President George Vella, has urged the Planning Authority and other regulatory authorities to be “agents of change” and to provide solutions to the current state of the environment.

The President noted that Gozo is a “prime example of overdevelopment” and warned that this “uglification will eventually result in a “negative effect on tourism and on our small communities, which are gradually losing their sense of identity.”

The President further warned that, “this is short-termism, that may be damaging the country in irreversible ways.”

“If need be, radical decisions should be taken to stop practices that are not giving us the desired results. This needs to start with immediate effect,” stated the President while addressing the 4th edition of the Malta Architecture and Spatial Planning (MASP) Awards organised by the Planning Authority.

President Vella said that we are seeing the development of “a sad and dangerous head-on meeting of two trends” that are working against each other: the efforts of a sizeable group of interdisciplinary teams that create excellence and a much bigger group of architects and engineers that are simply contributing to an ever-increasing sprawl of impersonal soulless construction, taking up all available open spaces.

The President welcomed the recent legislation to ensure more competencies and controls of construction companies and to introduce more awareness of the need for more security for construction workers themselves.

Yet, he said that enforcement across the board has to be seen to, not least and most importantly to avoid a repetition of tragic events of victims of buildings collapsing due to faulty workmanship or as a direct result of uncontrolled work practices taking place in building sites adjacent to people’s homes.

With regard to the projects nominated for the MASP Awards, the President said that it is reassuring that should there be the will, we are more than capable of creating safe, functional, and aesthetically beautiful projects.

“I was pleased to note that low carbon footprint materials and passive environmental measures were considered for all the categories awarded this evening. Of particular interest were projects of public open spaces that create the public safe green areas within our densely built-up villages. The recovery and rehabilitation of historic gardens for this same purpose is also commendable. These are places that help restore the individual’s well-being,” remarked President Vella.

In his speech, President Vella saluted the memory of Perit Martin Xuereb, who is renowned for his landmark works on architectural projects across Malta and Gozo, as well as in many other countries, and encouraged young professionals to take inspiration from his works and aspire to achieve projects of the highest standards as he did.

The President presented the President’s Award to Perit Conrad Thake.

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