Heritage architecture is not a burden but an asset

Mario Buhagiar is right to raise, once again, the desperate plight of Villa Roseville, the art nouveau house in Attard (February 29).

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) has been working to this same end, as for months we have been discussing with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority the plight of this unique architectural jewel and a number of other properties on the island which have had a conservation order imposed on them or are equivalent to Grade 1 listing. These include (among others) Villa Guardamangia (the only home of Queen Elizabeth II outside England), the Dar tal-Kastellan in Żejtun as well as Alcazar and Alhambra (Rudolph Street, Sliema). The last two houses were built by one of Malta's eminent 19th-century architects, E.L. Galizia.

Alhambra was fully restored with the issue of a preservation order but has again been abandoned for the past two or three years. Other old houses have been obliterated by having high buildings built around them and old gardens and orange groves, much-needed green lungs supposedly protected by Mepa's regulations, have been gobbled up as building sites, much to the detriment of residents. It is regrettable that, despite us repeatedly highlighting the deteriorating state of these scheduled buildings, nothing is being done to save them, chiefly because the responsible department at Mepa is severely under-staffed.

It might come as news to some that the following clause in the Development Planning Act allows Mepa to intervene in such cases.

"In respect of any scheduled property, the authority shall also have power to require the owner, by notice in writing, to undertake such works generally, or as may be specified in the notice, as may be necessary to ensure that no further deterioration occurs. In default, the authority may give a further notice to the owner to carry out and complete the works within a specified time, and if the owner is still in default it may itself carry out, or cause to be carried out, the necessary works and recover the cost thereof from the owner of the scheduled property."

Together with its calls for conservation, FAA has also been calling for financial and other assistance to help owners of old houses carry out maintenance works. This was planned in 1990 through the Land Tribunal and Trust, which identified funds designated for such ends, but was never activated.

Our building contractors and their workmen could be helped to hone their skills back to the traditional techniques of our forefathers which were a vaunt to Malta. Indeed, the value added in labour-intensive restoration could more than make up for a reduction in new "concrete jungle" construction caused by Malta's surfeit in vacant properties. This would also serve to ensure that construction industry tradesmen could hope for better conditions than those currently offered, with unskilled, mainly foreign and possibly illegal, workers receiving lower wages and being exposed to dangerous working conditions.

Traditional masonry skills paired with modern technology and materials can ensure that we not only preserve what is left of our village cores but also render our towns and villages more pleasurable to live in and worth investing in, too. In time people would come to value the architectural and construction talents of our predecessors, which we have allowed to lapse. It is truly astonishing that successive governments have continued to neglect the protection of so many historic houses and gardens. Contrary to what had been said publicly by Mepa spokesman Sylvana Debono, such properties are not usually owned by penniless pensioners. Such statements only serve to shield those responsible for their upkeep, who are all too often leading developers. Abroad such properties sell at premium prices and those in the immediate neighbourhood also benefit from the prestige they lend the area. In Malta, instead, it is astonishing that certain developers have no interest or pride in some of the properties they own and are being allowed to let them fall into dangerous disrepair. It is abundantly obvious that their interest in the heritage houses they buy is merely in their ground space and gardens which they regard as little more than building sites.

When they are not allowed to demolish, such developers purposely and declaredly allow the properties to deteriorate in the hope that they will fall to pieces and can ultimately be developed just as originally intended.

Assistance to owners of such properties, as well as conversion incentives, will help the guardians of our nation's architectural heritage to view such properties as less of a yoke and more of an asset.

FAA brings to the elected party's attention the need for the conservation of our natural and cultural environment to be given urgent priority. Restoration of old buildings will give us a sense of pride in our history while offering visitors a much more interesting experience than high-rise apartment blocks and golf courses. It has been repeatedly said that we are killing the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg. This can be clearly seen all around us, but a new government is still in time to act firmly to restore our remaining and treasured old buildings as well as our pride in our historic inheritance.

Ms Caruana Galizia is founder member of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.