A leading US-based architect overseeing the Ground Zero redevelopment in New York has slammed the Paceville master plan as an exercise in “slicing and dicing” and land “gerrymandering”.
The damning description was made by Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind in a letter to Planning Authority executive chairman Johann Buttigieg. His criticism was levelled on behalf of the St George’s Park (SGP) complex owners.
Located in the heart of Paceville, the area comprises a mix of offices, hotels and 121 residential apartments. It would be the worst hit if the master plan goes ahead in its present version, as all of its blocks would be either partially or completely demolished.
In his letter dated December 6, Mr Libeskind hit out at the planning watchdog saying the Mercury House project, consisting of two adjacent tall buildings – a 160m residential tower and a 130m office tower – had seemingly been given “preferential” treatment.
“The gerrymandering of the land, under the guise of giving public space to the Paceville area, in fact manages to quite deliberately take the public space that had been loudly touted to be placed within the Mercury site and suddenly plants it in the development of St George’s Park,” he complained.
Another project seemingly given preferential treatment
The plan would result in the demolition of a hotel belonging to SGP and a number of third party businesses.
A 2005 development brief had imposed a public space obligation on the Mercury House site, as part of a deal to purchase this tract of public land. According to the SGP owners, this brief is still legally in force.
Mr Libeskind said the Mercury House project has now been awarded a bigger development area by the removal of this public space obligation – to the detriment of his own clients.
“This slicing and dicing, cutting and pasting with seemingly no rationale at all is extremely troublesome,” he remarked.
Prior to this controversy the SGP owners were planning to redevelop their site through the construction of three high-rise buildings, the tallest of which going up at least 44 storeys. Mr Libeskind’s studio was commissioned to work on a number of preliminary designs.
When these plans were made known to the PA in a bid to obtain a clear indication of the government’s long-term polices for the area, the chairman had last June told the SGP owners to wait.
The request had been made in the wake of detailed plans of the Mercury Towers published in the newspapers, suggesting the policy had been finalised. Mr Libeskind expressed his “surprise and consternation” upon learning that the master plan had seemingly given the Mercury Towers preferential treatment.
The possibility of a conflict of interest was raised a few weeks ago when it transpired that the consultants commissioned to draft the €300,000 Paceville master plan, Mott MacDonald, had also carried out consultancy work on the Mercury project. The possibility was flagged by the firm itself to the PA chief back in April but Mr Buttigieg dismissed it, saying it would not affect the master plan.
SGP owners are ready to mount a legal challenge to the plan, although a recent meeting was cautiously described as a “positive one”.
Parliament’s Environment and Development Planning Committee last Tuesday listed a set of recommendations as the basis of a revised master plan, avoiding expropriation, proposing that open spaces should be located on government land and advising against land reclamation at the moment.
The committee also stressed the need to consult all stakeholders for the revised plan.