Architects have denounced the government’s attitude towards the construction industry, saying it is treated as the Prince Charming of the economy but like Cinderella when it comes to regulation.  

In a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela Chamber of Architects president Simone Vella Lenicker said the industry was an embarrassment. 

“It remains inconceivable how this industry continues to be treated as the Cinderella of the public sector from the regulatory side, and its Prince Charming on the economic side,” Vella Lenicker said. 

“This laissez-faire attitude is not only destroying our cultural identity and our environment, but is resulting in loss of life and the social upheaval of local communities.”

She said a year had passed since the government promised a revamp of the construction industry but commitments were still to see the light of day. 

These included setting up the new Building and Construction Authority, amendments to the Periti Act, and the issuing of building and construction rules. 

She referred to Abela’s own anger, after the death of Miriam Pace in a house collapse next to a construction site five months ago.

“The anger you felt that day is an anger that we experience on a daily basis when we are faced with the systemic failures that plague the industry,” she said. 

“These include the complete lack of regulation of contractors, the vacuum of a proper building and construction regulatory framework, and the fragmentation of regulatory bodies that continues to fuel confusion and lack of consistency.”

She said foreign workers were being exploited, workers were not properly qualified and there were issues with site safety, which leaves the industry “far from being comparable to our European counterparts that it is, to say the least, embarrassing.”

No other industry was as unregulated as the construction industry, she said, yet at the same time was being presented as one of the main drivers of the economy.

Vella Lenicker asked Abela for an urgent meeting to discuss the situation and the chambers proposals for construction regulation framework.