The sad saga of the Qormi armoury

The saga of the Qormi armoury is so typical of what happens when the advice of who is responsible for the protection of our heritage is ignored in favour of some form of compromise.

Miriam Cremona (July 16) clearly outlines what this application has gone through. The end result is that an important part of our heritage has been destroyed and what remains will most probably be destroyed too.

To a town like Qormi, the presence of an armoury is of great importance. Unfortunately, if this building were in Valletta it would have been possibly saved but since it is in Qormi it is treated in a different way. Our villages, in spite of years of protection as urban conservation areas, are being transformed beyond recognition as a result of continuous compromises that do not make sense at all.

One of the problems in the way Mepa handles applications is that when there are more than one application for the same site this complicates matters and one application influences what happens to the other. In any case, it does not make sense to conserve only part of a building. How is it possible that Mepa approved the demolition of arches, a stone spiral staircase (which are supposed to be protected always as a unique feature of Maltese architecture) and the removal of a coat of arms?

How can one consider that an "important part" of a building is conserved but allow, next door, the excavation for a basement parking, terraced house, two apartments and penthouse?

All this is simply unacceptable. Is it not enough that we are allowing so many new buildings to go up everywhere? Do we also have to destroy our heritage?