Height extension for Blackley’s Bakery approved by PA, chairman votes against

The chairperson of the Planning Authority board, Vince Cassar, has voted against the addition of extra floors on a Grade 2 scheduled building in Pietà, but which was approved by the PA board today.

Only Cassar and the NGOs’ representative Annick Bonello, voted against. Political party representatives Joe Sammut (PL) and Ryan Callus (PN) voted in favour.

The PA approved the restoration and additional of penthouse levels and receded floors to the former Blackley’s Bakery, a scheduled building in Pietà, into an office and residential block. The bakery’s machinery, furnace and ovens will be restored but the building’s interior will be demolished. The new building will be both commercial and residential.

Various additions will be made to the original building, which included a workers’ dwelling quarters. On Gwaradamangia Hill the building will rise to four storeys, and the bakery itself will have a receded floor added on it. Resident Patrick Pace, who owns a townhouse in the area, welcomed the regeneration of the area but objected to the new receded buildings included in the project.

“I restored a townhouse because I was under impression that one cannot add heights in an urban conservation area… I can grudgingly accept one more storey but adding another receded floor is too much. I will lose views so others have six more,” Pace said.

Flimkien ghal-Ambjent Ahjar president Astrid vella spoke against the penthouse levels, describing it as excessive. “Let’s reuse heritage buildings without mutilating them,” she said.

NGO representative Annick Bonello expressed concern on the parking impact in the densely populated area, which includes two schools and the PN headquarters. Chairman Vince Cassar also expressed concern on traffic impact. While original plans showed a shortfall of 25 parking spaces, this was reduced to 10 in latest plans by adding a garage.

The planning directorate described the project as “unique”, defending the receded floors as a way to balance expenses on restoration. “Restoration comes at a cost and in this project the developer is going midway, proposing a limited number of extra floors and keeping the whole building in single ownership,” the case officer said.

The case officer also argued that the development now offers neighbours the opportunity to add receded floors. This comment by a resident was described as “a precedent to destroy the village core:. The directorate used a policy made in 2015 which allows flexibility in approval of new buildings in urban conservation areas. The PA executive chairman Johann Buttigieg also argued that the addition of new floors was offset by the restoration of building.

The PA also approved an open storage for facility for trucks and cranes in a former ODZ quarry in the Naxxar-Iklin area. The PA had formerly rejected the application but the environment and planning review tribunal referred back the case to the planning board. A condition was imposed to ensure that studies to address issues related to traffic access to site.