Developers and architects welcome ‘elevation of standards’ in stone mason licensing

The National Building Council (NBC) has welcomed a legal notice overhauling the licensing process for stone masons, which it says “is expected to elevate the standards of the workforce.”

The NBC is a partnership between the Malta Development Association and the Kamra tal-Periti (Chamber of Architects) “conceived with a joint vision to set the benchmark in the construction and property development industry.”

Legal Notice 184 of 2024, issued last week, continues the gradual reform of the construction industry’s rules aimed at enhancing professionalism and improving safety, after a series of high profile incidents and fatalities over the last years.

Previous reforms targeted demolition and excavation activities, the latter of which previously fell outside the scope of the regulatory framework.

Stone masons, on the other hand, have required a licence as far back as the 19th century, though the rules had not been updated in decades.

Under the new stone mason licensing rules, a new committee within the Building and Construction Agency will be tasked with testing masons’ competence before granting them a licence.

“The NBC trusts that this Committee will exercise its powers and responsibilities professionally and objectively.”

The organisation said it was present during the discussions of these regulations and commended the Ministry for “taking this step forward.”

However, it added: “That being said, this is only the start of what is required in order to revise decades old laws and address other lacunae within the industry’s regulatory framework.

“The NBC will keep insisting on further discussions with a short-medium and long term strategy plans which are necessary for the industry.”

Although the reform has oftentimes progressed at a snail’s pace, attracting criticism from industry stakeholders, activists and the families of victims of incidents dating back to 2019, getting a “very large, very active, and almost totally unregulated industry into a comprehensive legal framework … takes time,” as pointed out by former Minister for Planning and Public Works Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi last year.

The construction sector reform portfolio has since passed on to Minister for Justice Jonathan Attard.