Chamber of Architects says new legal framework does nothing to prevent accidents

Architects say buildling industry rules apportion blame after an accident takes place, shifting it away from developers and contractors, who remain unregulated to this day

Miriam Pace lost her life when her house collapsed in March
Miriam Pace lost her life when her house collapsed in March

Malta’s Chamber of Architects, the Kamra tal-Periti, has criticised the regulatory framework surrounding the building industry, saying that instead of guaranteeing public safety, it only apportions blame.

In a statement released after the arraignment of four men, two of whom are architects, following last month’s fatal collapse of a residence adjacent to which construction works were taking place, the Chamber reiterated its opposition to the “hastily drafted” regulations which were brought into force in 2019.

Whilst praising the swift action by the authorities in this case, it said that the legislative focus was in the wrong place.

“All these regulations were designed to do is apportion blame after an accident takes place, while concurrently shifting it away from developers and contractors, who remain unregulated to this day,” the Chamber said. “Instead they should have been focused on preventing such accidents from happening in the first place.”

The new regulations have blurred the lines of responsibility, it said, which meant that the courts would now have to establish the responsibilities of four different roles, including the STO role which did not exist before. “Inevitably, defence lawyers will thrive in this weak regulatory framework,” it said.

The Kamra also said it was perplexed by yesterday’s statement by the Malta Developers Association, in which it was stated that the regulations introduced last summer provided “clear parameters to determine who was responsible for such incidents.”

“It appears that this was the primary focus of the MDA, rather than ensuring public safety, which has always been the paramount concern of the Kamra.”

Before her appointment as director general of the MDA. Marthese Portelli had slammed the regulations, characterising them as  “rushed decision-making [which] has set nobody’s mind at ease.”

The Kamra said it was fully committed to ensure the implementation of its stakeholder-endorsed building and construction regulation framework which the Government had committed to start implementing as of October 2019.

Delays in introducing the appropriate legislation will only prolong the public’s exposure to health and safety risks, it said.