Height of new court buildings creating 'eyesore'

The addition of two storeys on a building in Valletta which will be an extension of the law courts house  has been harshly criticised by Flimkien Ghal-Ambjent Ahjar, which described the development as an eyesore.

The offices will be housed in houses between Strait Street and Old Bakery Street, which have been linked. The new storeys tower over neighbouring buildings. The development has also been criticised by the Chamber of Architects.

The environment NGO noted that a Mepa spokesman was reported as saying on a section of the media that: “Although Valletta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are no planning policies setting a height limitation for buildings there.”

FAA said it has long highlighted the fact that while development in every town and village of Malta and Gozo is controlled by Mepa’s height limitations, for some reason, this protection was denied to the most important area, Valletta and Floriana. This has led to a extensive changes in Valletta’s supposedly-protected skyline, with the mushrooming of extra floors on many buildings and other unsightly additions which can be seen from across the harbour.

Furthermore Policy UCO 10 stated that  “Developments will not be permitted which adversely affect views of or from Urban Conservation Areas, or which detract from the traditional urban skyline”. 

In the absence of specific height limitation policies Mepa should have been guided by its own Structure Plan, FAA said. This  would have prevented this new eyesore as well as several other excessively-high buildings which have been granted to certain parties, while others are not even allowed to change a garage door.

It added that  the building does not conform to regulations both in height and in the creation of blank party walls where the use of brick, rather than traditional stone is incompatible with Valletta’s architectural context.