President calls for radical action to address environmental challenges and avoid future tragedies

President of Malta George Vella has called upon the Planning Authority and other regulatory authorities to take radical decisions with solutions to the current state of the environment. 

“If need be, radical decisions should be taken to stop practices that are not giving us the desired results. This needs to start with immediate effect,” Vella said when addressing the 4th edition of the Malta Architecture and Spatial Planning (MASP) Awards organized by the Planning Authority.

The President highlighted the need for immediate action to counteract the negative impact of development on the environment. 

He noted that two trends were working against each other - the efforts of interdisciplinary teams to create excellence and a much bigger group of architects and engineers contributing to an ever-increasing sprawl of impersonal construction, taking up all available open spaces. 

Citing Gozo as a prime example of this overdevelopment, Vella warned about a negative effect on tourism and on small communities gradually losing their sense of identity.

President Vella welcomed recent legislation aimed at ensuring more competencies and controls for construction companies and introducing more awareness of the need for security for construction workers. 

However, he stressed that enforcement across the board needed to be seen to, especially to avoid a repetition of tragic events where buildings collapsed due to faulty workmanship or uncontrolled work practices taking place in building sites adjacent to people's homes.

“I was pleased to note that low carbon footprint materials and passive environmental measures were considered for all the categories awarded this evening. Of particular interest were projects of public open spaces that create the public safe green areas within our densely built-up villages. The recovery and rehabilitation of historic gardens for this same purpose is also commendable. These are places that help restore the individual’s well-being,” remarked President Vella. 

He was particularly pleased to note that public open spaces and historic gardens were being recovered and rehabilitated for the same purpose, which helps to restore individual well-being.

President Vella also paid tribute to architect Martin Xuereb, who is renowned for his landmark works on architectural projects across Malta and Gozo and encouraged young professionals to take inspiration from his works and aspire to achieve projects of the highest standards as he did. 

The President presented the President's Award to architect Conrad Thake.