ITS architect fined for bad workmanship in separate Fgura project

Colin Zammit, the owner of  Mosta-based architectural firm Maniera Group, was ordered to pay approximately €5,500 in damages together with B’kara contractors TH Construction Limited for what the court established as bad workmanship on a block of flats built in Fgura in 2009.

After the apartment block owners, Gheiti & Sons, claimed damages, court experts found that Colin Zammit was responsible for incorrect structural calculations contributing to movement in the building’s walls.

The Court also concluded that Zammit and the contractors were responsible for using low-quality bedding mortar during construction and that no concrete tests were presented.

According to one of the architects tasked with assessing the works, the Fgura 17-apartment block building also had defects in its concrete ceilings due to the lack of proper steel distribution. However, the court expert could not independently confirm this.

TH Construction, also known as Tal-Ħerba, defended their actions by stating that they were not to blame for the damages as they carried out their work under the guidance of Architect Zammit.

However, the Court of Appeal presided over by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, confirmed the Magistrates Court’s original 2019 decision and said that Tal-Ħerba could not shift all the blame on architect Zammit as they also contributed to the bad workmanship and lack of professionalism.

While becoming one of the most sought-after architects by big developers and contractors, in 2016, Zammit was awarded a lucrative €700,000 direct order by disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi to draw plans for a new ITS campus in Smart City.

Several architects had questioned the direct order at the time, but the project never took off.

Former Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Alfred Camilleri had said it was Projects Malta Chairman William Wait and Permanent Secretary Ronald Mizzi, assisting Konrad Mizzi at the time, who had insisted on issuing the direct order to Zammit’s Maniera Group.

Zammit was also the architect of Foreign Minister Ian Borg’s development of an illegal pool in a field next to his home in the Outside Development Zone (ODZ) hamlet of Santa Katerina.

Although Zammit had applied for a permit for the minister twice and obtained it from the Planning Authority, the Court twice declared it illegal.