Opera House set to become new Parliament

The government wants to relocate Parliament to the old opera house in Valletta, which would be rebuilt, though not in the same style, if Cabinet approves the proposal.

Jesmond Mugliett, the Minister for Urban Development, said yesterday the project was in the design stage and its financial feasibility under study.

Asked for an estimate of the cost, Mr Mugliett said previous plans for the opera house, which would have incorporated a highly advanced theatre space and underground parking in Freedom Square, would have cost between Lm19 million and Lm22 million.

He said a car park of the same size would cost some Lm7 million to excavate and construct, but housing a Parliament would cost less than the Lm12 million to Lm15 million that the theatre would have amounted to.

Mr Mugliett announced the proposal during a business breakfast entitled Valletta, A Theatre of Dreams: The Opera House and Other Issues, organised by the Malta Financial and Business Times and The Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers at the Radisson.

Mr Mugliett said architect Richard England had been commissioned to design the project and had for the past weeks been carrying out a feasibility study on its extent and scope.

Replying to questions from The Times later, he said the government had been studying what to do with the site for a number of years, looking also into questions of how far to extend a new project beyond the opera house itself, the choice of architect and what style to employ.

The last plans for the site were dropped because they were not found to be feasible. Mr Mugliett said the shopping area that was to be incorporated was so large as to threaten to kill off Valletta's other shops. The theatre would also have entailed increasing arts funding by Lm1 million a year.

"The government's inclination now is to site Parliament there," he said. "It would also incorporate some cultural use. Our desire is to finish the project within this legislature. We don't want it to take too long."

He said the style and extent of the site - will Freedom Square be included in the project? - were issues still being looked into.

"The style will be the subject of strong debate, we know. We want to come up with a design that is both contemporary and sympathetic to the architecture of Valletta. We are also still looking at the relationship of the building to Freedom Square."

He said the arcade around Freedom Square could possibly be redesigned. In Prof. England's old proposal, the buildings on the square were redesigned to create a corridor effect as one entered Valletta. "Some say Freedom Square should remain in its present form, others that it should be redimensioned into something more intimate."

At the business breakfast, he said the choice of Prof. England was in line with The Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers' regulations since he had been previously involved on the site.

In a statement yesterday, however, The Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers said that such a declaration was "completely incorrect" as "there is nothing in the chamber's statute, regulations or by-laws which in any way make it obligatory to retain the same architect on a particular project".

On the contrary, the chamber said, it was its mission to see that the culture of open design competitions is encouraged in the country. "This is all the more relevant when the nature of the project is of this scale and national importance, as only through efficiently run design competitions can the best solution for the most prominent site of our capital city be achieved," it said.

The Chamber of Architects said it must be clarified that its objection was directed solely towards the incorrect involvement of its rules of engagement of an architect and should, in no uncertain manner, be construed as criticism of Prof. England's quality which it holds in high esteem.