Protected historical buildings may get permits for two extra storeys

A proposed new policy allowing two new extra storeys on residential homes for the elderly will also apply to Grade 2 historical buildings and buildings in urban conservation areas.

The policy objectives issued a year ago had included a blanket ban against additional storeys on these locations.  

The public is now being invited to submit its feedback on the new policy, which is expected to be approved next year.

The document justifies the change of heart by referring to a number of “submissions” received in the past months and to the  “overall lack of bed space” which led MEPA to conclude that the policy can also apply in the case of scheduled buildings, irrespective of their location within the urban area, but excluding those located outside development zones. 

This policy may only apply where such buildings are in a poor state of repair and where “they cannot otherwise be easily converted into a retirement home”. It is, however, specifically not applicable to Grade 1 scheduled buildings which enjoy the highest level of protection. 

The policy will benefit the owners of the Isolation hospital in Mtarfa who intend to convert the scheduled building into an old people’s home. Malta Healthcare Caterers, a subsidiary of the Seabank Group, was the recommended bidder for the isolation hospital after an expression of interest issued last year. 

MEPA scheduled the isolation hospital in Mtarfa as a Grade 2 national monument on July 12, 2008. Normally only internal alterations can be made to grade 2 scheduled buildings.

Plans for an extra storey have already been presented on the proposed old people’s home by the Seabank group’s subsidiary.

Continues from page 1 Architect and freeport chairman Robert Sarsero, who also serves as a member of MEPA’s appeals tribunal, has drawn up the plans for the project.

The isolation hospital was one of four historical buildings earmarked for restoration for commercial purposes in an expression of interest issued this year.

But the policy revision will make it easier for developers to turn a number of historical villas into homes for the elderly.

Existing homes for the elderly, such as Villa Roseville – a grade 2 listed building hosting a home run by Nazzareno Vassallo’s Caremalta – may also be eligible to build two extra storeys if the new policy is approved.  

But it is not clear whether the policy applies to existing homes because the proposed policy states that two extra storeys can only be permitted if this is deemed necessary for the conversion of these scheduled buildings into retirement homes. Other historical buildings enjoying a Grade 2 status include Villa Bonici in Sliema, Villa Madama in Attard and Villa Grognet in Mosta.

Moreover the new policy also allows an extra two storeys within Urban Conservation Areas.  

The policy objectives published last year had foreseen banning such development in historic village cores but this has been revised in view of the adoption of the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development. The SPED refers to a “context driven approach to the control of building heights within these areas”. 

Therefore according to the new draft document the increase of building heights in UCAs for use as a retirement home is now dictated by how any such proposal “fits” within the existing historic environment.