Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1133773
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 JUNE 2019 YANNICK PACE THE Chamber of Architects are demanding changes to draft rules for the construction in- dustry, published earlier this week in the wake of various construction accidents. The rules come after three serious construction site acci- dents over the last two months, two of which saw homes situ- ated next door to construction sites completely destroyed. The rules were put to a five- day consultation period which ended on Friday. On Tuesday, the Chamber described the proposal as ill- thought and a recipe for fur- ther confusion and lack of clar- ity. Chamber president Simone Vella Lenicker said the cham- ber had requested an urgent meeting to discuss the pro- posed regulations. "Depending on what happens on Monday, we have a position that has been agreed with our members," she said, insisting that she did not wish to com- ment further for the time being. She, however, did not say that a strike wasn't being excluded. "We are not going to accept responsibilities that the law doesn't place on us," she said. Yesterday the Chamber in- sisted that public safety was of paramount importance, saying the government had to "prop- erly address in a holistic man- ner the problems besetting the construction industry, and not through a piecemeal approach". "Under Malta's Civil Code there are only two figures re- sponsible for construction work, namely the architect and the contractor," the chamber said. "The role of a site man- ager, as conceived in the Legal Notice, could only be assumed to be within the contractor's set-up, since the contractor was obliged at law to understand and follow the instructions is- sued by the architect, and be sufficiently knowledgeable to understand the significance of such instructions." It said contractors could em- ploy any knowledgeable person to take control of a construc- tion site without diminishing their responsibility in terms of the Civil Code in any way. Architects must, on the other hand, bear responsibility for all instances where there may have been negligence, or where due diligence was not sufficiently exercised by them in discharg- ing their services. The Chamber said that at an EGM on Friday, its members had called on government to stop dragging its feet, and im- mediately take the necessary steps to ensure the framework which allow architects to en- sure public safety, was in place and effective. The architects want amend- ments to the Periti Act, changes they say have been in the pipe- line for 12 years. They want the Building Regulation Office to be provided with all the nec- essary financial, human and technical resources it needs before the government sets up the Building and Construction Authority. "Any Legal Notice should, rather than contain technical detail that is better placed in building regulations, include provisions that empower the architect to suspend works, and lodge a report with the Build- ing Regulations Office, without having to relinquish his com- mission, if the contractor or de- veloper refuse to comply with the architect's instructions on matters relating to structural integrity," the Chamber said. It also called for a clear sepa- ration "between planning appli- cation and permitting process- es, and the processes by which building and construction is notified, regulated and moni- tored… "Nearly five years have been wasted as a result of the mis- guided advice given to Govern- ment, that the two processes should be brought together under the remit of the Planning Authority." NEWS Construction Regulations Architects on the warpath over construction rules You, your family & your business L I F E I N S U R A N C E CALAMATTA CUSCHIERI INVESTMENT SERVICES LTD (CCIS) IS AN ENROLLED TIED INSURANCE INTERMEDIARY UNDER THE INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION ACT, CAP 487 OF THE LAWS OF MALTA FOR MAPFRE MSV LIFE P.L.C.. MAPFRE MSV LIFE P.L.C. IS AUTHORISED BY THE MALTA FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (MFSA) TO CARRY ON LONG TERM BUSINESS UNDER THE INSURANCE BUSINESS ACT, CAP 403 OF THE LAWS OF MALTA. BOTH ENTITIES ARE REGULATED BY THE MFSA. TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY. ISSUED BY CCIS. THE PROTECTION PLANS DISTRIBUTED BY CALAMATTA CUSCHIERI INVESTMENT SERVICES LTD (CCIS) ARE PRODUCTS OF MAPFRE MSV LIFE PLC. B'KARA | VALLETTA | SLIEMA | QORMI | FGURA | MOSTA At Calamatta Cuschieri we now offer a full range of life insurance products specifically designed to protect you, your family and your business. Contact us today for more information. Chamber of Architects president Simone Vella Lenicker