Polidano wants Planning Authority to allow ‘deviations’ from Hal-Farrug permits

The construction magnate Charles Polidano ‘iċ-Ċaqnu’ is asking the Planning Authority to sanction his deviations from original permits, for a series of developments carried out on his Ħal-Farruġ compound over the past decade.

They include a workers’ quarters for foreign employees at his concrete, steelworks and gas filling compound.

According to a Green Transport Plan submitted to the PA back in 2015, 64 employees are housed in these quarters.

A PA case officer’s report is recommending allowing the 19m-high head office block, and an adjacent workers’ quarters, as well as a larger-than-approved fuel station and car wash. Another deviation was an extention to the brick production and gas plants. A decision on whether to regularise the plant will be taken by the PA board on 13 May.

The report justifies the inclusion of a workers’ quarter because of Polidano’s tendering for projects that require the periodic engagement of “large specialised foreign teams” working on shift basis between the plant and the respective construction sites, which necessitate “in-house temporary workers accommodation”.

The case officer is recommending a condition forbidding permanent residential occupation in the area allocated for a workers’ quarter, which should be operated “as one unit under one management”.

Although the workers’ quarters involved the creation of additional levels not foreseen in original plans, which are being sanctioned, the overall height of the residential block will still be lower than the 20m-high head office.

The office bloack is nearly double the 10.5m limit for developments inside so-called areas of containment, designation for industrial sites that are located outside development zones.

The PA’s case officer concluded that the height is acceptable because of the nearby 40m-high Lufthansa hangar.