Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/712794
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 JULY 2016 15 Interview Is Malta ready for a boom in high-rise buildings? Most emphatically not, argues Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar's ASTRID VELLA PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD drains' guzzlers in terms of energy; also to raise lifts to higher levels, and even to pump water up to those heights…" Another consideration comes as a surprise to me: Vella warns that Malta is now experiencing sickness due to lack of natural light. "Dr Antoine Borg, one of Malta's leading psychiatrists, recently told a conference that he never dreamt he would see, in such a sunny country, conditions like 'seasonal affective disorder syndrome': a depression ag- gravated by lack of sunlight, which is common in Scandinavian countries. We are beginning to experience this here, too. People are increasingly liv- ing in artificial lighting from morn- ing till night, because their natural light has been blocked by neighbour- ing buildings. It's not just high-rise. We encounter people who tell us that the natural sea-breezes that used to make summers bearable have been blocked by construction, and that they've had to install air- conditioning. This is naturally bad for national energy consumption, but it also creates social problems. Not everyone can afford air-condi- tioning and higher bills…" All this, she adds, runs counter to the perceptions that high-rises are actually better for the environment, because they fit more development onto the same footprint. "There are two myths that need to be debunked. For years, we have heard this sickening mantra, 'bet- ter to build up than out'. This is dishonest, because we are talking about two very different genres of property which do not replace each other. People who need a pick-up truck are not going to buy a limo. People who need a tool-room, a greenhouse, a villeggjatura resi- dence, are still going to want that… they are not going to buy a flat in a high-rise building instead. Proof of this is that, despite the spate of high-rise developments, the num- ber of applications in ODZ has nev- er been higher. High-rise is doing nothing to dampen the demand for building in ODZ." The second myth is that high- rise will diminish urban conges- tion: that the building envelope will be less congested, because higher buildings will have more surround- ing space. "The reality is that these new apartments, especially in mega-pro- jects, are selling for anything from 400,000 upwards. They have to be expensive, because the cost of build- ing high-rise is so much higher: the extra foundations, the taller cranes, the much costlier building materi- als, all the studies that have to be conducted, far more design teams and staff than the average building projects we are used to… High- rise, of necessity, costs much more. And there is no way the average Maltese family can afford such ac- commodation… which means that housing for average requirements still needs to be built. The demand will not be met by high-rise. Unde- veloped plots still have to go up to the six and seven storeys of average Maltese buildings. So we are simply adding, not subtracting… At the same time, there is a floor- to height ratio which supposedly compensates by creating space for the public. But Astrid Vella is un- impressed. "How much open space does the public have access to at Portomaso? Not only were the originally de- signed public open spaces either built-upon, or closed off to the pub- lic… like the yacht marina, which is gated most of the time. Not only that, but the development has actu- ally encroached on sacrosanct pub- lic property: the beach. No open space there. What open space is there at Midi?" Well, there is a square at the heart of it, and it seems to be open to any- one… "But it's an open space that was designed only to attract people to the commercial aspect, and is now encroached upon by all the restau- rants and cafes. Restaurants and ca- fes are not public spaces… they are not free for anyone to use. Mean- while what space is there at Fort Cambridge? Or in the permit given to Metropolis?" That permit, she adds, breaks all MEPA's own laws on open space, which specify that it has to be at street level. "In Metropolis, the 'public space' is three floors up. Permits are being issued in flagrant violation of MEPA's own policies. We are already building open spac- es which are not accessible to the public. "How accessible will the open space be at Mriehel? I'm talking about spaces for the general public, not users of that project. Where is the benefit to the community? Be- cause that is what the open space policy was meant to be: a benefit to the community, to compensate for taking away their light and air. Are the residents of Santa Ven- era, Balzan, H'Attard going to risk crossing a suicidal highway to get to an open space there… when there is San Anton to go to? Will it really serve a public gain? Or is it just yet another pretext to grant developers the opportunity for a speculative project?" Coming back to the issue of costs: with so many high-end, niche (and ultra-expensive) properties com- ing onto the market, we might be increasing the supply far beyond existing demand. In fact, it seems we are hoping to create the demand where it doesn't necessarily exist. What happens, then, if the glut of top-end accommodation doesn't sell? Is this what FAA meant, when it echoed the fears of the 'property bubble bursting'? "Yes. This comes to the reason why we instituted injunctions pro- hibiting the PA from issuing per- mits last month, before the proper studies were carried out. Without studies that analyse the social im- pact – and especially the viability of such projects – we must ask our- selves if it is realistic to build such major developments on the basis of a demand which doesn't exist yet, or which is still at the early stages. Especially when we see that the high-end investors who are coming to Malta have actually been invest- ing in quite modest apartments in Mellieha and Mgarr… or sharing flats in Bugibba, Birzebbugia. "They are not buying the high- end properties that are available here and now. So what guarantee is there, that future projects will be bought out by this same type of in- vestor? Abroad, in several EU coun- tries, permits are only given if there is tangible proof of pre-purchase of the majority of units. Here? So far, nothing has been provided by the investor to give any assurances."