Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1199625
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 JANUARY 2020 NEWS JAMES DEBONO GOZITAN developer Joseph Portelli has presented plans and artistic impressions for a proposed 14-storey high tow- er on a triangular plot of land formerly consisted of agricul- tural land, near the Center- parc shopping mall and Mal- tapost. Details of the application are still not accessible on the Planning Authority's website but a project development statement prepared by Por- telli's architects has now been published on the Environ- ment and Resources Author- ity's website. A screening report by the ERA exempts the project from an Environment Impact As- sessment (EIA). The tower, described as a "medium rise" development, is being a proposed on a site with a building height limita- tion of three floors plus semi- basement, and is located in an area characterised by a mix of industrial, retail and residen- tial development. Qormi was not included in the areas designated either for high-rise development in the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) policy, namely Mriehel, Tigné, Mar- sa, Gzira and Paceville. Although the development is described as a medium- rise development, the current policy regulating high-rise developments refers to any building above 10 floors as a high-rise. But the FAR policy can be applied in other locali- ties to allow building heights higher than that foreseen in the local plan, but lower than 10 floors. The proposed development, which includes a showroom and 13,746sq.m of offices, is described as a "state of the art of- fice block". Half of the site will be kept as an open space. The 1,373sq.m of open spaces are distributed around the site's perimeter and not as a central plaza. An existing farmhouse will be re- stored and retained. The increase in daily traffic by 750 car trips is not deemed to have any significant impact on air quality by ERA. The de- velopment, which will include 189 parking spaces in three basement levels, will cater for 480 office employees. A 'green travel plan' is also being draft- ed to minimise the traffic im- pact. The absence of an EIA means that the social impact of the project on the locality will not be assessed if such a study is not demanded by the PA. 14-storey tower set to dominate Qormi entrance Environment and Resources Authority exempts project from EIA studies The proposed development, which includes a showroom and 13,746sq.m of offices, is described as a "state of the art office block" JAMES DEBONO THE Qormi local council will not be objecting to the removal of a landscaped public space with planters and benches on the roof of the new Qormi shopping mall Centerparc. Council minutes refer to a meeting with the management of the mall in which the council will take over the reconstructed Knights-era farmhouse, which was demolished in breach of PA permit conditions and the directives of the Superintend- ence for Cultural Heritage. Qormi mayor Renald Fal- zon informed the council that during the meeting of council members with the manage- ment of Centerparc, "it was agreed that the council issues a no-objection for changes to the development" if two conditions are respected. These condi- tions are that "the development does not have a negative visual impact on the entrance of Qor- mi" and that "the old building is reconstructed and is handed over to the council for its use." When asked by MaltaToday whether the council agrees with the changes which include the removal of the landscaped area, the council simply re- ferred MaltaToday to the min- utes of the meeting. The application seeking changes to a permit issued in 2018 was presented in June, but has only been made public- ly accessible in the past week. The application foresees the sanctioning of the old farm- house as already reconstructed and its use as "offices". Plans submitted to the PA also show that area around the farm- house, previously identified for grass blocks, planters and benches, will now have a con- crete flooring without any of the previously approved plant- ers and benches. The Knights-era farmhouse opposite the Maltapost head- quarters in Qormi, now touted as a local council office, was de- molished instead of being care- fully dismantled and recon- structed as specified in permit conditions for the new Center- parc shopping mall. The permit conditions, ap- proved in October 2018, speci- fied that the farmhouse was to be carefully dismantled, with the building blocks being numbered and stored in an ap- proved store; and then recon- structed, preserving the origi- nal plan and layout, using the original materials. And as it turns out, the demo- lition of the original structure was confirmed during a site inspection by the Superintend- ence for Cultural Heritage last month. None of the original materi- als, except for Grand Master Pinto's coat of arms, were sal- vaged. "This is not acceptable," the Superintendence which de- scribed the reconstruction of the historical stone features in concrete and cladding with stone as a "pastiche", said in a memo presented to the Plan- ning Authority. "It is in clear breach of the ap- proved conditions, since it is not in keeping with approved methodology and the Super- intendence had not consented to its replacement." According to the a restoration method statement presented by pro- ject architect Charles Buhagiar, the farmhouse was demolished due to "the purportedly heavily deteriorated state" of the build- ing. The retail complex is devel- oped by Centerparc Holdings, a company owned by Silvan Fenech's Tum Operations Lim- ited and V&C Developments, which is owned by Charles and Vincent Borg. Qormi council granted mall's farmhouse Council will not object to removal of Centerparc landscaping in return for reconstructed farmhouse