Developers pay €7,000 ‘heritage gain’ not to re-use old Fgura stone

​A ‘heritage gain’ of €7,000 will allow developers to scupper the obligation of reutilising the stone corbels of an old farmhouse in Fgura, which is set for demolition

The farmhouse was granted Grade 3 protection in 1995 since parts of it are known to date back over 200 years. The Fgura local council had expressed its wish to restore the building. Grade 3 scheduling does not preclude demolition, but signals the need for greater sensitivity when planning applications on such sites are processed. The building was later delisted
The farmhouse was granted Grade 3 protection in 1995 since parts of it are known to date back over 200 years. The Fgura local council had expressed its wish to restore the building. Grade 3 scheduling does not preclude demolition, but signals the need for greater sensitivity when planning applications on such sites are processed. The building was later delisted

A ‘heritage gain’ of €7,000 will allow developers to scupper the obligation of reutilising the stone corbels of an old farmhouse in Fgura, which is set for demolition.

The site – on the main road opposite the local council office – is home to Fgura’s oldest building and is earmarked for the development of 62 flats by the Vassallo Group.

The condition to reuse parts of the building had been imposed in the original permit for the demolition of the farmhouse. Landowner Trevor Buttigieg’s request to demolish the farmhouse had been fiercely contested by the Fgura council, which said the farmhouse had intrinsic value as the locality’s oldest building. The decision to demolish it was also unsuccessfully appealed by the council.

But the permit was approved against a €7,000 bank guarantee to ensure compliance with conditions imposed by the Superintendence, which at that time included the reutilisation of stone corbels found in the old farmhouse.

Subsequently the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage had a change of heart, realising that “given the nature of the development being proposed” the reutilisation of these specific elements from the previous building “is not feasible to implement and would constitute a pastiche of elements devoid of any context”.

Instead, the SCH said the loss of these vernacular architectural elements could be compensated “with a cultural heritage gain of €7,000”, equivalent to the bank guarantee as imposed in the previous permit, and presented no objection to the proposed development of 62 flats “from a cultural heritage perspective”.

The farmhouse was granted Grade 3 protection in 1995 since parts of it are known to date back over 200 years. The Fgura local council had expressed its wish to restore the building, reconstruct its original niche and transform the farm into a public cultural centre and green open space.

Grade 3 scheduling does not preclude demolition, but signals the need for greater sensitivity when planning applications on such sites are processed. The building was later delisted.

The SCH however said the farmhouse had “limited cultural heritage significance”, and only said that some of its features could be integrated in the development replacing it. It described the farmhouse as “a small incoherent complex of buildings and spaces” and that only one room characterised by kileb (corbels) was of limited heritage value, so it proposed that the corbels are recovered and reutilised.

The SCH made no reference to the importance attributed to the building by the local community in terms of popular memories, in full contrast with the approach recommended by the European Landscape Convention which says local, everyday and even degraded landscapes are as likely to be of importance to the communities – or cultures – who inhabit them, or the people who visit them, as those which are commonly labelled as globally important. Malta has yet to ratify the convention.