A development consisting of 20 residential units spread across seven floors along with seven garages built at an underground level is planned for the construction site adjacent to the building which partially collapsed late on Wednesday night.

The collapse occurred on Guardamangia Hill, but the building site in question extends to the road behind it, Alfred Craig Street.  All in all, the site in question will, once completed, include 20 residential units and seven garages.  The garages are all designated to be underground, while the residential units are spread across a total of seven floors.

The site previously held a building which consisted of a large workshop at ground floor level and part of the first floor covering an area of about 780 square metres.  The other part of the first floor was occupied by two residential units.

Permission to demolish the existing buildings and begin construction works was granted on 27 January 2017, while the Planning Authority’s website indicates that the project commencement date was on 4 May 2018.

The PA’s case officer found no issues with the fundamentals of the project in his report, noting that the project was in line with the North Harbours Local Plan and also the SPED objectives.  The report also noted that the development respects the relative allowable height in metres in line with the authority’s policies.

All in all, the case officer recommended that permission for the development be granted pending some measures which had to be followed.

The report stipulates that – as is standard procedure – a project supervisor for the design stage of the project and a project supervisor for the construction stage must be appointed. The same person can be appointed to take on both roles.

The project supervisor for the design stage, it is stipulated, had to also prepare a health and safety file, while a health and safety plan which sets out the occupational health and safety rules applicable to the construction activities concerned, outlining the measures to ensure cooperation between different contractors and including specific measures concerning occupational risks that may be present at this site must also be in place.

The applicant for the site is, as listed by the PA, Josef Dimech as a representative of Jsdimech Limited.  The architect listed on the PA application is Perit Peter Zammit.  This newsroom has also sent questions to the contractors responsible for the site, SC Building Group Limited, however these questions were unanswered at the time of writing.

The families who lost their property have been given alternative accommodation.

But there were scenes of despair yesterday when the rubble was removed.