Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1462122
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 MARCH 2022 NEWS JAMES DEBONO EXCEL Limited, a company owned by construction mag- nate Joseph Portelli, has sub- mitted an application to demol- ish the GO exchange building in Birkirkara and excavate two basement levels. The application comes in the wake of a zoning application envisaging a public, pedestri- anised piazza and a new access from Psaila Street for ambu- lances and fire vehicles, which will bisect the site and enable development around it. But so far, no application has been presented for a replace- ment building, raising the pros- pect that any future develop- ment will be proposed after the site is already excavated and re- duced to a crater. Development applications normally foresee both the dem- olition and the replacement building but no planning rules preclude the practice of split- ting an application in two, with demolition preceding a full de- velopment application. In January the Planning Au- thority approved an application to demolish a building in Xlendi, on a site earmarked for the de- velopment of a massive 13-sto- rey by develop-er Joe Portel- li. On that occasion the PA's planning commission chairman Claude Mallia insisted that the approval of the demolition did not entail a commitment on the future of the site. The 3,628sq.m site is just 372sq.m short from qualifying for the floor area ratio mecha- nism, which would enable an 8 or 9-floor development in the middle of Birkirkara. Existing planning policies lim- it development on the site to five floors (17.5m high) in an ar- ea mostly characterized by two or three-storey developments. Both the zoning application and the application to demol- ish the building refer to fu-ture "mixed residential and retail" development. Both applications have been submitted by architect Maria Schembri Grima, who was ap- pointed chairman of the Build- ing and Construction Authority in April 2021. The site occupied by the GO exchange building fronts Psaila Street and two other residential roads in the vicinity of the local secondary school, and does not enjoy any level of protection apart from being outside the historical core of the locality. Residents who spoke to Mal- taToday acknowledge that the site is developable but are con- cerned that the application is being split in stages, in a way that it is not yet clear as to what kind of development is being proposed. As stated in the two applica- tions presented so far, the site is still not owned by Portelli's company. Portelli applies to demolish GO exchange building Application to demolish building on 3,600sq.m plot gives no details about replacement "mixed retail and residential" development The site occupied by the GO exchange building fronts Psaila Street and two other residential roads in the vicinity of the local secondary school, and does not enjoy any level of protection apart from being outside the historical core of the locality