A €20 million EU-funded Life Sciences Park in San Ġwann, which will provide space for researchers and firms related to biotechnology and medical sciences, was granted planning permission yesterday.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority approved an outline permit for the project, which is between the government and Malta Enterprise. It also authorised works to start at San Ġwann industrial estate.
The park will cover an area of about 13,500 square metres and be built on a triangular piece of land replacing the former offices of Malta Enterprise and two disused factories, VF and Yorkie. The first phase of the works will involve demolition and excavation.
Over 10,000 square metres will be dedicated to laboratories, offices and conference rooms and a further 3,500 square metres will be used for incubation facilities.
The planning authority board heard a presentation by Kevin Morrison and Rachel Xuereb, from Adi Associates, a company of environmental consultants that was commissioned to carry out a traffic and environmental impact assessment.
Mr Morrison explained that the roundabout outside Mater Dei Hospital was “problematic”, leading to huge tailbacks of cars in all directions. Also, the area had insufficient lighting and there were “significant safety hazards” on the main road cutting through the industrial estate.
However, the traffic generated by the science park itself would be minimal, he said.
In her presentation, Mrs Xuereb explained that the project’s largest impact – especially in phase one – would be excavations. In fact, it is estimated that about 159,655 cubed metres of excavation material will be generated in total – 99,365 cubed metres in phase one and 60,290 cubed metres in phase two.
The environmental report suggested recycling and reusing the excavated stone, which is of good quality, and reusing the soil.
Turning to air quality, Mrs Xuereb explained that that the levels of nitrous oxide around the main roundabout were very high and exceeded EU limits.
The biggest impact of the project would be on the residents living close to the roundabout, she said.
When Transport Malta was consulted, it said that, under normal circumstances, it would not be in a position to accept further development. However, the proposal was to replace existing factories with a research facility and TM considered that, were they to be restarted, fully-fledged industrial units would have an even bigger impact than an R&D facility.
It also pointed out that “junction improvements are required, particularly the links with the Birkirkara bypass” and said a number of recommendations made in the traffic study were valid.
It recommended that a “green travel plan” be included as one of the permit’s conditions, setting clear targets for traffic reduction to make sure “the unmitigated impacts of the development do not materialise”.
The Environment Protection Directorate made its own recommendations, including the need to have an environmental permit linked to the full permit and the monitoring of air quality, noise and vibrations, especially because of the park’s proximity to Mater Dei.
The importance of the park’s immediate vicinity to the hospital and the University of Malta to secure a close collaboration was stressed during the project’s official launch last year and also in yesterday’s hearing.
The Planning Directorate recommended that the outline permit should only be approved if a permit to relocate the nearby helipad at the hospital was reactivated, which the board had just done a few minutes earlier.
The helicopter pad will be relocated to the roof of Block D, as originally planned. However, after a cost-cutting exercise was carried out during the construction phase of the hospital, a new application was submitted, and approved, to locate it at ground level.
The siting of an oncology centre close by made the helipad’s present location “unsuitable for operational reasons” and the Planning Directorate pointed out that it had always been intended as an “interim location”.