FAA hits out at Cloisters, Blackley Bakery permit approvals

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar vehemently questioned the decisions taken yesterday by the Planning Board to approve development projects on two Grade 2 buildings.

On Thursday, the Board approved the restoration and addition of penthouse levels and receded floors to the former Blackley’s Bakery, a Grade 2 scheduled building in Pietà, into an office and residential block, after Board chairperson Vince Cassar voted against it.

Later the same day, the Planning Authority board approved a seven-storey development in the gardens of Mrabat Street’s home The Cloisters, in St Julian’s, and the addition of a new floor on the historical facade of the Grade 2 building which will be restored and converted in a 30-room hotel.

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) particularly criticised the increase in height in the case of the Blackley Bakery building, which will see the parts building rise by one floor, and other parts rise to four storeys. FAA arguing that such an increase in height would lead to increased overdevelopment and traffic in the area.

FAA berated Environment and Resources Authority chairperson Victor Axiaq for voting to approve the project, pointing to the quality of air a “precautionary principle that should have called for a refusal.”

FAA quoted heritage law, which stipulates: "Permission to demolish Grade 2 buildings will not normally be given. Alterations to the interior will be allowed if proposed to be carried out sensitively and causing the least detriment to the character and architectural homogeneity of the building."

On this note, FAA pondered the motives of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, which had permitted developers to “gut the building,” referring to the receded floor.

PA CEO Johann Buttigieg had argued that doing so was allowed in Grade 2 protected buildings, saying that it would be offset by the restoration.

“Having been granted such a generous exemption which allowed for more developable space inside, FAA maintains that the project should have been limited to one extra floor,” FAA added.

Likewise, the FAA called the approval of the Cloisters development a case of “short-term financial interests taking precedence over preservation of the nation’s heritage,” pointing to the notable clean lines of the building’s baroque façade.

FAA pointed up that by rising to seven storeys, the development would be violating the PA’s regulation on heights within Urban Conservation Areas.

“Mismanagement of heritage destroys the very element that makes Malta special,” FAA insisted. “Cultural heritage provides Malta with a unique identity and lifestyle that attracts foreign investment and effective tourism marketing ... As we continue to destroy the rest [of historic architectural facades and internal period features], we’ll be left with a soulless island choking in the fumes of its traffic and short-sighted overdevelopment.”