The death knell could be sounded on yet another Sliema townhouse and its mature garden, as the application to replace it with 18 apartments and 32 lock-up garages has been recommended for approval.

Sliema residents are strongly objecting to PA/09273/19 on Triq Manuel Dimech and Triq Parisio, which also includes three penthouses and four offices, and has been described as an “abomination” of a development.

Objection letters stated that the proposal would have an irreversible impact on cultural heritage due to the unjustified loss of the historical fabric, the replacement of the townhouse with an incongruent building and the complete obliteration of a mature garden.

The property must be retained and preserved in its entirety, inclusive of its extensive formal garden, the objectors insisted.

They pointed out that its cultural heritage value lay in its built original form as it stood today, further evidenced by the ornateness and architectural elements of the highly stylised back façade.

An outline of the property in question.

The complete coverage of the site, including the mature garden, leading to the direct loss of soil and drastic reduction in the collection of rainwater of the area, ran counter to the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development provisions.

Case officer recommends approval

However, in the directorate’s comments on representations, cited in the case officer’s report, it was pointed out that the garden had no protection status, fell outside the Urban Conservation Area boundary and was located where development of a similar scale has been permitted.

The townhouse façade on Triq Rodolfu was being retained and integrated into the development, it said, recommending the application for approval “on policy grounds”.

Commission visits site

The decision to grant the permit had been suspended until the Planning Commission site visit, which Sliema councillor Paul Radmilli said was “sometimes a good exercise in that the PA board members may appreciate the extent of the destruction of a building worthy of preservation”.

It never ends, and Sliema gets uglier and uglier

However, he also acknowledged that “way too often, the reaction is that the area is already committed and, therefore, gives them a pretext to ignore all policy considerations and grant the permit”.

Widespread objections

Apart from the Sliema local council’s objection, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had also taken a strong position against the demolition of the house following a review of the proposal by the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee.

“The PA should not brush aside such a scathing detailed reply by the SCH against this project,” Radmilli said.

He pointed out that the applicant’s architect had amended the plans by placing the belvedere overlooking the garden on the fifth floor of the proposed development.

Radmilli also noted this was considered favourably by the case officer, who even mixed up the streets in his report.

“I view it as risible to place a belvedere on a fifth-floor overlooking no garden. It is all about context. If we had to shift Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St John the Baptist from St John’s Co-Cathedral to a quarry, it would not make any sense.”

A petition against the development has also collected thousands of signatures from residents. But one of them, Maria Moller, said all seems to have fallen on deaf ears and that “greed seems to be winning once again”.

Described as a “national heirloom”, its demolition was said to directly affect houses on four different streets, all built towards the end of the 19th century. 

Others around this “iconic” property have already been demolished and huge apartment blocks have and are being built, she said, while green areas have been removed and more construction, pollution and unbearable noise is affecting the surroundings.

“It never ends, and Sliema gets uglier and uglier,” Moller lamented.

“Everyone I spoke to is clearly open for renovating the existing houses; to preserve the beautiful Maltese heritage. But more and more of these unique properties are destroyed and instead large blocks of apartments are built.”

Disgruntled residents’ support was rallied for what was considered to be the “last chance to get our voices heard” during the site inspection and “show there needs to be an end to this”.

The next step is another hearing to discuss what had been observed on-site.

A handful of objectors turned up to the site inspection on Friday. They pointed out that the small roads around the property could not handle the volume of traffic generated by so many garages, and also that their homes had suffered damages from developments that were even further away.

“I know this is something that happens every day, all over Malta, but we need to start somewhere and show that people have had enough,” Moller said.