Architects who sit on the board

Summary

At least 10 practising architects have served as board members on Malta's planning commissions while simultaneously maintaining active caseloads as architects submitting applications. The most striking case: Perit Mariello Spiteri sat on 3,840 hearings as a board member (2016–2018) while being the architect of record on 271 PA applications — and was physically present at 17 hearings for his own cases. All 10 that reached a decision were approved.

Board membership and hearing data is drawn from published board minutes in the PA database. See methodology for coverage details.

Key findings

The dual-role architects

The Spiteri case

Perit Mariello Spiteri is the most dramatic example:

• Board member: Apr 2016 – Dec 2018 (~2.7 years), present at 3,840 hearings
• Active architect: 2000 – 2026, 271 PA applications filed
• 56 of his own cases were decided during his board tenure, of which 51 were approved (91%)
• 17 hearings show him listed as a board member on a case where he is the architect
• Of those 17: 10 approved, 6 deferred (and deferrals lead to 90% approval per Discovery 18), 1 no decision recorded
• Zero refusals on cases he was present for

Projects he sat on as both architect and board member include a contemporary art gallery (The Ritirata, Floriana), hotel cold stores (Ramla Bay Resort, Mellieha), and multiple sanctioning applications.

Spiteri: the public record

The conflict of interest around Spiteri was publicly reported and eventually led to his resignation:

• Spiteri was a shareholder and director of EMDP, an architecture firm that conducts Environmental Impact Assessments for developers, while simultaneously serving as a full-time member of the Planning Commission — which decided ~95% of all permit requests. The commission was just three architects: Spiteri, Simon Saliba, and Elizabeth Ellul.
• He declared his interest in EMDP in 2014 and was supposed to abstain on cases where a conflict arose (MaltaToday, 2018).
• In July 2017, his wife Louise Spiteri was appointed CEO of ERA (Environment and Resources Authority) — the body that decides whether projects need environmental assessments. One spouse approved permits while the other ran the environmental oversight agency.
• He appears in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database.
• In July 2019, he resigned along with two other PA officials after the Minister sent a conflict of interest letter to planning board members (Malta Independent, Lovin Malta).
• Post-resignation, EMDP continued doing work for the Building and Construction Agency (The Shift News, 2024).

The database corroborates the timeline: his board membership runs Apr 2016 – Dec 2018 (3,840 hearings), consistent with a mid-2019 resignation. The 17 hearings where he sat on his own cases are the data-level evidence of the conflicts that were reported in the press.

The approval rate gap

Architects who have served on the board enjoy a 9 percentage point advantage in approval rates across their full careers — not just during their board tenure. This could reflect skill, reputation, insider knowledge of what gets approved, or professional relationships with fellow board members.

Overlapping timelines

These roles aren't sequential — they overlap:

• Spiteri: Board member 2016–2018, architect 2000–2026. Cases decided during tenure: 56
• Aaron Abela: Board member Mar–Jul 2017, architect 2003–2026. Brief board tenure during peak of an active practice
• Andrew Psaila: Board member Feb–Mar 2026, architect 2006–2025. Just joined the board while still filing cases
• Cornelia Tabone: Board member Apr–Jun 2025, architect 2007–2025. 582 cases as architect, then brief board stint

Applicants who became board members

The reverse also exists — board members who appear as applicants:

Mr Anthony Borg sat on 1,333 hearings while also filing 118 planning applications as an applicant.

Notable cases

PA/00803/16 — The Ritirata, San Salvatore Bastion, Floriana. A proposal for a contemporary art gallery (Malta International Contemporary Art Space) with offices and restaurant on a historic bastion. Perit Mariello Spiteri was both the architect of record and a board member present at the May 2018 hearing. The board approved it. A project on one of Valletta's most sensitive heritage sites, decided by a commission that included the project's own architect.

PA/04612/16 — Ramla Bay Resort, Mellieha. Sanctioning of underground stores and cold stores excavated without permission at a major hotel. Spiteri was both architect and board member. The case was deferred three times before approval — a pattern that, per Discovery 18, leads to 90% eventual approval. The hotel got its retrospective permission with its own architect sitting at the table.

PA/03988/25 — Ciromblu Bio Indigenous Farm, Delimara, Marsaxlokk. A large rural tourism complex by Perit Aaron Abela (board member Mar-Jul 2017, 484 cases as architect). The project converts vernacular buildings, adds greenhouses, a dairy farm, a retail outlet, a farmer's residence with pool, and visitor facilities — all approved in February 2026. Abela's 94.3% career approval rate is nearly 9 points above the average architect.

Why this matters

In most regulatory systems, the people who make decisions are kept separate from the people who benefit from those decisions. Malta's planning system has practising architects sitting on the commissions that decide planning cases — including, in at least one documented instance, their own cases. The 9-point approval rate advantage enjoyed by board-member architects raises questions about whether the system's boundaries between regulator and regulated are sufficiently clear.

The structural problem extends beyond individual bad actors. Even after Spiteri's high-profile resignation in 2019, the practice continues: Perit Andrew Psaila joined the board in February 2026 while still filing cases, and Perit Cornelia Tabone served on the board in 2025 after filing 582 applications as an architect. The system has no effective prohibition on dual roles. Until it does, every board decision carries a question mark: is this being judged on planning merit, or on professional relationships?

Key questions remain. Does the 9-point approval advantage persist after controlling for project type and location? Do board-member architects' clients receive faster processing times? And do architects modify their designs to match what they know the board will approve — a subtler form of insider advantage that would not show up in approval rates alone?

Reform options include mandatory separation periods (no board service within 5 years of active practice), blind review of applications (removing architect names from board materials), or simply prohibiting practising architects from serving on planning commissions altogether — as most comparable jurisdictions already do.

International context

In England and Wales, planning committee members are subject to strict codes of conduct under the Localism Act 2011. A councillor with a financial interest in a planning application must declare it and withdraw from the meeting entirely — they cannot speak, vote, or remain in the room. An architect simultaneously filing applications and deciding them would be a criminal matter, not merely a governance concern. Malta's system, by contrast, has relied on voluntary declarations and self-recusal, which the Spiteri case demonstrates are insufficient.

Media sources

• "PA board member owns EIA consultancy, wife now appointed chief of ERA" — MaltaToday, 20 February 2018. Confirms Mariello Spiteri served as a full-time Planning Commission member while owning EMDP, an EIA consultancy, and that his wife Louise Spiteri was appointed ERA CEO in July 2017.
• "Updated: Matthew Pace, two other officials resign from Planning Authority board" — Malta Independent, 19 July 2019. Confirms Mariello Spiteri's resignation alongside two other PA officials after Minister Borg's conflict-of-interest letter, following a court ruling that declared a PA Board decision null and void over undeclared conflicts.
• "Elizabeth Ellul removed from Planning Authority board" — MaltaToday, 1 March 2020. Reports Ellul's removal after failing to disclose a conflict of interest — her husband, architect Andrew Ellul, represented a developer on a separate project while she sat on the commission deciding his applications.
• "Planning system breakdown - Astrid Vella" — Times of Malta, 26 January 2018. Names Mariello Spiteri as one of just three members of the PA's EPC board deciding ~95% of planning applications while his architectural firm EMDP had active cases, and describes the return to appointing practising architects to board positions as "the bad old ways."