No works will continue in a garage complex beneath a block of apartments in Mrieħel until safety can be ensured, the Building and Construction Agency said.

In reaction to a story published by Times of Malta on Sunday, quoting residents of Triq il-Għadam saying they were “living in fear” as excavation work took place around two load-bearing pillars supporting their homes, a spokesperson for the BCA said “no works will be undertaken on site until all highlighted matters are ironed out accordingly and a final position is reached on how works are to be undertaken safely”.

“The BCA wants to put on record that once a contestation report was submitted by the architect representing third parties on June 28, 2021, as enshrined in legal notice 136/19, immediately the BCA issued an order to stop works given the contestation to the excavation method statement drawn up the developer’s architect.

“Following this order to stop works, no works on site were undertaken since, in the light of the same legal notice mentioned, it is now the responsibility of the developer’s architect to evaluate the contestation mentioned and, obviously, to submit counter replies.”

Residents 'living in fear'

Two residents of the apartment block, Rita Spiteri and Diane Portelli, shared their experience on how the ongoing development beneath their homes has caused them to fear for their safety and also damage their homes.

While they were aware that the garages beneath their property had been bought by Greens Supermarket with the intention of being used as a store, they had never seen a notice or a permit for work affixed to the site.

They realised excavations were being carried out when they saw a pneumatic hammer and other heavy machinery entering the property, eventually hearing “tremendous noise” and the building “shook” on occasion.

One day, they saw that the garage door had been left open and residents were finally able to see what had been going on.

They discovered that the ground had been dug up around two load-bearing pillars which support the apartment block and that two large holes had been dug into the ground.

Spiteri said there were multiple fissures and cracks in the floors and walls of her home, which, she insisted, appeared after the digging started.

The BCA said that reports from the neighbouring properties as well as the excavation method statement had triggered the objection on which the agency had acted upon.

The objection made by architect Tancred Mifsud on behalf of the block residents said the site was located on an unstable and weak bedrock foundation and that an excavation depth of 50 centimetres had already been exceeded.

The families had requested for works not to continue until all documentation is in place and a way forward can be agreed upon due to the works proposed being considered to be of a high-risk nature.