Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1511356
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 NOVEMBER 2023 COMMENT The Skinny Malta, shrunk down EDITORIAL Safeguarding open space and local plan changes PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASSAR Fame, resilience and mental health PAGE 5 Money is gushing into developers' pockets; everywhere they turn their attention to there is more to be made. Every field, street or building is a potential gold mine that can be exploited to their satisfaction DANIEL XERRI | PAGE 4 What are we skinning? The news that Malta will play host to a prestigious and much-needed academic event that is highly ger- mane to both the coun- try's natural inclinations and needs: an internation- al concrete conference! Why are we skinning it? Be- cause for a country where overdevelopment has be- come a key watchword, see- ing giant billboards adver- tising the very same thing contributing to its ecolog- ical downfall lands with a particularly heavy thud. Wait, so this is a confer- ence on concrete? Like, concrete-concrete? For what it's worth, the full title is 'Concrete Sustainability: Materials and Structures', and it is being organised by austere-seeming entities such as our very own Univer- sity of Malta, along with the International Federation for Structural Concrete. Imagine working there... At the University of Malta? I imagine it's not TOO intellec- tually taxing, given the gov- ernment has substantially cut its research budget... No, I meant the other one. Oh right! Yeah, the International Federation for Structural Concrete sounds like both a Bond villain lair AND the kind of institution you'd really want on your side if stuff grows sideways. It may grow sideways in fact. How do you mean? Well, it seems like 'self-heal- ing concrete' is on the con- ference agenda. Cutting edge stuff. Cutting rock stuff, but we'll see how things develop go- ing forward. You laugh, but there's something about all of this which puts me into a massive funk. Why so? Well, seeing this almost makes me think that Malta's status as a concrete jungle is not only accepted, but that it's been active- ly validated by not just the highest echelons of industry, but of the academic world as well. Look, if we're gonna get busy building, we may as well do it with the best ma- terial out there. I've walked past Mercury Towers after its launch this week. Did it inspire you to dream about the wonders that even more innovative and intel- ligent concrete could lead to? No, it made me think we kind of need to hit CTRL-ALT- DEL and take it from there. But don't you think our fore- bears would want us to cap- italise on the best materials available to us? Maybe. You'd have to travel back in time and ask the builders of Ġgantija just what kind of material they'd aspire to- wards. The best we can do, it seems, is build a block of 22 flats right under its nose. See? The concrete conference is needed now more than ever. Do say: Conferences on common building materials are of course a normal thing to witness and attend... but in overdeveloped Malta, con- crete just hits different. Don't say: Look, 'self-heal- ing' concrete implies a cer- tain degree of intelligence, of the kind that is beyond the purview of most of the Mal- tese developer class. No. 217 - Celebrating Concrete RAPHAEL VASSALLO The PA is supposed to protect Malta's cultural heritage… not destroy it PAGES 10 - 11 MICHAEL FALZON Reining in Clayton's overspending PAGE 7