Design
Design
What to do with construction waste is a hefty issue which has been looming over our governments for decades on end . we encourage foreigners to come and live here , the more the demand for quality homes will increase , resulting in an increase in the value of the land which will be developed . And the plot being developed does not necessarily belong to the developer who often has to pay a high price for a well-positioned piece of land .
Availability and Capability of the Workforce
We really need to care for the environment and to stop creating eyesores , and environmentalists need to realise that in the need for the creation of work there is also the need to create policies that would be environmentally friendly . The two go hand in hand , so our efforts should be to bridge the two sides so that there would be a greater synergy between them . Not the opposite .
Exporting Rubble
I also mentioned the concept of exporting one ’ s rubble earlier on , as our waste materials involved are recyclable but the sheer costs of such an operation in a country such as ours disallows local rubble recycling . But exporting rubble is not a simple matter ; most countries have similar environmental problems of their own and obviously do not want to handle other people ’ s waste . Nonetheless , there are countries where demolition waste can be recycled profitably . To do this locally is not viable because of our high costs and salary scales . So looking at perhaps some of the poorer countries where this could be made possible , one could also be positively boosting their economy . Without a real option for having where to dump or recycle locally , the question remains : Where to we put it ? Do we create yet another Mount Maghtab ?
Rising Costs are not profits .
Although property prices are indeed rising , this may be a misread situation . The price of a unit is made up of various variables : the cost of the land footprint , the cost of the construction materials involved , the finishing , the workmanship involved and such like . Yet it is a misconception for many that there are great profits in the sector of property development .
In fact , the average profit of a developer is between15 to 25 % because the major increase in the prices comes from the accrual of value of the actual footprint involved . This is what is really increasing the price and not the development on it . The more
The MDA is fully aware of the shortages of finding both skilled and unskilled workers for the construction industry ; a matter which is shared obviously with other industries . We are also well aware that immigrants in Malta are possibly also getting more skilled , and are strongly able and willing to work . And so they do find their place on the local workforces . I would refuse the accusation that they are being abused of by our members and we always insist that they are treated at par with other employed workers of whichever nationality .
At the same time , to address this shortfall of finding workers , we have set up the MDA Academy so as to be in a position to run specialised training courses to bring them up to par with health and safety issues , on how to do a better job on sites , as well as to obtain all the necessary knowledge to obtain the BICC skill cards and demonstrate their full capabilities . In this way , the MDA is giving every opportunity to workers , even the unskilled , to become better trained and to find the requisite self respect that their position entails .
20 Q2 , 2017 DESIGN & BUILD