A shop owner in Bisazza Street, Sliema got a nasty start to the day yesterday when her insurance company called at 7.15 a.m. to say her beauty salon had collapsed.

She rushed on site to find her Affinities Beauty Salon, which she had locked up the day before and was intact, had a large hole in the place of the ceiling and stone slabs tumbled over the façade.

“I had everything inside the shop,” the owner, who asked to remain unnamed, said.

Nobody was injured in the incident.

The police said the accident happened just after 6.15 a.m. when the wall collapsed after bricks from a nearby building under construction got dislodged by the strong winds.

A clothes store close by sustained damage to the roof, a wall and the internal yard. It was construction workers who first realised what had happened when they arrived on site to start the day’s work and informed the authorities. The police said the parties involved had decided to resolve the matter between them. The owner of the beauty salon said she had been constantly complaining about the works with the Occupational Health and Safety Authority because of the bricks and cement constantly being handled overhead. The shop is right opposite the tower crane which has stood there for the whole five years the beauty salon has been open.

The OHSA said the incident had nothing to do with the carriage of materials over the shop. It said it was the responsibility of the architect to ensure the building adhered to structural norms, adding there was no law prohibiting the carriage of bricks over third party property, as long as this was done safely. Officials had visited the site at least three times to ensure such practice was not hazardous, it said.

The street has been making headlines lately due to traffic chaos and shoppers’ inconvenience caused by the resurfacing works. In spite of the momentary loss of trade, dust and chicken wire, in a letter to The Times last month, the Sliema business community said it was quite satisfied with works being carried out.