Most of the concrete used at Mater Dei supplied by Blokrete

Most of the concrete used in the construction of Mater Dei Hospital was supplied by Blokrete Ltd, one of the Maltese contractors in the consortium made up of Swedish firm Skanska and the other Maltese contractor, Devlands Ltd.

Architect Joseph Cassar, founder partner at Cassar Grech Ebejer, confirmed that concrete was supplied mainly by Blokrete.

“Concrete was mainly supplied by Blokrete. But if I remember correctly, there were also other suppliers at the early stages of the project that included Mixer Ltd and Tal-Maghtab Construction,” he said.

Attempts to contact Blokrete director Joseph Fenech proved to be futile as he is currently physically indisposed.

Cassar was a member of the executive board representing Blokrete and Devlands. He was “mainly involved in the administration” of the contract.

A police investigation, a board of inquiry and the parliamentary health committee will all be investigating and establishing how a number of concrete structures at the Accident and Emergency Department were constructed using concrete of inferior quality.

The discovery was made after contractors Attard Bros and Mekkanika, who won the tender to build two new wards on the A&E department, carried out stress tests on columns. According to the government, three different stress tests concluded that concrete used on certain pillars was too weak to carry the weight of two additional wards.

A new site has since been identified for the wards.

The pillars in question were built in early 1996, between February and March.

While Skanska has expressed surprise at the news of weak concrete, confirming that no one from the Maltese authorities had contacted it, the Maltese contractors have so far refused to speak up.

Cassar Grech Ebejer, an architectural firm, took over the design responsibility between 1999 and 2000 after a previous firm had its contract terminated.

On his part, Cassar categorically denied ever receiving information that concrete used may have been of an inferior quality.

Like a second CGE director, Mario Grech, Cassar insisted that Skanska had a quality control and assurance programme that was thoroughly followed.

“As a member of the executive board representing Blokrete and Devlands, I was mainly involved in the administration of the contract. However, I can tell you that we never received information that concrete used was not up to standard as stipulated in the contract,” Cassar said.

Insisting that it was not the function of the executive board to see to the technical side of things, Cassar said it was the responsibility of people on site, mainly people from Skanska.

“Skanska had its own project manager, project leader, procurement manager, technical manager and cost controller, among others. Quality control and assurance was solely the responsibility of Skanska.”

In a report comparing four short-listed tenderers, the evaluation committee had described the joint venture as being made up of “one of the leading European companies” and “well-known Maltese civil contractors”.

“The joint venture has the necessary expertise to carry out the project”, the committee had noted, adding that 35 sub-contractors covering 17 areas of work were “deemed to be reliable”.

“There were various subcontractors, not only on masonry and concrete works but also on electrical and mechanical,” Cassar said when asked who these subcontractors were.

Asked to confirm who the architects on the project were, Cassar said he didn’t know but confirmed that the information was available from MEPA applications.

England & England were the first architects and civil engineers to work on the project. By mid-1996, the architects, according to planning applications available on MEPA’s website, changed and were temporarily replaced by architect Vincent Cassar, then director of the Works Division, formerly known as Public Works.

A new call was issued and awarded to a foreign company, represented locally by the late architect Lawrence Mintoff and architect Edgar Rossignaud.

Subsequently, under the Nationalist administration, the contract was given to Skanska joint venture design and construct who appointed White, a Swedish architectural firm whose local representative was Mario Grech, of CGE, supported by the late structural engineer Karmenu Busuttil.

Several attempts to contact architect Richard England proved to be futile. He is however reported by the Times of Malta saying that he had been “kicked out” before the building phase started.

A MEPA application, dated 5 February, 1996, lists England & England as the architect applying to construct and carry out alteration works at San Raffaele Hospital, as Mater Dei was then known.

“When we were still involved, that building was not part of the scheme. When we were involved, the hospital had 400 beds. Then we were kicked out and the size doubled, so I know nothing about it,” England was reported saying by The Times of Malta.