and Construction – Stanley Farrugia Randon

RESTORATION & CONSERVATION

VERSUS DESTRUCTION & CONSTRUCTION

By Stanley Farrugia Randon

The Marfa Battery

Too much is too much! Over past years we have witnessed an increase in the rate of destruction of houses for the building of characterless apartments. Whole streetscapes have been destroyed for short-term economic gain. Roads have been widened to accommodate even more cars, and acres of agricultural land have been converted into asphalt, only to bring more arable land and its food products closer to polluted roads. The Maltese countryside and rural environment are under constant threat. Not only have we built up valleys, but we continue to exploit fertile land. We are witnessing an increase in high-rise buildings, which cause more pollution (noise, light and air), and generate more traffic and pressure on infrastructure and services in their immediate surroundings. Yet governments continue to declare that the construction industry is what keeps our economic growth strong.

San Cir chapel near Rabat

Ir-Razzett tax-Xitan at Mellieħa Interior of the abandoned Riħana Battery at St Thomas Bay

So many places are in urgent need of restoration. Defensive posts from the Knights period, such as the Qolla l-Bajda Battery in Qbajjar Gozo, the Marfa Battery in Marfa, the Great Battery of Vendôme in l-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa, the Vendôme tour–redoubt and St Lucian Tower in Marsaxlokk, and the Riħana Battery in Marsascala, are in a pitiful state. Most of the British forts, such as Fort Campbell in Mellieħa, Fort Delimara in Delimara, Fort Tas-Silġ and St Paul’s Battery in Marsaxlokk, and Fort Bengħajsa in Birżebbuġa, need saving from great abandon. Many farmhouses, and vernacular structures, such as rooms used to store agricultural implements scattered in the countryside around our islands, have also been abandoned, as have many houses of character. It is true that a number of these are privately owned, but it is also true that incentives and enforcement orders can be issued to encourage, and even force, the owners to maintain these places, or to at least resolve any legal issues so these houses could be sold, with a guarantee that they will not be demolished, but conserved. Houses with wooden balconies and doors, which give particular character to many of our streets, and which are so proudly featured in magazines and videos advertising our islands as a tourist destination, should also be protected. If permission for development is granted by the same authority which should be protecting our heritage to even only one of these houses in a street, then a precedent is created. Soon enough, the street is converted into a building site, and the houses replaced by concrete shelves without character.

Important cemeteries built during the British period for soldiers who lost their lives on our islands and their families, have been saved by the War Graves Commission, and by Din l-Art Ħelwa, while the Friends of Ta’ Braxia do so much to keep Ta’ Braxia going. However, many other burial places scattered around our islands, erected for victims of the plague, lie abandoned and their monuments lost.

Palazzo Girxija at Burmarrad falling to ruin

The farmhouse on St Paul's Islands

The island of Comino is also full of structures which are both architecturally and historically important. The isolation hospital, the cemetery and the bakery are only a few which require urgent restoration. St Paul’s Islands, too, has a farmhouse from the period of the Order of St John, which has collapsed.

Many historical places could be reused for the benefit of the public, since they can be converted into historical showcases, visitors’ centres, and even short-let holiday places— or simply admired for their architectural or historical importance. They could also be used for commercial activities, as long as any required conversion works do not change the characteristics of the place or harm the original fabric.

Restoration and conservation can also contribute to the construction industry, by shifting from a construction to a restoration mentality. Restoration and conservation of buildings generate a lot of money, provide employment and usually do not cause any major negative changes in the immediate environment. It is also greatly satisfying to monitor the process of restoring a building to its former state, and this is why I have been a committee member of Din l-Art Ħelwa for the past thirty years, following the restoration projects with which the organisation gets involved.

Stanley Farrugia Randon is a medical doctor and a council member of Din l-Art Ħelwa