Developers and planning permit holders are being warned to be on the lookout for a fraudster posing as a site technical officer in breach of construction regulations.

The warning was issued by Kamra tal-Periti (Chamber of Architects) which said that it had alerted the Building and Construction Agency about the case.

By law, site technical officers must be nominated by the contractor and must be either an architect or a graduate in the field of engineering. Their duty is to take responsibility for the enforcement of the method statement covering construction works and they must be present whenever decisions are taken that might influence the risk of damage to third party property or injury to persons.

The chamber said that on various occasions a person not qualified to take the role of a site technical officer had presented himself to permit holders as being such and signed the site responsibility form, which was unwittingly uploaded by the architect responsible for the project.

Despite the fact that the case, including the name of this person, had been referred to the Building and Construction Agency, this fake site technical officer persisted in trying to defraud more clients, the chamber said.

This was done by presenting permit holders with forms apparently signed by at least two architects. Those signatures were forgeries.

The chamber urged its members to refer to the list of qualified site technical officers available from the Building and Construction Agency’s website. 

The role of site technical officers is regulated by legal notice 136 of 2019 which came into force following a spate of collapses of third-party properties triggered by works in adjacent construction sites. Faced by a public outcry, the government had reviewed construction and planning regulations in an attempt to tighten enforcement.

However, safety issues were once again brought under the spotlight last March when 54-year-old Miriam Pace died after being buried under the debris of her own house in Ħamrun. The property collapsed during works in an adjacent site. Four persons have been charged in connection with the case.