Dismantle or lower new Valletta structure – FAA

Heritage organisation Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar is asking the planning authority auditor to investigate the unsightly eight-storey building that will house new judges’ chambers in Strait Street, Valletta.

The €1.8 million project, which was harshly criticised by architects and environmental groups, was also slammed by FAA, which said that the permit “throws into disrepute the very bodies that the citizen is expected to look up to in terms of upholding the law”.

Commissioned by the government, the project involves joining two old buildings in Strait Street and increasing the storeys to eight. The new floors, built using limestone and cement, tower over the surrounding buildings.

FAA pointed out that the building materials used for the new floors were “incompatible with Valletta’s architectural context”. The building should be dismantled or lowered significantly.

It also criticised the lack of height limitation policy in the capital, saying that it led to “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 across the harbour”.

The skyline was protected by the planning authority’s structure plan, which should have guided the Development Control Commission when it granted the permit in 2007, the organisation noted.

The project’s case officer, who had recommended it for refusal, had said that it was incompatible with the urban design of the area and did not fall in line with the structure plan, FAA recalled.