Mr Zammit was addressing a seminar organised by the Chamber of Architects and the Building Industry Consultative Council (BICC), entitled Excavation Next to Party Walls. The seminar was fully booked: in fact some 20-30 architects were refused admission at booking stage as there was no more seating space in the hall.

Mr Zammit made reference to the St Paul’s Bay tragedy, where an apartment block collapsed a few hours after workers excavating the site next door had left. Two women lost their lives in the accident.

The minister said that any excavation work, but especially work carried out next to party walls, had serious health risk implications, both for the people carrying out the work and for those who happen to live in the adjacent areas. While excavation was less common some time ago, laws requiring properties to have parking facilities together with a growing trend to maximise land use has caused the number of persons opting to excavate their footprint to escalate.

New technology has also helped the construction sector to expand, he said, but there seem to be some operators who are not qualified to use such equipment and this could be a dangerous situation, Mr Zammit said.

“The Ministry is expecting that demolition and excavation work should be covered by some form of licensing,” he said. “In this context we will also be drafting a clear policy that ensures strict discipline in relation to these processes.” The work falls under the responsibility of both the architect, who has the duty to give out clear instructions, and the contractor who is bound to follow those instructions and ensuring health and safety procedures are followed at all time. However, he explained, it seems that as things stand now it is not so easy to attribute negligence.

During these past few years the ministry launched a number of initiatives aimed at ensuring that the construction industry is consulted when laws pertinent to its sector are drafted. This process requires all stakeholders to partake in the regular updating of these laws, he added.

The seminar should serve as a form of “operation review,” from which a regulatory framework can be arrived at through the direct input of architects. “I believe that we have the necessary tools to draft regulations and guidelines that will ensure safe excavation and demolition practices in the future,” he concluded.