It must be asked if defective concrete is generally found on Skanska projects or whether it is confined to Malta.

A similar Skanska project, in which the 12-storey concrete construction is presumablyup to standard as it hasn’tyet collapsed, is the new Karolinska Solna Hospital, currently under construction by Skanska in Stockholm, justtwo miles away from their worldwide headquarters.

Skanska’s glossy brochure for the Solna project is available on the web and proudly displays a colour photograph of the “concrete plant established on the construction site...”.

It may be that the two projects are different in scale, but given the large quantity of concrete used at Mater Dei, a concrete mixing plant could still have been employed, enabling the concrete mix to be more closely monitored and made available for analysis and testing

If Skanska are sued in Sweden, the case might be resolved in two years. If they are sued in Malta, it is probable that judgement will take nearer 20 and, in that time, there is always the chance that evidence will be lost or witnesses die.

Defective concrete may therefore be seen as a business risk worth taking in Malta, whether by the main contractor or by local sub-contractors.