Nobody may have been injured in the collapse of a Sliema balcony, but a couple who had just walked into a restaurant in the building feel lucky to be alive and they claim that the rest of the property is a “ticking time bomb”.

But it will be up to its owner to ascertain whether it is hazardous and to remove any pending peril on the advice of an architect, according to the Sliema local council, the Civil Protection Department and the police.

Each of them outlined their roles, and in the absence of injuries, the buck stops with the owner.

Daniel Cho and his partner, whose Saturday lunch was interrupted by a “thunderous” sound and who are thankful they entered the building 15 minutes before, have felt it was important to raise awareness.

“We relocated to Malta two weeks ago and this is certainly an unacceptable image. I have never seen a building collapse in front of my eyes – not even in a Third World country…”

The couple had just walked along the narrow street under the first-floor balcony, which gave way in its entirety after a heavy downpour, sending rubble hurtling down. 

“It was like a bomb exploding,” Cho said, as the couple were barely through their appetisers.

They emerged to find the collapsed balcony on High Street had missed a car by about 10 centimetres, Cho said, adding that its shocked owner drove away immediately.

Other pedestrians gathered at the scene – one “highly nervous” because she was about to cross the street to enter the building.

The witness maintained the block’s other balconies had cracks and expressed concern due to the heavy foot traffic of shoppers and residents in the road beneath.

Fortunately, there were no pedestrians under it at the time, Cho said, adding that two gas tanks on the balcony fell with it and rolled down the road, creating another hazard.

He referred to a similar 2019 incident, when an entire stone balcony in Hughes Hallett Street, close to Tigné seafront, collapsed, onto a parked car.

Sliema mayor Anthony Chircop invited residents to point out to the local council any dangers they perceived.

In the absence of injuries, buck stops with the owner

Hazardous sites and structural damage on buildings should be reported immediately, the mayor said, noting that the council’s role was to relay any reports to the police and inform the owners, if they were known.

He also complained that the police normally just cordoned off the area in an “amateurish” way, with paper that was easily moved, torn off, or would topple over with the slightest gust of wind.

“We would rather the site was blocked off with proper police barriers that really sealed off the area,” Chircop said.

Unaware of any prior reports about the High Street building, he noted reports of similar dangers – though not that many – were more frequent in winter, following a storm.

Chircop singled out old and abandoned properties that had been bought by developers and were awaiting permits, but he could not say they were “an accident waiting to happen”.

Nevertheless, if ignored, he added, rubble falling on a car is one thing; but stones falling on people and injuring or killing them was quite another.

How to avoid incidents

The avoidance of these incidents was the reason why the Kamra tal-Periti (Chamber of Architects) has been campaigning so forcefully for a complete overhaul of the building and construction regulation framework, its president Andre Pizzuto said

Among the relevant proposals in the chamber’s detailed framework document, Pizzuto mentioned the introduction of modern regulations that reflected contemporary techniques and materials to ensure project documentation was complete, and no shortcuts were taken.

This meant durability throughout the building lifetime was adequately addressed at the design stage, also reducing the cost of maintenance.

Pizzuto said the licensing of contractors and workers would also ensure buildings are constructed competently, while construction regulations that would standardise methodologies should be introduced.

The balcony collapse gave even more weight to the proposed introduction of proper mechanisms for the certification of materials and workmanship by contractors, including concrete, reinforcement and waterproofing.

This would also address Malta’s “consistent failure” to adequately implement and enforce the European Construction Products Directive, Pizzuto insisted.

He continued to call for the overhaul of the Compliance Certificate regime to include confirmation by the Building and Construction Authority that the property was fit for occupation on the basis of certifications submitted by the designers (architects and engineers) and contractors.

The certificate should also include the authorisation of the handover of the project from the contractor back to the developer/owner, legally establishing the transition from a construction site to a building fit for occupation and halting the applicability of the construction regulations.

It should also include the obligation of the owner to periodically submit certification by architects or engineers to confirm that the building is still compliant with the building regulations.

“This would include certification of the structural condition of a building periodically, say every 10 years, to confirm that the building is still safe for occupation,” Pizzuto highlighted in the wake of the balcony collapse.