Updated at 1.45pm

Engineering graduates will soon be able to act as site technical officers at excavation and construction sites, the Planning Minister said in a statement on Wednesday.

The decision enlarges the potential pool of STOs, which an initial reform of excavation and demolition laws had initially limited to qualified architects. 

Laws concerning excavation and demolition works were reformed last month following three building collapses in the space of a few weeks.

The revised laws introduced the concept of site technical officers at construction sites. STOS are intended to be qualified people responsible for overseeing building sites during sensitive works which might affect third parties. 

Various stakeholders had complained about a decision to only allow qualified architects to act as STOs. They argued that there were not enough architects to fulfil the role.

On the other hand, architects argue that only qualified periti are able to take sensitive decisions at construction sites. 

The concession to allow engineers to serve as STOs was announced on Wednesday by Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg and Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and the Property Market Chris Agius.

The government confirmed that both those graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Engineering from MCAST as well as all those graduating in engineering from the University of Malta would now be eligible.

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