Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1380662
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 JUNE 2021 10 NEWS JAMES DEBONO A penchant for pencil develop- ments – tall buildings leaving blank party walls on low-lying streetscapes – are taking root. Applications for pencil devel- opments continue to mushroom across the island as the devel- opment company Tuminvest requests a permit to demolish a townhouse just 75m away from the Mġarr church, to develop a five-storey block; while another one is proposed in one of Gżira's last rows of two-storey buildings a short distance from the charm- ing Meme Scicluna square. The pencil development punc- turing Mġarr's skyline could take the place of a townhouse which, although outside the lo- cality's urban conservation area, is located a short distance away from the Mġarr church in an ar- ea still characterised by two and three-storey houses. As proposed, the four-store and receded penthouse devel- opment, will create blank party walls on both sides of the new residential block and uproot the five citrus trees in the existing building's yards. The development is already be- ing sold on plan on the Tumin- vest website where the develop- ment is advertised as a "brand new development in the heart of Mġarr consisting of an exclusive block of only five units". Another six-storey pencil de- velopment is being proposed by another developer in St Albert Street in Gżira just 30m from Pjazza Meme Scicluna, and 36m away from the scheduled Villa D'Argens, one of the last remain- ing rows of two storey town- houses. In this case the develop- er is proposing the retention of the façade of the dwelling. The proliferation of pencil de- velopments across the island prompted an unprecedented intervention by President of the Republic George Vella, who af- ter objecting to a pencil develop- ment in his hometown Żejtun, also called for a review of plan- ning policies. But environment minister Aar- on Farrugia warned that a change in building heights could result in hefty compensation claims by developers. Farrugia had previ- ously suggested the introduction of comprehensive development, which would require developers to seek the consent of all owners in any particular street before applying for increased heights. But he did so while warning that this would result in situa- tions where a "father who wants to build his son an apartment so that he doesn't have to take out a home loan when he grows up will have to wait years and years for everyone in his street to reach an agreement." Fleur-de-Lys Another five-storey block in the Fleur-de-Lys area is being proposed instead of a terraced house in a street still character- ised by uniform rows of two-sto- rey houses and villas. The skyline was already marred by washrooms and receded floors on existing buildings, but appli- cations are now being presented to demolish entire houses and replace them with tall blocks. One such case is an application to replace a one-storey terraced house built in the modernist style of the 1960s with a shop at street level, nine apartments on three overlying storeys and three others on a receded floor. Despite its particular archi- tectural and historical identity, Fleur-de-Lys was never desig- nated as an urban conservation area in the local plans approved in 2006. Instead the local plan envisaged a height limita- tion of three floors without a semi-basement, which in most cases would have resulted in an extra full floor and a receded one over and above existing develop- ments. But development control guidelines issued in 2015 trans- lated this height limitation to a 13m façade and 16m when a receded floor is included. It al- lowed developers to fit in four full floors and a receded floor in an area where planners intended to limit development to three floors. A case officer's report is also recommending the demolition of an old townhouse, while re- taining its façade, to make up for a five-storey development in the nearby Trejqa Fleur De Lys. But the Superintendence for Cultur- al Heritage is insisting that the development should be limited to three full floors and a receded floor to minimize the impact on the skyline. A block instead of vernacular building in Tarxien Old vernacular buildings locat- ed outside UCAs are also making way for five-storey blocks. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is currently objecting to the demolition of a vernacular building in a corner site between Triq San Tumas and Triq Dun Karm Sant in Tarxien. The building is now surround- ed by two- and three-storey de- velopments. The building, once part of a secluded rural area, is of "evident historical and architec- tural value" according to the Su- perintendence, being character- ized by double thickness walls, masonry arches, ceiling slabs, stone corbels, beamed ceilings, an external stone staircase. "The total demolition of this vernacular property, the only re- maining historic building within this area, is completely unac- ceptable from a cultural heritage point of view", the SCH warned. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Across Malta, 'pencil' curse mars streetscape with blank walls Pencilling in: Gzira townhouses are dropped and then 'filled in' with these pencil blocks Top: a pencil block ready to be slotted in the Mgarr UCA just metres away from the parish church centre Right: last of the vernaculars in Tarxien, where a reminder of rural Malta is about to be engulfed by the inevitable urban sprawl. Below: Fleur-dy-Lys, where townhouses also face the chop due to local plan changes in 2015