Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/423164
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 NOVEMBER 2014 News 5 TIM DIACONO THE minimum legal size of resi- dences could soon increase, fol- lowing a proposed policy that was launched for public consultation by the Malta Environment and Plan- ning Authority. According to the proposal, the minimum area for single bed- room residences will increase to 55 square metres, the minimum area for double bedroom residences will increase to 75 square metres, and the minimum size for triple bed- room ones will rise to 115 square metres. "As it currently stands, a lot of rooms are far too small and this paves the way for slums," the pol- icy's work group chairperson, Vic- tor Sladden said. "Expanding the minimum bedroom size will result in higher-quality rooms." While only 20% of residence space will be able to be composed of single bedrooms, exceptions will be made for residences around the University, Junior college and town centres, where single bedrooms are more in demand. Also, through this proposal, build- ing height will be measured ac- cording to the actual height of the building, rather than on the number of floors. However, the minimum height of a floor will be capped at 2.75 metres. According to Sladden, this will give architects a greater de- gree of flexibility. The depth-of-the-built footprint will not be able to exceed 30 me- tres so as to protect garden pockets. MEPA will also "encourage" projects that use renewable sources of energy and energy conservation measures, such as shading, thermal roof and wall insulation, roof gardens, atria, light wells and courtyards. Building areas will be identified as one of seven different "typologies"– urban conservation areas, town centres, residential areas, villa and bungalow areas, environmentally sensitive areas, and seafront areas. Potential new buildings will be ana- lysed according to their typology so that their character ref lects their surrounding environment. Planning and simplification parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon praised this proposal as "innovative, creative, and forward- thinking". "Moreover, this proposal will sim- plify urban development laws," Fal- zon said. "There are currently four different documents composed of around 200 policies, which means that there is a lot of room for inter- pretation. Consolidating them all into one document with around 100 policies will allow for more clarity." The public consultation process will end on January 16, 2015. Minimum residence size set to rise to halt slums Design policy tweaks height limitations on street corners Number of swimming pools up by 135% New policy proposing minimum size of bedrooms also paves the way for higher buildings in a number of cases THE new policy on building design issued for public consultation yes- terday allows for "an element of f lex- ibility" in the way building heights on corner sites are determined. This can even result in a "height that exceeds allowable thresholds." The increase in building heights in corner sites is justified by the role of these buildings in giving "legibility to a street and neighbourhood." In such cases the increase in height will be compensated in setbacks on the lower f loors. However when different height policies apply on either side of the corner building, the building must still step down from the higher frontage as foreseen in existing poli- cies. This is done to prevent any over- shadowing of the street with the lower frontage. The new policy also refers to cases where a building located in a street already exceeds the height limita- tion applicable in the street. When such a building is located in a street corner and is more than a f loor higher than the adjacent build- ing, the new policy allows the au- thority to approve additional f loors on the lower building even if this means that it will rise higher than the limit imposed in the local plan. Additional storeys over and above the existing height limitation may also be permitted when a build- ing is fronted on both sides by al- ready existing buildings, which are themselves higher than the existing height limitation. The aim of these policies is to pre- vent blank party walls. The new design policy also in- cludes a generic exemption from height limitations for so called "landmark" non-residential build- ings located on sea fronts and town centres. The policy refers to "legitimate ar- guments" which justify rising above these height limitations. One case where MEPA can be f lexible is when buildings serve to create "new high quality landmarks" within the "existing context." The height of individual f loors may also be higher than that al- lowed by other policies when this serves to make non-residential buildings more functional or when the new building is adjacent to older buildings where individual f loors are already higher than foreseen in existing policies. The policy was issued for public consultation yesterday. Through the new policy the mini- mum area for single bedrooms will increase to 55 square metres, the minimum area for double bed- rooms will increase to 75 square metres, and the minimum size for triple bedrooms will increase to 115 square metres. The policy was drafted by a work group chaired by architect Victor Sladen. The work group included four practising architects: Joseph Bondin, Christian Spiteri, Raphael Axiaq and Colin Zammit, all of whom have pending applications for MEPA's consideration. The group also included Environ- ment and Planning Commission member Anna Maria Attard Mon- talto, Joseph Magro Conti of the Heritage Planning Unit, and engi- neer Joseph Farrugia. THE number of licensed swimming pools in Malta has shot up from 2,000 in 2008 to 4,700 now. In 2008, on announcing a substan- tial hike in swimming pool licences, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech revealed that there were 2,000 li- censed pools in Malta with a capac- ity of 137,000 cubic metres. But six years on, the MRA has re- vealed that there are currently 4,700 licensed pools, which have a total volume of 253,281 cubic metres. This means that swimming pools have an average volume of 54 cubic metres. The annual licence fee based on the volume capacity of the swim- ming pools was raised from €4 to €4.60 for domestic and from €6 to €6.90 for commercial pools. This means that through the latest budget the owner of an average sized 54 cubic metre swimming pool who paid an annual licence fee of €216 will end up paying €248, an increase of €32 a year. A 300 cubic metre commercial swimming pool will see licence fees increase from €1,800 to €2,070, an increase of €270. Licence fees for non-commercial pools had been nearly doubled in 2008 from €2.33 to €4 while for commercial pools licence fees were increased from €3.49 to €6. Yet despite these increase the number of swimming pools contin- ued rising. It also transpires that a number of licenced pools are not paying their licence. In 2013 a total of €772,104 in li- cence revenue had been collected. The MRA failed to provide a break- down of commercial and non-com- mercial pools. But if all 4,700 swim- ming pools paid a non commercial licence of €4, the government should have collected €1 million. This in- dicates that some licenced pools are not paying their dues. Parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon: "innovative proposal"