The president of the Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers (KTP), as well as his predecessor, have derided the legislation inertia governing construction sites, saying architects continue to carry responsibility for contractors’ malpractices.

Despite the government’s pledges, KTP president Andre Pizzuto expressed frustration over the fact that “nothing gets done”, while Christopher Mintoff said architects had been rendered into a cheap insurance policy that acts as a smokescreen to protect unlicensed contractors.

The issue came to the fore last week after shocking footage emerged showing a dangerous demolition project in Birkirkara, which led to the resignation of the Building and Construction Authority chairperson, who was the project’s architect.

“The current regulations have not made the industry safer,” Mintoff wrote in a social media post.

Deriding the lack of a licence requirement for contractors, Mintoff said that rather than having seen improvement, “the situation has got worse and the core problems have not been addressed in any way”.

“We have people who have no licence to demolish properties... today I was actually on a site where someone could not operate a telescopic ladder and almost injured himself,” he said.

The government has refused to give a deadline for the licensing of contractors, despite having promised to introduce the requirement three times since 2019.

“This is an ongoing process, and a number of announcements will be made in the coming weeks,” said a spokesperson for the Planning Ministry when asked if the government would commit to publishing a deadline.

In November, Planning Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi had said the government was “approaching the end of discussions on a system that will introduce licensing”.

Pizzuto said he was “not sure why” the regulations had not yet been introduced and expressed his scepticism at the assurances.

“They’re always ‘in the works’... [the government is] always telling us there are plans but nothing ever gets done,” he said.

'Architects remain liable for damages caused by contractors'

Pizzuto expressed his frustration that, as the law stands at present, architects remain liable for damages caused by contractors.

“The mindset is that because we are the only ones that are licensed, we are the only ones who can carry liability,” he explained, attributing the “shifting of responsibility” to the profession’s unwillingness to finance political campaigns.

“A lot of the younger people are either dropping out or moving abroad because they’re not happy with assuming liability,” he added, noting that many architecture students were choosing to continue their studies abroad.

Regulations governing the licensing of contractors have been promised twice before in addition to last year.

In 2019, former infrastructure minister Ian Borg announced the introduction of new regulations would mean that “if you do not have a licence, you cannot operate in the industry.”

The regulations were set to be in place by the end of that same year.

In January 2021, Parliamentary Secretary for Construction Chris Agius had pledged that the setting up of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) would lead to the licensing of contractors.

'Industry is a joke'

When asked if the introduction of the BCA in August later that year had worked to improve standards, Mintoff replied “absolutely not... all it has done is created bureaucracy and created no tangible benefit to the public or the industry.”

“The industry is a joke,” Mintoff added. 

Malta Developers Association (MDA) president Michael Stivala agrees that the creation of a licensing system is needed “as soon as possible.”

“Unfortunately, up until now nothing has been implemented,” he said, adding that meetings with the planning ministry were due to take place in the coming weeks.

Last year, the government missed a self-imposed deadline of December 15 to introduce regulations following threatened industrial action by the KTP, according to Pizzuto.

“Taking a hostile approach has never served our interests… we are working on implementing a new strategy,” Pizzuto said, when asked why the chamber had chosen not to follow through with its threats.

In 2019, the now-defunct Building Regulations Office (BRO) tasked the MDA with drawing up a list of contractors, a move that attracted over 600 applicants.

This decision was later found to be illegal by the Office of the Ombudsman, which said the BRO should stop promoting the arrangement and start compiling its own list.