“The scheme, which was heralded which much pomp and fanfare, opened at noon today,” it continued.

However, the website didn’t last long, crashing shortly after launch before announcing the scheme had closed.

“To the consternation of periti and their clients, the online application platform collapsed within seconds under heavy traffic of users all trying to race each other at getting their applications through. After two hours of refreshing the error pages, the application form disappeared from the website indicating that the scheme may have been shut down by the Planning Authority altogether.”

“The scheme wasted a full week of work of several architecture studios, with the risk that disappointed customers may blame their architects for their unsuccessful attempts at applying, rather than the preposterous application system adopted by the PA, and not pay them for their services.”

The architects chamber demanded the PA remove the “first-come-first-served” nature of the scheme and issue an apology to all architects and clients who were left disappointed by it.

“This is indeed not the first time this scheme has failed for similar reasons, although never was this scheme managed as badly as today.”