents and owners of the flats, said the report, by geologist Peter Gatt, showed a discrepancy in the excavation plans. The report was flagged to the BCA, and a complaint was filed earlier this month. 

Bonello said, despite the concerns, the BCA gave clearance for the works to go ahead.

Another resident, former PN MP Noel Buttigieg Scicluna, echoed Delia’s concerns, saying residents are worried that the risks identified in the geological report were being ignored.

"No point in crying out loud once the damage is done, these authorities should be there to prevent these things from happening, not to intervene when it is too late,” he said.

Another resident, Grace Bonello, said all she wanted was to feel safe in her own home and be assured that the site is following proper directions from geologists and architects.

“We are worried that any damage to our foundation could be irreparable,” she said. “All we want is peace of mind and knowing we are safe.”

A BCA representative told Times of Malta that the geological report was not ignored,

"All reports were evaluated before the required clearance was issued," the BCA spokesperson said.

“The BCA reached out to the residents and third parties to set up a meeting next week to clarify and finalise concerns which have been raised,” he added.

Two geological reports

Apart from the geological report commissioned by the residents, the developer commissioned his own geo-technical investigation report from Terracore.

The primary goal of the report was to determine the site’s terrain conditions and to check for any geological hazards like clay beds, caverns or voids.

According to the findings, the site is located on lower coralline limestone, though the uppermost beds consist of lower globigerina limestone, and no voids were reported during the drilling process.

The Terracore report concluded that while the rock quality was generally good, excavation had to be approached with “special caution” to avoid disturbing the surrounding rock mass. It recommended performing geological-geotechnical mapping during excavation to monitor the behaviour of the slopes.

The report compiled by geologist Peter Gatt called for a revision of the “affected zone” of the development to reflect the site’s specific geological characteristics and risk profile.  

The report also noted that the Method Statement relied on third-party data from a borehole located more than 250 metres away on the opposite side of St George’s Bay.

Questions were sent to developer Anton Camilleri.