Give each new national park unique identity, architects say

Each of the three national parks slated for Manoel Island, White Rocks and Fort Campbell should have a “distinct and independent identity” and works to the sites should favour rehabilitation above new interventions, the Chamber of Architects has said. 

The proposals came alongside a number of other recommendations from the Kamra tal-Periti (KTP) in response to a public consultation on government plans to transform the three sites. 

The KTP stressed the need for the “immediate” withdrawal of development briefs for each of the areas to make way for new policies and Local Plan revisions reclassifying the sites as national parks.  

It also emphasised the need to clearly define the phrase ‘national park’ in the law and in planning policies, which the chamber said should cover the park and its surroundings.

Manoel Island could be modelled on a city park, the KTP said. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.

The chamber published the recommendations Tuesday in a document entitled Conserving Nature, Promoting Adaptive Reuse, Sustainable Stewardship of Malta's National Parks.

The KTP described the plans to transform the three areas into parks as a “significant opportunity to make a fundamental shift towards long‑term environmental stewardship, public accessibility and cultural regeneration”.

But it stressed that the success of the projects would depend on “rigorous planning, strong design leadership, and a clear identity for each site”.

Advocating for a quality-first approach, the chamber argued that cost-driven public procurement led to short-term savings at the expense of quality and should be avoided, while the parks should also steer away from hosting revenue-driven activities.

Meanwhile, rather than being demolished, existing structures at the site “should be treated as assets, not constraints”, the KTP argued, while noting that “adaptive reuse” could provide environmental benefits while “preserving the cultural narratives”.

The White Rocks site in Pembroke could focus on education and science. Photo: Pichemist/Wikimedia Commons.

The chamber also stressed the need for the parks to be integrated into a green national transport network, prioritising walking, cycling, public transport and maritime links for coastal sites, with private vehicles being restricted from accessing the areas.

Outlining a vision for each of the three parks, the KTP said that by providing different identities, each of the parks could take on a “distinct role” while avoiding overlap and encouraging diversity.

Envisaging Manoel Island as an urban park, the chamber likened it to a city park “with strong recreational, sporting, and maritime potential”, encouraging daily walking and integration with surrounding localities Valletta, Sliema and Gżira. Existing military and hospital structures offer “significant opportunities for adaptive reuse”, it said.

Pembroke’s White Rocks could be the site of a “coastal, cultural and educational park”, eventually becoming a natural hub for environmental education, science and outdoor learning, with its coastal setting supporting “low-impact recreation and landscape-driven design”.

Meanwhile, Fort Campbell’s remote coastal location in  Mellieħa and “unique military fabric” – a heavily dilapidated fort – lend themselves to a “landscape‑led, contemplative park rooted in ecology, memory, and heritage conservation”.

Fort Campbell in Mellieħa could provide a park rooted in heritage conservation, the chamber said. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.

The KTP stressed the need for a long-term commitment to the three sites and their upkeep, created specifically for Malta rather than leaning on models used abroad.

“The histories of these sites show the risks of neglect, disrepair, and legal ambiguity, and these must be avoided in the renewed planning and development processes ahead”, the chamber said.

“If approached with care, clarity of purpose, and architectural rigour, these parks can become enduring civic assets.”

The KTP expressed its commitment to supporting the government and other stakeholders in seeing the project brought to fruition.