Sharing of boundary walls 'potentially dangerous'

The practice in the building industry of sharing a boundary wall between two neighbouring properties is proving to be potentially dangerous and has to stop, developer Anglu Xuereb said yesterday in a presentation of Azzjoni Nazzjonali's proposals on the subject.

It is currently standard practice for neighbouring properties to share a nine-inch boundary wall, but while that may have been fine with buildings that do not rise beyond a few floors, with every other plot being turned into a block of apartments that sort of wall is often nowhere as strong as it should be to properly sustain such buildings, Mr Xuereb said.

He was speaking at a meeting organised by Azzjoni Nazzjonali, which however seemed more like a technical briefing about the state of the building industry. As AN's deputy leader, Mr Xuereb now holds the double role of construction magnate and politician.

The party's proposals, he said, emerge from recommendations which had been made to the government by the Building Industry Consultative Committee - on which he also sits - but which have never been implemented.

Chief among those proposals is a ban on the sharing of boundary walls. Instead, everyone would be responsible for building their own wall, designed to sustain the structure they are planning.

Mr Xuereb also called for more responsibility to be placed on both architects and contractors, adding that AN was proposing a mandatory professional indemnity covering both of at least €500,000 (Lm214,500) each.

This would ensure that in the case of an accident, a third party who suffered damages would be guaranteed some form of compensation and also that the process would be made faster.

"It's just not acceptable that someone who has had his property damaged by third party construction would have to take the developers to court and only receive compensation after five or 10 years."

He made a brief reference to a case involving him personally when construction on his recently opened Palace Hotel in Sliema damaged nearby property, including a 200-year-old chapel. Because both he and his contractor were insured they turned the matter over to the insurance company which is now dealing with payment issues.

Also in this connection, AN is suggesting that architects as well as developers should be held accountable for the whole construction process and not only parts of it as is the case now, and that developers are asked to submit what is known as a method statement before being granted a permit, detailing exactly how they intend to proceed with works.

People would then be given 21 days to comment on the statement and register their objections if need be, much like it is possible with planning permits at present.