The battle for a nation’s soul often takes place on its streets. But the struggle that’s going on in Malta on the ground isn’t being fought over flesh and blood – it’s a contest over stone and steel.
The offices of architects, developers and the Planning Authority, along with the nation’s courtrooms, are now the battlegrounds for the very fabric of Malta’s historical buildings, the public places and structures that make the country unique and provide us with our architectural identity.
Such buildings are valuable, not because of their material worth but because they are part of the nation’s heritage and have a vital role to play in telling the story of Malta.
Worryingly, the fight over whether or not to knock down an old farmhouse or extend a palazzo up three floors (while only retaining the façade) is often done right at the very death, while the wrecking balls are swinging ominously nearby.
Take the Grade 2 townhouses in Sacro Cuor Street in Sliema, for example. A proposal cropped up recently to replace one with an eight-story building, prompting the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to scramble to have the townhouses protected before the bulldozers can move in.
Over in St Julian’s, the Planning Authority designated Palazzina Vincenti as a Grade 2 building after a planning application was submitted for its demolition, but this listing only came after a sustained public backlash that ultimately saved it.
Just around the corner from the palazzina, in early May, the Church won back land in Balluta which a developer wanted to turn into a car park.
But this only happened after the case went to court and a judge upheld arguments over a breach of the donation of the land, all the way back in 1890.
While these protective moves are welcome, because they prevent more greed from tearing down our heritage and replacing it with soulless concrete, it’s worrying that such protection often kicks in at the 11th hour.
The guardians of our built heritage and urban streetscapes must be urgent and proactive to keep the fangs of developers from taking a fatal bite, just to line their own pockets still further.
Although many streetscapes and buildings worthy of preservation have been lost for good in Malta, there’s still plenty worth fighting for. And in Gozo, rallying the troops for the fight ahead is vital because we are still in time to save that tiny island’s native charms.
Developer Joseph Portelli claims Malta needs 100 more years of construction, and Malta Developers Association president Michael Stivala has called for more investment in the construction industry.
But these attitudes show how that industry is only concerned about the money it can make now, by developers and greedy citizens who don’t care about restoration projects or creating a legacy that creates charm and cultural identity. They just think that Malta needs more apartment blocks because that’s where the money is.
While we do have a system whereby buildings with valuable heritage features are scheduled by the Planning Authority, which grants a level of protection, we need to be more aggressive about protecting those buildings which we value.
What we preserve today will help shape the identity of tomorrow’s generation, and that sense of national pride and self-worth will not be best served by tower blocks standing on the dust of Malta’s historical past.