Two balcony collapses in Qawra and Żabbar last week have reignited urgent calls from the Kamra tal-Periti for buildings in Malta to undergo mandatory structural inspections every 10 years.

In the early hours of last Monday, the third-floor balcony of a residential block in Qawra came crashing down onto the balconies below — just two hours after a popular bar on Triq l-Imrejkba had shut its doors for the night. Thankfully, no one was injured. Just two days later, a stone balcony in Żabbar also collapsed, this time directly onto the pavement.

According to Times of Malta, the Qawra block is located next to a construction site for a new development of 39 apartments and 33 garages. The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) issued a stop works order, but lifted it soon after, later confirming that the adjacent site was not responsible for the incident.

KTP President Andre Pizzuto said preliminary images showed deteriorated steel reinforcement in the Qawra structure, likely caused by long-term exposure and rust. Poor-quality materials may have also played a role.

“There’s no indication the collapse was caused by the nearby construction site,” he said, noting similar issues in buildings constructed from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Fellow architect Christopher Mintoff agreed that while conclusive evidence is still lacking, the nature of the collapse was “very typical” of buildings suffering from long-term neglect.

“Lack of maintenance is a cultural issue,” he warned. “If it’s not addressed, we’ll keep seeing more of these incidents, and more frequently.”

Unfortunately, these incidents are not isolated. In 2023, two balconies collapsed from the Cerviola Hotel in Marsascala, while in 2021, another balcony gave way in Sliema’s High Street following heavy rain. In all cases, no injuries were reported.

The Kamra tal-Periti has long advocated for routine post-occupancy inspections to become part of Malta’s building regulation framework.

“The chamber has been saying for a long time that buildings should be inspected every 10 years,” Pizzuto reiterated. “This could be a simple visual check, escalating to a deeper investigation if issues are found.”

He added that inspections should also include electrical wiring, fire safety systems, and lift installations, particularly in older or coastal buildings where deterioration is often more rapid.

The chamber’s proposal forms part of a wider reform strategy which includes mandatory checks determined by the BCA.

“How often these checks are carried out, and on which buildings, is ultimately a decision for government,” Pizzuto said. “But it has to weigh the cost of inspections against the risk of future collapses.”

As Malta continues to build upward and outward, the question remains: Are we doing enough to keep the buildings we already have safe?

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