Gwardamanġa collapse victims reach out-of-court settlement with developer

The five families affected by a house collapse in Gwardamanġa have reached an out-of-court settlement with the contractor in charge of the construction site next to the house. 

The agreement was reached on Friday afternoon and will cover the refurbishment of their apartments and all common areas.

In 2019, the partial collapse of the common wall between a construction site and a house on Triq Mimosa left several families without a roof over their head. The families affected were living in various apartments adjacent to and above the house that collapsed.

The families were being provided with temporary accommodation until the families can move back into their homes once deemed safe.

All the expenses surrounding the provided accommodation were covered by the contractor in charge of the neighbouring site where the collapse occurred.

All of the 14 Gwardamanġa residents who incurred damages to their apartments had filed a judicial protest against the developer and his company. 

The judicial protest read that the developers, under the supervision of architect Jonathan Schembri, acted with negligence and failed to observe the proper construction regulations.

The collapse was the third major construction accident to happen in the span of two months. In April 2019, a separate apartment block collapsed in Gwardamanġa. In June that same year, a four-storey building collapsed in Mellieħa.