Architect arraigned over Sofia tragedy given new assignments by Lands

Aqra bil-Malti

An architect arraigned in court and accused of the involuntary homicide of Jean-Paul Sofia, among other charges, has been given new work assignments by the Lands Authority through her private office, The Shift can reveal.

In July 2023, architect Adriana Zammit was suspended from her full-time job at Infrastructure Malta. A few weeks later, the Lands Authority, managed by CEO Robert Vella, did not hesitate to assign the same architect new jobs related to the valuation of public land.

One such job, conducted by Zammit, was concluded in January 2024 and recently published in the Government Gazette.

The CEO did not reply to questions on whether this was an acceptable move since the architect is facing charges related to her negligence on the job.

The Authority also declined to list all the assignments given to Zammit since her suspension from work and to state how many public payments were made to the architect.

The architect, who is denying the accusations, also did not reply to questions by The Shift.

On the other hand, her employer, Infrastructure Malta, confirmed that Zammit was still suspended on half-pay by the agency.

Despite her suspension, Zammit still holds an architect’s warrant and continues her private practice.

The Chamber of Architects has no power to suspend her warrant until court procedures are over.

In July 2023, Zammit was charged with manslaughter after a magisterial inquiry into Jean-Paul Sofia’s death concluded that she “through negligence, lack of ability in her profession, or lack of adherence to regulations caused the death”.

The court-appointed expert in the inquiry, Prof Alex Torpiano, found that Zammit “did not make the necessary calculations to ensure structural stability” and “failed to inspect the construction site properly” – a Kordin factory.

He also said Zammit “did not show the necessary ability and professional know-how required in her responsibility as the architect”.

Torpiano told the inquiry that the builders of the collapsed building said they had never even seen Zammit on site and admitted that work instructions were given to them by one of the two developers, Matthew Schembri – a self-appointed site manager with no qualifications to act in any such capacity.

“During the construction phase of this project, it resulted that architect Adriana Zammit used to depend on WhatsApp (pictures) to give instructions on how works should proceed,” the inquiry stated.

“According to her WhatsApp messages, particularly with Matthew Schembri, it results that she based the work’s supervision on pictures of the works sent to her by Schembri himself,” it added.

Sofia’s last order before the building collapsed like a house of cards was to photograph fresh concrete poured on the roof and send the images to the architect.

Zammit obtained her architect’s warrant in 2012 and worked at the Planning Authority for several years before moving to Infrastructure Malta.