Chamber defends practice of architects turning speculators

The Chamber of Architects is “drawing up a paper” on the potential conflicts of interest and breach of ethics by many of its warranted members who have become full-scale developers and property speculators over recent years.

According to the Chamber, there is nothing prohibiting such arguably unethical instances and the growing practice of its members acting as speculators is not in breach of any rules.

Questions raised by The Shift following our report that architect Justin Spiteri is both the co-developer and architect behind the latest controversial development – where a century-old chapel in Manikata is being engulfed by a new block of flats – were at first ignored by the Kamra tal-Periti.

However, following The Shift’s insistence on a reply, Chamber President Andre Pizzuto said that the council is still discussing the situation and “is drawing up a paper on the subject”.

He added that “This is common in deontological codes in most professions locally and abroad. The emphasis is on avoiding conflicts between professional duty and personal interests.”

According to Pizzuto, “A conflict would arise when a professional could stand to gain personally from delivering a particular service in such a way that it undermines the client’s interests.

“It follows, therefore, that a perit delivering a professional service to himself cannot have a conflict of interest precisely because the interests are aligned.”

The Chamber’s code of ethics clearly states that, “An architect (member) must not hold, assume or consciously accept a position in which his interest is in conflict with his professional duty.”

The same code also stipulates that an architect, “is remunerated solely by his professional fees payable by his clients and/or by his salary…this is common in deontological codes in most professions locally and abroad. The emphasis is on avoiding conflicts between professional duty and personal interests.”

The Shift recently revealed that Perit Justin Spiteri was not only the architect of Manikata’s ‘Ville Chapelle’ but also a 50 per cent shareholder in the development – a clear conflict of interest – but the Chamber remained tight-lipped on the topic.

A number of veteran architects who spoke to The Shift expressed frustration over the situation. The issue, they said, has been a sore point for many years but the Chamber had never taken action to put its professionals in place.

“Until a few years ago it was unheard of that an architect designing a particular project was also involved in investing in the same project. That is seriously worrying as his interest might not lie in the project itself but in how much cash it will rake in,” a veteran architect told The Shift.

“However, like other professions, our profession is in a race to the bottom and the Kamra never really acted to stop the rot,” he said.

Another said that once an architect is also an investor in a development project his interest might be elsewhere, and not in a good design and the right practices.

“Today, even among architects, it’s a cowboy’s land and I’m afraid that it’s far too late to stop the rot,” he said.

Following the eruption of controversy over the Manikata project, The Shift discovered that Spiteri, who resides in Balzan, is a massive speculator involved in property development businesses with Keith Grima from Zebbug, the co-owner of a Turkish kebab food chain, Posh and Ventur auto dealer of Mosta.

The pair own Juke Developments and Juke Finishes, companies that specialise in demolishing old houses and turning them into blocks of flats.

According to their own website and social media, the Spiteri-Grima duo are currently marketing blocks of flats in many parts of the island, including Naxxar, Mosta, San Gwann, St Paul’s Bay, Zabbar, Gozo and many other locations, apart from the infamous Ville Chapelle.

Research conducted by The Shift shows that dozens of warranted architects, members of the Chamber, are somehow involved directly in property development and speculation, and are shareholders in many property development businesses.

The long and growing list includes some architects who have made names for themselves by developing large projects, some of national importance.

A well-known architect who did not wish to be quoted told The Shift that he estimated that some 50 per cent of warranted architects are now involved in property speculation either directly as shareholders or indirectly through other individuals representing their investment.