Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/667669
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 APRIL 2016 8 News Vacancy PROJECT COORDINATOR (ETC Permit No: 112/2016) A vacancy for the post of Project Coordinator has arisen within NCPE, the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, as part of the project JUST/2014/RGEN/AG/GEND/7785 Equality Beyond Gender Roles. The selected candidate will be expected to enter into a full-time definite contract (expiring in December 2017), where s/he will be responsible for the project activities including: - carry full responsibility for the planning, coordination, implementation and administration of the project from beginning to end; - be responsible for the financial scrutiny of each payment, procurement and monitoring; and - liaise with service providers and ensure all outputs are delivered in a timely manner and to a high standard. The Project Coordinator must be in possession of: Either Pertinent post-graduate degree (Masters); or an appropriate, recog nised, comparable qualification + 1 year relevant work experience in EU project management Or Pertinent first degree; or an appropriate, recognised, comparable qualification + 3 years relevant work experience, 1 of which should be in EU project management The degree must be in Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Public Policy, Social Policy, Commerce, Law, European Studies, Communications, International Studies, or Social Work. The individual needs to be a good team player, well versed in equality issues, computer literate and able to use all MS Office applications. Strong communication skills including excellent writing skills in both Maltese and English are essential for this position. Knowledge/experience of Accounts, Management and Government procurement regulations is considered an asset. Interested persons should send their application together with a detailed CV to the Executive Director by not later than Wednesday 27 April 2016. Late submissions will not be considered. NCPE Gattard House, National Road, Blata l-Bajda HMR 9010 Tel: 2590 3850 | Fax: 2590 3851 E-mail: equality@gov.mt Web: www.equality.gov.mt PA approves demolition of Sliema art deco townhouses near hotel JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority has ap- proved the demolition of three adjacent townhouses in Hughes Hallet Street, ignoring calls by Din l-Art Helwa and the Sliema local council to preserve their facades. The approval comes in the wake of an application by the same com- pany, Roosendaal Hotels Ltd, for an additional three storeys on the adjacent Plevna hotel. The Envi- ronment Planning Commission approved the development by two votes to one. Board member Charles Grech voted against. The application, which respects the height limitation in the area, foresees the demolition of the three townhouses, offices at ground floor, 15 residential units over five floors and two penthouses with swim- ming pools on the sixth floor. The basement parking will provide spaces for 57 cars. The entire ground floor will be for commercial use. The buildings to be demolished do not form part of the urban conservation area, where permits are always issued with the condition that the original facade is restored and retained. In its objection the Sliema local council noted that although the site is outside the urban conservation area, the facades of two of the three houses have a "distinct Art Deco design", and have high architectural value associated with the Qui-Si- Sana and Tigné area. But the Planning Directorate ar- gued that the development should be allowed as none of the buildings was protected. "The facade of the buildings can- not be retained in view of the pro- posed change of use and the need of an access to the basement levels". The council rejoined that the fact that the buildings were not protect- ed did not mean that these have no historical and architectural impor- tance but that these were not ap- praised properly when the bounda- ries of the urban conservation area were drawn up. The council also called on the PA to consult with the Superintend- ence for Cultural Heritage to assess the architectural value of the build- ing. In October 2015, the Superin- tendence had called on MEPA (the PA's predecessor) to reject a similar application for the development of a maisonette, 11 apartments, a penthouse and office space in- stead of a Sliema townhouse in Pace Street, which was similarly not included in the urban conser- vation area. On that occasion the Superintendence called for Grade 2 protection for the townhouse and called for refusal of the application if the design was not changed to in- tegrate the facades of the building. This particular application is still pending. Sliema landlord's eviction attempt quashed MAT TH E W VELLA PROPERTY developer and landlord Ernest Grech has been refused the right to evict one of his tenants, after an Appeals Court found his ob- jections to an unauthorised development unconvincing. Grech lost the appeal on an original decision by the Rent Regulation Board that threw out his request to evict the ground floor tenant of the Sliema apartment block, from which Grech runs his property business, El Dara. Originally, the ground floor tenant at 15, Ghar il-Lembi Street, who runs the Blondino restaurant, had refused to pay a 3% increase on his annual €11,000 rent in 1996. Tenant Emanuel Galea was finally called on by a court of law in 2010 to pay the in- creased rent, but in an appeal filed by El Dara, Ernest Grech demanded that Galea be evict- ed. The rent regulation board rejected the request. Grech also insisted that Galea had constructed a light- weight structure to enclose the front yard of the ground floor tenement, which breached the rental contract since it had no MEPA permits or his consent. But the rent regulation board's decision highlighted the fact that Grech ran the El Dara offices from the apart- ments overlying the ground floor tenement. Indeed, it was brought to his attention that he never con- tested the aluminium enclo- sure when it was erected in 1990, even though not being suitably informed according to the rental contract. It was put to Grech that he was in- deed responsible to alert his tenant of the breach at the very time it took place. But 25 years later, Grech was seeking an eviction based on the breach of contract. "The tenement is part of the apartment block where I have my office. I was there regu- larly. I guess the structure was set up in the late hours of the day. I was too taken up by the court cases against the tenant on the rent, and I was expect- ing him to inform me official- ly with the extension he had made," Grech said in court. But the Appeals Court de- cided that the fact that Grech had not made any objections to the extension in the first place, had undermined his claim. "Indeed, the lack of proof of any objection, which was only first signalled in 1996, shows that there was no objection at all," Mr Justice Anthony Ellul said. Three art deco townhouses on Hughes Hallett street: Sliema's architecture is slowly becoming extinct