Design & Build 06 | Page 31

Design The market’s shifted trend of wanting highly finished developments too is raising the need and income levels of the skilled and educated worker. within the ‘Skema Kiri’ terms would be accepted; the potential for direct rentals will lead to higher returns. In our initial recommendations for the Skema Kiri, which was actually instigated by the MDA, we had rec- ommended to the Housing Author- ity that they give out priority cards to owners, landlords or developers so that if there would be a slow-down of sorts, those participants in this social effort would be given priori- ty for benefits over those who would not have made properties available to this initiative. WWW.DESIGNANDBUILD.COM.MT SCHOOLING FOR SKILLED WORKERS lighting, concealed air-conditioning and so forth are almost pre-requisites. Whereas in the near past, developments were often sold in shell form, develop- ments are hardly sold unfinished any more, and this is brought about by how busy today’s buyers are and also due to the fact that any money saved in fin- ishing property is offset by the cost of renting, or the opportunity cost of not operating the property in question. It is also a question of market trends: to- day elements such as soffits, tiling, par- quet, plastering, wallpapering, LED Moving into the educational sphere, I believe it is worth underlining why it is important to understand the dire need of having an immediate and constant availability of skilled workers and trad- ers … and therefore there is a need to reopen the trade schools. While pro- fessions of lawyers and architects, for example, are very commendable, it is not good for us to continue to en- courage and direct our children only to these kinds of academic careers. ISSUE 06 29