Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/890548
maltatoday SUNDAY 22 OCTOBER 2017 News 13 velopment zones, should benefit from two additional floors when converted into an old people's home, following a visual impact study. Buhagiar is the architect of a pro- ject that involves the conversion and extension of a Dingli hotel into an old people's home, in the vicinity of the Buskett woods. Architect Patrick Camilleri and developer Angelo Xuereb also called on the PA to lift the ban in areas committed for industrial use and commercial activity: Xuereb owns Hilltop Gardens in Naxxar, a residential village built on a for- mer industrial site outside devel- opment boundaries. In its reply to a request urging the ban to be lifted, the PA argued that old people's homes are best lo- cated in urban areas. "Retirement homes in ODZ or on the fringe of urban areas may discourage the elderly from leaving the home or else require more travelling," it said. "The use of vacant land in ODZ should be discouraged, even if it is within 100m from the devel- opment boundaries". Discriminatory treatment? But while developers and some architects wanted to extend the policy to the ODZ, more publicly spirited architects objected to the relaxation of building heights in urban areas. Architect Alex Torpiano argued that the aim of height limitations is to "preserve urban quality" and therefore this should be applied irrespective of the use of the pro- posed development. "If additional height creates poor urban design, then it should not be allowed, even if the purpose is to assist hotels or old people's homes. On the other hand, if allowing ad- ditional floors for hotels and re- tirement homes does not violate design quality, then the height limitations ought to be relaxed for other uses." A similar argument was made by architect Simone Vella Lenicker who warned that "this discrimina- tory approach to planning, where- by height limitations are relaxed on the basis of the use of a build- ing, creates a mechanism which favours certain industries or com- mercial activities over others. "How long will it be before other sectors begin to place pressure on the policy makers to have ac- cess to the same waivers afforded to hotels, and now to retirement homes?" asked Vella Lenicker. The PA defended the choice to cater for the increased demand for space by specific sectors like old people's homes. "Once it has been established that there is a need for space to ac- commodate this development, the role of the spatial planning system is to accommodate this demand in a spatial manner which causes least harm to the environment," it said. High buildings detrimental to old people The PA policy is justified by fore- casts of an additional 200 beds needed every year up to 2025 in public retirement homes alone, and is meant to address "the over- all lack of available bed-spaces". But Anne McKenna, a sociologist and member of the Foundation for Active Ageing, expressed doubts on whether the new policy actually benefits old people. McKenna pointed out that in the EU and the USA, care for elderly residents is moving away from the large institutions. "Homelike alter- natives to traditional large scale nursing facilities have been shown to improve residents' quality of care and satisfaction by enhancing the physical environment." She also referred to studies show- ing that older people suffer from increased alienation at heights of over three floors. "When elderly residents are ac- commodated on upper floors of multi level buildings, getting out- side becomes a rare event. Staff are obviously busier given the ex- tra time it will require just to get people outside or to the restaurant and chapel. It does not take much to imagine the chaos that ensues in circumstances when the lifts do not function. There is also an increased risk in evacuating resi- dents from an upper floor in case of fire." The PA replied that the new policy does not preclude the devel- opment of small homes, but since bigger institutions have not been banned it still has to regulate them: "Human relations in retirement homes are very much dependent on the resident-to-staff ratio and case studies exist where each floor can operate as a small independent cluster within a larger building," the PA replied. Nursery homes away urban areas isolating old people EXPRESSION OF INTEREST TRAINING COORDINATOR UNDER THE ONE TABLET PER CHILD PROJECT The The Ministry for Education and Employment notifies that applications are being received from interested persons willing to provide services on a "Contract for Service" basis as a Training Coordinator under the One Tablet Per Child Project for the period September 2017 to September 2020. Eligible Eligible applicants will be required to sit for an interview and are to bring their original certificates with them, as well as a valid police conduct certificate. Expressions of Interest are to be received at The Directorate for Digital Literacy and Transversal Skills, Ministry for Education and Employment, Great Siege Road, Floriana, until Friday 3rd November 2017. Further Further information, including details about eligibility criteria, requirements and conditions can be obtained by referring to this Expression of Interest in the Government Gazette dated 17th October 2017. Enquiries can be made by email to jeffrey.zammit@ilearn.edu.mt or by calling on 2598 2742. THE PA's new planning policy al- lows two extra storeys on old peo- ple's homes located inside UCA (urban conservation areas) as well as on scheduled buildings. Only Grade 1 buildings are ex- empted but Grade 2 buildings, which are normally protected from any development except minor alterations, are not. In the case of scheduled buildings the policy "may only apply where such buildings are in a poor state of repair and where they cannot otherwise be easily con- verted into a retirement home". Since issuing the draft policy in 2015, the PA received a number of submissions from Attard residents, the local council and the owners of Villa Bologna expressing concerns on a possible height extension to Roseville Home, a Grade 2 listed building now run by Nazzareno Vassallo's Caremalta. Residents said all the adjacent buildings next to Roseville are two storeys high, and that with two ex- tra storeys, Roseville would be seven storeys above street level as seen from Triq Konti R. Barbaro. Din l-Art Helwa also warned that the increase in height of Roseville would result in a high building, which would dwarf the boundary walls of Villa Bologna. "An additional two floors would make the building tower over the baroque garden… It will also ruin this part of San Anton Street, home to the facades of Villa Bologna, the President's Kitchen Garden, San Anton Palace, beautiful early 19th century villas and town- houses and the old building of Ro- seville itself, which is one of Malta's finest Art Nouveau buildings." 215 Mtarfa residents also present- ed an objection to the new policy due to fears that this will pave the way to the conversion of the Isolation Hos- pital in Mtarfa, which is earmarked for an old people's home by Malta Healthcare Caterers, a subsidiary of the Seabank Group, which was the recommended bidder for the hospi- tal after an expression of interest. Plans submitted to the PA in 2015 already envisioned an extra storey on the Grade 2 building. Part of this site is located within an ODZ area and is located on a ridge overlook- ing Chadwick Lakes. The PA replied that the addition of floors on Grade 2 buildings would be given favourable consideration only in cases where the merits of the case allow it. "The policy does not state that any application to in- crease the height of Grade 2 build- ings will always be allowed". The PA also pointed out that ap- proval of such projects will not be automatic. "Impacts on streetscapes would need to be evaluated once an application is submitted," it said. Attard residents fear Roseville extension