Proposed care home will dwarf, damage aqueducts, council warns

The Birkirkara local council has joined the scores of people and entities objecting to a proposed five-floor care home, located only six metres from the historic Wignacourt aqueducts.

The council’s main objections centre around the magnitude of the proposed building which would dwarf the scheduled aqueducts as well as the impact that the project would have on the streetscape of two-storey buildings of similar style and proportions.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) had already registered its strong objections to the proposed project to demolish the former Albatross Hotel, excavate four levels of basement garages and construct five overlying floors and a receded one at roof level on Notabile Road.

Located in Birkirkara’s development zone, the site lies within the setting of the Grade 1 scheduled building, a designation intended to protect the nearby aqueducts.

The hotel structure does not have any cultural heritage value requiring its preservation, so the SCH said it had “no objection in principle” to its demolition.

The Wignacourt aqueduct was built by the Knights of Saint John to carry water from springs in Dingli and Rabat to Valletta. It was inaugurated in 1615...