Matthew Xuereb
Labour MP votes against EU funded project
The naval oil depot as it looks now, and a computer-generated image of how the bastions would look without the naval oil depot.
The Labour Party's representative on the planning authority board, Roderick Galdes, yesterday voted against an EU-funded project that will see the demolition of a British-built oil depot between Vittoriosa and Kalkara and the restoration of the bastions behind it.
Mr Galdes was the only Mepa board member to vote against the project, insisting that while the bastions were of historic importance the oil depot built by the British were of historical value too.
The area known as the Hornworks of the Post of Castille is an important stretch of the Vittoriosa bastions facing Kalkara Creek and the site of the most significant battles of the Great Siege of 1565.
It consists mainly of two smaller bastions joined together by a short curtain wall. The configuration of this part of the Vittoriosa defence wall dates from the pre-1565 period but was reconstructed after the siege and again during the 1700s under the Order's French military engineers.
A representative of the Restoration Unit told the Mepa board that the proposed restoration works on the historic bastions included the demolition of the early 20th century building grafted onto the bastions by the British in order to serve as an oil bunkering depot.
The building is considered unrelated to the historic fortifications and has served mainly to obscure them from view.
This intervention will help make the area more imposing, re-establishing the relationship between the historic ramparts, their foreshore and the sea.
The project, which was given the go-ahead yesterday, will be co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and is expected to cost about €46,000.
At first, Mepa's Heritage Advisory Committee was of the opinion that the request could not be favourably considered because the building formed part of the harbour's industrial archaeology and was of architectural and historical importance. However, in a subsequent meeting, the committee reconsidered the application and noted that this was an interesting building but also "an accretion, which is distracting the legibility of the bastions and causing damage to same".
The committee said the bastions should take priority over the building and did not find any objection on condition that the building was adequately documented from the interior/exterior through drawings and photographs.
Consulted on the application, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage said the oil depot was supported on beams that were embedded directly into the seaward walls of the Post of Castille and were therefore damaging the fabric of the fortifications.
In addition, the Superintendence said the application also had to be seen in the light of an extensive and ongoing programme being undertaken by the Restoration Unit of the Works Division with the aim of restoring and valorising the harbour fortifications.
During a Mepa board meeting discussion on the application, it was suggested that parts of the naval oil depot would be conserved and placed in a public garden for people to admire. But the board voted against the proposal.
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13 Comments
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a Attard
Aug 1st 2009, 13:33
@ Anthony Magri
I invite you to view the 'Enzo' (sic) Piano plans in more detail...
there is a brilliant concept or two which have escaped you completely to treat the matter you raise....
kuragg habib!!
Anthony Magri
Jul 31st 2009, 19:28
Enzo Piano plans for a new parliament just does that.It hides the importance of the fortification though it does not touch it. Shall it be wiped away in some future date to release the effect of the majestic Saint James fortification. Two weights and two measures.
Andrew Gatt
Jul 31st 2009, 16:42
Boqq. The mind boggles. Hawwadni ha nifhmek!!
J Martinelli
Jul 31st 2009, 13:55
@ D Vella
Robbing Peter to pay Paul? Retain an oil bunkering structure which came some 350 years after the bastions were built? How useful is the British built facility? Why obstruct the magnificent view of the bastions by a useless structure?
Why was Roderick Galdes the solitary objector? The answer is simple - he belongs to the LE party.
What is curious is the fact that the same committee had initially approved the retention of the building before understanding that it is supported by beams embedded in the bastions and which are causing damage to them. Consistency and competency come into question here.
Joe Azzopardi
Jul 31st 2009, 13:42
The argument that any item of historical value should be assessed and valued independently of the era in which it was created has it's merits. However being old does not make a building valuable and anyone who will bother to inspect the building in question will realize it has very little aesthetic value compared to the bastions it is obliterating.
Joseph Galea
Jul 31st 2009, 13:38
The old maxim that a picture is worth a thousand words never applied more than to this situation. Based on the pictures, how anyone can argue against the removal of the British-built oil depot, is beyond all comprehension.
joseph cachia
Jul 31st 2009, 12:39
The oil depot was always an obstruction to the BASTIONS.
Few months before it was leased to Feneck Petroleum Corp. we decided to demolish the structure, but a use was found and demolishion order was halted.
Different opinions on demolishion or not, just do away with.
Paul Barrett
Jul 31st 2009, 12:20
Do the Yacht owners get compensation for the loss of their masts?
Joseph Cauchi
Jul 31st 2009, 12:05
@ D. Vella,
In response to your second question, I say "Why Not?".
JC
P Debono
Jul 31st 2009, 11:56
I cannot believe that someone in his right mind would vote against restoring the bastions to their former glory in favour of keeping an insignificant, useless and plain ugly eyesore...
Unless Sur Galdes has a personal interest in seeing the oil depot remain there, which wouldn't be at all surprising in this country.
R Abela
Jul 31st 2009, 11:55
... gee what a surprise! PL = Partit tal-Le!
D Vella
Jul 31st 2009, 10:34
Sounds like a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul here!! On what grounds can one establish the predominance of one piece of historical heritage over another?? With the same line of reasoning, the Pinto Stores and the Forni Stores and countless other historical buildings that obscure the foritifications should have been demolished to allow the fortifications to be visually 'legible in all their original glory'!! Are we now going to propose obliterating large tracts of Cospicua, Senglea and the entire (former) Drydocks to allow the Cottonera Lines and the Margherita lines to re-appear??? (!)
maria spiteri
Jul 31st 2009, 10:18
And he approved the Gas( chamber ) in Luqa!!!!!