NETWORK EVENT

Perit Amanda De Giovanni

One of the chosen site visits during the Conference was the Valletta Design Cluster project, a 17th Century abattoir rehabilitated into a hub dedicated for start- ups within the design sector. The main challenges encountered during the project were highlighted, such as the inclusion of the community during the design project and how this helped within the final outcome of the project with the integration of the roof garden within the building. During the site visit it was a pleasure to be able to discuss and share notes with various professionals on concepts of respect to the original material and use of modern materials to show distinct additions and interventions making possible the new use.

Perit Veronica Micallef

As part of the International Built Heritage Conference, the international delegation was given a tour around MUZA – the National Community Art Museum at the Auberge d’Italie, Valletta. A Grade one scheduled building housing Malta’s national art collection. Delegates were given a brief introduction of the historical development of the Auberge d’Italie, discoveries on site and how these were addressed, challenges encountered, conservation and restoration philosophy adopted throughout the implementation of the project, refining the building’s energy efficiency and what sustainable measures have been undertaken to attain a zero carbon building.

Eng. Ed Morton

Ed Morton discussed the structural effects of climate change on buildings. He started by introducing CARE, which was set up in 2003, as an accreditation scheme for conservation engineers administered jointly by the Institutions of Civil Engineers and Structural Engineers. This assesses heritage and conservation skills, and encourages education and training in conservation engineering best practice. Mr. Morton delved into the structural consequences of climate change which include the change in distribution of insects and pests; floods, rainfall and rise in sea levels; coastal erosion; greater thermal changes and greater wind events; increased extremes of wetting and drying; increased carbon dioxide, increased in fire events with examples. Some mitigation options were discussed.

Perit David Zahra

The CIOB conference held in Malta in the beginning of November was truly an eye opener, apart from the extremely interesting papers and the high quality of project case studies, the subject matter needs more attention. We firstly need to introspectively look into the ‘vernacular’ and really own the concepts and principles to translate to our modern buildings – these are specific to local climate. However, we need to inbuild more contingency due to the realities ensuing from climate change. Nonetheless, let us not just accept climate change but we need to collectively act too to mitigate … if we lose our planet we lose our heritage!

Perit Charlene Jo Darmanin

The Phoenicia Hotel, constructed on the edge of the Valletta Landfront fortification system, served as the setting for the International Conference of Built Heritage in November 2022. The historical context and development of the Grade 1 Scheduled Building was presented, to provide an understanding of the interventions implemented in the recent restoration and refurbishment campaign. A tour of the hotel highlighted the restoration methods and