Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1523374
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JUNE 2024 NEWS JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt STABBILTÀ MTEJBA: Ikseb titolu ta' kera għal ħamsin sena. ŻIEDA FIL-POTENZJAL TA' INVESTIMENT: Iħeġġeġ lin-negozji biex jinvestu b'kunfidenza. IRKUPRU TA' INVESTIMENT: Aktar ħin biex tirkupra l-investiment tiegħek. SKEMA ĠDIDA TA' ĊENS TA' 50 SENA GĦAL PROPRJETAJIET KUMMERĊJALI MINISTERU GĦALL-ARTIJIET U L-IMPLIMENTAZZJONI TAL-PROGRAMM ELETTORALI Seven-storey home for elderly to rise over Haz-Zebbug PHOTOMONTAGES for a proposed sev- en-storey home for the elderly in a residential area at Ħaż-Żebbuġ just 35m off the Grade 1 scheduled Tal-Għodor windmill, show the impact of the towering building on the exist- ing skyline of the village. Fulani Properties wants to develop the building along Triq il-Mithna and Triq Gio- vanni Pullicino, together with four under- ground levels for cars, a clinic and shops at ground level and 98 rooms in six overlying floors. The photomontages were requested by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage due to the proximity of the development to the scheduled, Knights-era windmill. The requirement for photomontages of developments proposed next to scheduled buildings was the result of a planning circular introduced by former planning minister Aar- on Farrugia in 2020. In March, the developers presented a set of photomontages, but these assumed a skyline in which all potential buildings in the area would eventually rise to five storeys due to present policies. But the SCH insisted that these visuals could not be considered as an acceptable visual representation of the existing situation in the area. The new set of photomontages now suggest the new development will create a massive blank party-wall on surrounding two-storey dwellings. The impact on the windmill is less pronounced when viewed from Triq il- Mithna. The building is being proposed on a site where the Planning Authority in 2019 had al- ready approved two blocks of five storeys for 30 dwellings, also proposed by Fulani Proper- ties, the promoters of the old people's home. Existing policies allow the addition of two storeys on old people's homes, over and above height limits established in local plans, in order to address the country's shortage of old people's homes. The home will reach a height of 24m, mak- ing it 6.5m higher than the height limit in the area, which is predominantly formed by two-storey terraced houses. Photomontages for the proposed seven-storey home for the elderly show the impact of the towering building on the existing skyline of the village