Safety authority shuts down Carlo Stivala site as water flows in Sliema street

Updated 11.28am

Health and safety authorities have shut down construction work at Carlo Stivala’s multi-storey hotel development in Sliema after large volumes of water were pumped onto the street and a worker was spotted balanced on a partially submerged excavator.

Earlier on Friday, Times of Malta reported how residents had been left fuming after water flowed down onto the seafront from the construction magnate’s hotel development at the bottom of Triq San Vincenz.

Videos of the site show water gushing onto the street from at least two pipes sticking out of the site and pooling across the busy road as pedestrians struggle to cross. 

In one clip, a construction worker - conspicuously without a helmet, high visibility jacket or other safety equipment - balances precariously on top of a partially submerged excavator as the machine appears to dig into the foundations. 

The Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) told Times of Malta later Friday morning it had issued a stop work order to the site and that its officers were on site.

Initial investigations indicated that a pump used to remove seawater from the foundations – which are being excavated to below sea level – had broken down, leading to seawater filling the site, an OHSA spokesperson said.

Safety officials and the project supervisor were in discussions on how to deal with the issue, the spokesperson said.

They added that all workers were told to leave the area, and that the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) had been brought onboard to assess whether there had been contamination of the sea. 

Residents say the water has been pumped out of the construction site's foundations throughout the night and early morning over the past few days.

“People sometimes can’t even cross the street with the water,” said one resident. He said he had recently seen a construction worker “literally swimming” in the water repeatedly filling the site's foundations.

In a letter to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in late April, project architect Colin Zammit said workers were still “battling” water entering the site before they could start installing supporting pillars.

Slamming the lack of consideration shown to those living nearby, the resident said the water emptied into the street was just the latest in a series of grievances, with those living nearby left to deal with long hours of noisy excavation work.

“We can’t even open our doors and windows due to the noise and odour of exhaust fumes from machinery,” he said, stressing that excavation was continuing at the site for 12 hours a day, between 7am and 7pm, outside of regulated hours.

The water could be seen stretching across the Sliema front.

While construction work can continue between the hours of 7am and 8pm, excavation work may only be carried out between 7.30am and 4pm, according to the BCA website.

‘Issue quickly fixed’

Responding to the complaints, Stivala said the water discharge “only happened on Wednesday night,” and that the pipes seen in the footage had been accidentally directed into the street by backpressure in the system.

He said he had been called about the issue by a resident at around 5am and had a team on site “within 30 minutes”, after which the issue was quickly fixed.

Stivala explained that the water was usually pumped into boreholes, which were subsequently emptied by bowser trucks every two or three days.

A pedestrian considers how to cross the street as water flows from the nearby construction site onto The Strand.

Asked about the worker perched atop the construction vehicle, Stivala said the man was "maybe a mechanic" testing the excavator, which he explained had exhibited mechanical issues over the past week. He added that the vehicle would not have been excavating at the time. 

Responding to complaints of long excavation hours, the construction mogul said he had been cleared by the BCA to carry out excavation works beyond 4pm until the end of May and had subsequently applied for further clearance until June 15, which was pending approval.

Stressing that the site was under constant supervision and that excavation works were nearly at an end, Stivala said, “We have CCTV cameras and a team monitoring the site, and I visit 20 times per day.

“We did a good job, there have been no damages and we’re almost finished. Construction will start soon.”

Stivala said the pipes had been accidentally directed into the street by backpressure in the system.

Saga of controversies on same site

The recent water discharge is the latest in a saga of controversies dogging the project.

In March, workers were filmed working on the site the same morning the BCA issued a stop-work order - a day after Times of Malta sent questions to the authority about reports of unpermitted excavation. The BCA later said it had authorised limited remedial works.

And last month, the Water Services Corporation sealed several manholes in Sliema close to the Triq San Vincenz development in a bid to curb illegal dumping into the sewage network, following complaints from residents.

In February, Stivala applied to sanction the demolition of the façade from the building formerly on the site, despite having earlier committed to retaining and incorporating it in the new development.

It is Stivala's second hotel project within metres of each other on The Strand. The first, a 15-storey hotel at the bottom of Triq Lunzjata was approved by the Planning Authority, days after activists accused the developer of building higher than permitted.