This is an opinion piece written by Fortunato Said, an architect by profession

Without going into the merit of what happened on Monday in Hamrun, where a house collapsed near a building site being excavated, I would like to mention some issues which need to be addressed in the near future.

I graduated as an architect in 1975.  The building industry was far different to what it is today.  Construction equipment was very primitive by today’s standards and construction technology was nowhere near as sophisticated as it is today.

Unfortunately, the typical Maltese contractor is very conservative, and will only acquire new technology if the competition has it.  I remember contractors telling me that concrete pumps are not good for Malta.  At the time there were only two truck mounted pumps, being used by the Chinese for the construction of Dock nr. 6

Also unfortunately, the Construction Industry is slow to learn how to use new equipment.  Typically, many truck mixers imported second hand are not really mixers but agitators, used in conjunction with a wet mix batching plant.  Most batching plants in Malta are dry batching plants which require truck mixers to mix the concrete as it is being delivered.  An agitator truck, with very short mixing paddles, will not do the job properly.

We are in the middle of a building boom bigger than anything in our lifetime.  Money is no problem, so Contractors buy more and more construction equipment, generally second hand, without any regulations in force on how it should be maintained, and without any training for its operators.

Can you imagine driving a car without having a driving license?  Yet, you can see many types of construction equipment that are being driven by persons who might have just a driving license.  In several European Countries, any authorized plant operator should have a certificate of competence that proves he can drive a particular type of plant.  As far as I know, in Malta, there is only the Group 6 license which is issued to drivers who have trained to drive articulated trucks.

At present, one can see, cranes of various capacities, concrete pumps, piling rigs, hydraulic excavators, and so on.  Each of these types of plant require specific skills from the operator.  Yet, I do not know of any approved Certificate of Competence issued for this type of plant locally.  Indeed, I do not think there is a specific authority which handles such certification.

A second issue with plant, is certification of the plant itself. I do not think that there is a mandatory requirement to certify the various types of equipment, except for cranes.  Frequently you see on sites, construction equipment in a very bad state of repair, with leaking oil and emitting dark fumes from the exhaust stack.  Admittedly, some large Contacting firms are now opting to buy new equipment and maintain it in good condition.  But this is not mandatory.  I know cases where owners of dirty cars have been fined because their car was dirty.  How much more serious is a piece of construction equipment, being used in an urban environment.

A third point is the point of responsibility.  Architects in Malta are vested with the responsibility of designing buildings that should be safe, functional, environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing.  It is very unfortunate that we are sadly lacking in many of the aspects mentioned.  Often, it is lack of suitable training, since the profession still does not have the requirement of mandatory Continuous Professional Development.  Still, generally, large projects tend to employ multidisciplinary teams of professionals to ensure that these criteria are met.

Legislation in this regard is sadly out of date or lacking.  I would imagine that large developments need to be vetted to ensure that all the criteria mentioned are being met.  As far as I am aware, there is no requirement to vet structural analysis for buildings at the planning application stage by any authorized body, neither the Planning Authority nor the Building Regulations Office.  The issue of a comprehensive site investigation has often cropped up.  I firmly believe that this should be mandatory on all building or infrastructural work.

In our typical urban environment, with terrace development, where the property line is the common party wall which is a structural element, there needs to be strict legislation, protecting existing building party walls.  The principle should be that each new building should have its own structure within the property line without depending on third party structures, and that existing structural party walls should be supported adequately when excavation below existing site levels is carried out.  Sadly such a draft legislation was proposed some time ago, but there was not sufficient political will to enact it.

Finally, we come to the construction method statement.  I believe that this is vetted by the Building Regulations Office.  This is a joke, as there is no government organization, sadly lacking in resources as the BRO.  The demolition and excavation methods being universally used in urban areas, in sites even as small as 6m by 20m, leave a lot to be desired.  Thus, either there is no method statement, or the method statement is a joke.

The construction industry needs to modernize its plant.  Nowadays, there are many ways of excavation and demolition.  The use of diamond wire cutting equipment, or tracked mechanical saws, will eliminate much of the nuisance caused by hydraulic breakers.  These methods produce much less noise and dust generation as well as transmitted vibration to neighbouring properties. There exist vibration monitors that can send an alarm when vibration generated by construction work exceeds safe levels.  These tools should become commonplace and mandatory in an urban environment.  The universal use of the hydraulic breaker or “Hymac” as it is commonly known should not be allowed in an urban environment on such small sites.

In a nutshell we need to have:

(a)   An updated construction industry where Certificates of competence and certification of equipment become mandatory.

(b)  Adequately resourced and funded government bodies such as the Building Regulations Office, a specific licensing department within Transport Malta to cover certification and Comptence certificates for specialized construction plant.

(c)   Mandatory CPD for Professionals in the Construction Industry.

(d)  Strict observance of regulations.