Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1376560
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 MAY 2021 NEWS POSTS OF SENIOR MANAGER WITH THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL The Office of the Attorney General Agency is inviting applications for Senior Managers to assist lawyers in prosecution and related duties. The selected candidates will be employed on a full-time indefinite term basis, subject to a probation period, and will be required to work for a minimum of forty hours per week. Applicants must be in possession of a degree in accounts, banking or a related subject. Letters of application, including a detailed CV, should be addressed to: The Administration Jobplus Vacancy Nos 369628, Permit No. 274/2021 Office of the Attorney General, No. 53, Admiralty House, South Street, Valletta VLT 1101 or emailed to ag@attorneygeneral.mt and should be submitted by not later than Friday 4 th June 2021 at 13:00 hrs. JAMES DEBONO CHANGES have been made to ameliorate the design of a mas- sive five-storey block of 72 apart- ments on Naxxar's quaint Pjazza Ċelsi, by the former trade fair building. But as re-proposed, after being sent back to the drawing board by the Planning Authority board, the project will still drastically al- ter views of the village core from the former trade fair area, as con- firmed by the latest set of photo- montages presented last week. The plans were presented after in January the PA board sent back the proposed five-storey plans to the drawing board. The only significant change in photomontages of the develop- ment is the improved transition between an existing old farm- house, and one of the blank party walls created by the building. No changes have been made to the height of the new building. The new plans represent a slightly better transition to the urban conservation area and in- clude more planters, a different colour scheme and a redesign of the balconies and apertures. But there is little change in the overall impact of the project on Naxxar's townscape. The development, proposed by Charles Camilleri, consists of five storeys over a 3,141sq.m open field by Pjazza Celsi, just 150m away from the historic Palazzo Parisio. The latest changes are being recommended for approval by the case officer. In January the PA board had expressed their concern on its impact on Naxxar's urban con- servation area. NGO represent- ative Anick Bonello warned that such projects were creating "for- tifications enclosing our towns and villages changing the skyline forever." PA Chairman Vince Cassar said he would like more greenery in- troduced in the development and a more sensitive design which respects the context. Cassar then asked the developers were willing to make changes to address these concerns. Faced with the likely refusal of the project as proposed, the developers accepted Cassar's proposal. It was a zoning application ap- proved in 2017 which set a build- ing height of 17.5m in this area of Naxxar, paving the way for this and other similar developments in the area. But the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and the PA's Design Advisory Committee ob- jected to Camilleri's development as proposed, claiming that it will have a negative impact on the UCA, and recommending a de- crease in volume to minimise the impact on the vernacular build- ings in the narrow streets of the UCA. The main change to address these concerns was a change in the colour of the building front- ing the UCA. The project archi- tect pointed out that the facade of the building in the small part fronting the UCA will be two sto- reys, rising to five on the rest of the site. During the meeting PA exec- utive chairman Martin Saliba insisted that the planning direc- torate had done "everything pos- sible" to minimise the project's visual impact in its discussions with the developer. "We cannot tell the applicant that he can- not build... We can mitigate the impacts but we need to strike a balance and that is what we have been doing..." The development was consid- ered as a "positive development of the urban fabric" in the case officer's report, claiming the apartment complex will be "an adequate transition" between Naxxar's urban conservation ar- ea (UCA), and an as-yet unap- proved nine-storey development adjacent to it, which is stoking controversy. The application for the nine-sto- rey high-rise in the trade fair car- park has now been withdrawn but a new application the details of which are still not available to the public has been presented. Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami, who ob- jected to the visual impact of the apartment block in Pjazza Ċelsi, also lamented the lack of a traffic impact studies. The developers insisted that the project did not warrant such studies because it fell below the legal thresholds for projects requiring such studies. Small mercies: developers 'revise' plans for Naxxar's Pjazza Celsi Present view from Trade fair carpark Photomontage of proposed development Photomontage of development as proposed now