I am writing about the predicament of the Mater Dei hospital concerning the appallinglack of supervision in the plac-ing of concrete, particularly the columns.

As a retired civil engineer, I have to say there appears to have been a complete lack of control by both the contractor and theconsultant responsible for all engineering aspects of the project.

In my day when major pours of concrete were carried out, test cubes would be made at regular intervals; these would be tested at seven and 28 days respectively.

With the strengths reported I am confident that even the first seven-day results would have shown the concrete to be faulty.

My opinion is that both the contractor and consultant could be found guilty of negligence, and should be brought to book if the timescale permits.

There should have beenno need to bring in Arup’s atconsiderable cost to the taxpayer, of whom I am one, inthe first place, not to mention all the remedial costs which may prove necessary.