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James Debono
A building higher than Sliema’s Preluna Hotel, is set to dominate the Sliema skyline and replace the façade the old naval clinic on Tower Road, if developers are given the green light.
According to the latest plans submitted to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority MEPA, a 15-storey tower replacing the historical naval clinic’s façade in Ghar il-Lembi square is being proposed by developer Mark Gasan.
The naval clinic, a military hospital dating back to the nineteenth century, is a Grade 2 scheduled building, for which permits to demolish “will not normally be given” according to the structure plan. However, “alterations to the interior will be allowed if proposed to be carried out sensitively.”
In June 1996, a bizarre decision by MEPA appeals board decreed the façade should be dismantled in its entirety and actually re-erected somewhere else.
But in 2003, MEPA refused an application to erect a basement car park on four levels as well as ground floor shops on the pjazzetta, including the demolition of the naval clinic. MEPA said the total demolition was “unacceptable” and contrary to the structure plan.
Despite MEPA’s rejection, another application for the development of the naval clinic was submitted by Gasan in 2004 for the construction of an apartment block with commercial outlets and an underlying garage extending below the garden, designated for public use.
The application does not refer to a 15-storey building and the extent of the development is not mentioned. The developers had also applied to demolish the façade and remaining structure “to sanction the part of the demolished building”.
According to the latest plans submitted to MEPA, the developers are also proposing a one-storey structure on most of the pjazzetta, effectively eliminating this open space.
The application is still being processed by MEPA and no decision has yet been taken.
But Sliema residents are concerned the development will only serve to increase traffic problems and deny Sliema residents of an open space. Sliema’s Alternattiva Demokratika councilor Michael Briguglio and Labour councilor Martin Debono are opposing the new plans and will raise this issue in the last council meeting before the March local council elections.
Briguglio has described the new proposal as worse than the one refused by MEPA in 2004. “We are not against developing the site as a cultural centre, but the historical façade should be retained and the pjazzetta should be rehabilitated as an open space to be enjoyed by all.”
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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