The national trust
Din l-Art Ħelwa is setting up a Gozo branch aimed at protecting the island from overdevelopment gains momentum.
Din l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex will seek to safeguard Gozo’s unique cultural and architectural heritage and its natural environment for future generations.
This is in line with its parent NGO’s mission for the Maltese islands. Besides holding historical properties in trust,
Din l-Art Ħelwa acts as a watchdog and lobbyist for the protection of the islands’ environment and architectural legacy.
The special regional board of the NGO is due to be launched on June 5.
The need to set up an organisation that would focus specifically on protecting Gozo has been felt by concerned citizens.
The application, PA 8409/20, at Triq l-Imġarr and Triq il-Bennejja, is seeking approval for internal and external alterations of the existing dwelling, consisting of limited demolition of its rooms on the ground and first floors.
But it also proposes excavation and construction of basement and groundfloor garages, a domestic store and 32 apartments on four floors around it.
Its plan is to “integrate” the existing façade on Triq il-Bennejja into the new project. But proposed streetscape elevations show a house dwarfed in a block of flats and question its incorporation into the development.
The application seems to have gone under the radar and heritage NGO Din l-Art Helwa is not a registered objector.
A modernist house in Balzan is set to be demolished to pave way for a block of flats despite a group of architects last-ditch effort to save it.
In a vote on Wednesday, the planning commission board voted in favour of an application to tear down the circa 1960s building called Walmarville, but known as Diamond House, because of its distinctive glass panels.
The building on Old Railway Street, will make way for a maisonette and three apartments, including a pool at penthouse level, with a garage and four car spaces at basement level.
The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, represented by Jonathan Borg, made an impassioned plea for the retention of the house, or, at the very least, its façades.
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Six NGOs have urged Msida residents and other concerned citizens to endorse their calls for a controversial flyover project in the town to be sent back to the drawing board.
The NGOs have written to Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg, Planning Minister Aaron Farrugia and Msida local council and asked them to reconsider Msida Creek plans, which they say will not solve the area’s long-term problems and instead destroy a community.
First announced in 2019, the Msida Creek roadworks project proposes to eliminate Msida Circus junctions and replace them with flyovers, allowing traffic to flow uninterrupted but also adding massive concrete infrastructure in the heart of the town.