Cultural Heritage watchdog objects to demolition of Qrendi’s oldest farmhouse

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage (SCH) is objecting to the demolition of the oldest farmhouse in Qrendi to make way for a five-storey block of 48 apartments. 

The development is being proposed by Ciantar Properties instead of the farmhouse and adjacent farmland. 

The 1,858sq.m plot lies between Triq il-Kurat Mizzi and Triq il-Konvoj, within the development zone, adjacent to the buffer zone for the Qrendi church, which is 85 meters away and just outside the locality’s urban conservation area. 

The building is described as a “damaged residence” in the planning application presented by Darren Ciantar. However, according to the cultural heritage authority, the building is of significant vernacular and cultural heritage value. 

The building is constructed using traditional techniques and materials, including franka stone masonry and double-skinned walls. The façade elevation also features two remissa entrances, one of which is currently blocked. 

“Given the significant vernacular and cultural heritage value of the existing property, the proposed demolition is not deemed acceptable from a cultural heritage point of view,” the SCH has concluded in a report on the proposed development. 

According to the SCH, the property appears to be one of the oldest rural structures leading into the village core and towards the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Moreover, the undeveloped land at the back of the property, also earmarked for development, is near the Urban Conservation Area and should be treated as a “transition zone” to the locality’s village core. 

In this regard, the overall height, massing, and volumes as proposed are deemed to be incompatible with the characteristics of this part of Qrendi. 

According to the SCH, the development as proposed will result in the imposition of blank party walls which could only be mitigated by further similar development, resulting in a negative domino effect on the Urban Conservation Area in its immediate vicinity. 

However, the SCH has left a window open for development in the area by recommending that the existing vernacular building be retained and integrated within a sensible proposal that respects the old farmhouse and its surroundings. 

Furthermore, the SCH is recommending that development towards the rear of the site on presently vacant land should be downsized and terraced in a way that its massing does not have an overbearing impact on the UCA. 

More than 900 objections have been presented against the application which is also being opposed by Moviment Graffitti which insists that the small and tranquil village of Qrendi “cannot sustain an intensive development of this size, height and volume”.