The president of the Balearic Islands College of Quantity Surveyors, Ignacio Martínez, said today that the building in Palma that collapsed on Monday killing seven people, most probably fell because the metal framework had deteriorated and gave way causing a "domino effect".

In a statement to the press he continued, "One of the theories we have, in accordance with the way the building collapsed, is that one part of the metal framework gave way, most likely part of the roof support, causing a downwards domino effect."

Martínez justified his hypothesis by pointing out that if one of the walls had collapsed, the building "would have fallen forwards into the street", not down on itself as is the case.

"The way the building fell tells us that part of the framework failed, most likely on the top floor, where the metal is most exposed to the elements and deteriorates more rapidly," stated Martínez.

Explaining the structure of the building, Martínez added that it had been built "with only one space between the supporting walls, making it fall like a house of cards".

The president of the College of Surveyors dismissed the idea the possibility that the apartment block had been built without foundations, although he did add that he had been told that it had initially been only a one-storey building and that the foundations for one storey are "very different to the foundations for more than one".

"I do not believe it was a problem with the foundations," continued, "but rather a problem with the metal framework."

With regards to the degree of deterioration suffered by the framework, Martínez pointed out that, according to Palma City Council, the block was built in 1959, "right in the middle of a very bad era" in construction on the island.

"During the building boom, materials were used in Mallorca that have since been shown to be problematic, including types of cement and aluminium beams," Martínez added.

"Older buildings tend to give much better guarantees than those built in 1959-60, although, of course, this is not the case with all of them," he clarified.