The incident on Psaila street, Birkirkara, where a video of the demolition of the Go Exchange Building showed rubble flying onto a street, was, to say the least, shocking.

It was a completely unacceptable situation. To make matters worse, the Chairperson of the Building and Construction Authority when the video emerged was the project architect. That does not mean that the situation was her fault, but the conflict of interest was there for all to see.

The BCA acted correctly in its actions to issue a stop notice on works. It was also right that she resigned as Chairperson of the BCA, but it should be pointed out that such a conflict of interest should not have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Both the Developer of the property, Excel Ltd which is a Joseph Portelli company, as well as the Contractor – Polidano Bros. were fined. One could question whether the fines were high enough - €3,150 for the developer and Polidano €5,000 (the sub-contractor).

Polidano issued a statement and said that it was sub-contracted by the developer/owner, Excel Developments Ltd - who also own the company engaged as the main contractor - to carry out specialised demolition works at the site. Polidano Bros said that it followed the methodology at all times and acted in accordance with the instructions of the developer as well as their architect and site technical officer. The developer however, said that the contractor failed to abide by the method statement and was careless and reckless in the execution of the works.

And the blame gets shifted around…

But that doesn’t solve the issue that what happened was dangerous. Now the authorities acted well in stopping the works and issuing the fines, but the fact that such an issue occurred in the first place is worrying. Thankfully nobody was hurt.

But, looking at things on a wider scale, it is clear that we need far stronger deterrents to ensure people are more careful when carrying out demolition and excavation works.

This is not the first time a building site has caused worry. We all remember the issues we had with excavation just a few years ago… We all remember the tragedy.

Well first of all, we need licensing for contractors and the ability to revoke licenses in cases where there is negligence or abuse, of course after an investigation is carried out into instances where such allegations would be made and depending on the seriousness of the case. But such an option is needed.

Secondly, we also need to improve health and safety on construction sites. We need to really look at best practices abroad and see what can be adapted locally. Perhaps construction, demolition and excavation companies who employ good safety practices, who play it safe, could be rewarded in some way, and those who don’t should face harsher consequences than what is in place today.