Extensive works at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, including a rooftop viewing platform and panoramic lifts, are to be presented for approval to the Planning Authority despite some concerns over the visual impact.
Individual objectors have highlighted the visual impact of several aspects of the project, including the viewing platform and glass railing at roof level.
According to the plans, the railing will be receded and should not be visible from the street. However, it is still likely to affect a number of other key viewpoints, including the Great Siege Bell and surrounding buildings, the objectors said.
“The result will be a permanent distortion of the external profile of the building,” said Reuben Grima, a neighbour who has worked in the cultural heritage protection sector for more than 20 years.
The World Heritage Committee requested that Malta prepare a views and vista analysis for the project. The objectors believe the analysis could prompt a revision of the original heritage assessment, which was based on “partial information”.
Dr Grima has also raised concerns about two “panoramic lifts” intended to ferry 32 passengers directly from the roof to the Long Ward. “The creation of these lifts would impact some of the most significant historic spaces within the hospital,” he said. “The T-shaped junction between the Long Ward and what is today the Temi Zammit Hall was an important fulcrum of the Knights’ famous infirmary.
“The insertion of the glass lift structures at this same junction would mutilate and trivialise these architectural volumes, turning a somber monument of the Hospitallier Order into a Disneyfied joy-ride of dubious value,” he said.
A separate objection claimed the proposed lifts “would result in a puncturing of the roof, besides adversely affecting the historic and architectural value of the main hall and the nearby chapel”.
The Mediterranean Conference Centre, originally the Sacra Infermeria of the Knights of St John, is a Grade 1 scheduled building and one of the most important historical buildings in Valletta – a Unesco recognised World Heritage monument.
The intended, extensive interventions include the restoration of the Perellos chapel and the conversion of a disused tank room into a new multipurpose hall for events and performances.