Restoration of Fortifications Price € 2 Extracts from the Conference on Restoration of Fortifications April 2014 AX HOLDINGS ADVERT Inside front 2 contents Introduction Page 4. Perit Charles Buhagiar A&CE MP Executive Chairman Restoring an Building Industry Consultative Council abandoned 16th Century warehouse. The main objective of the Building Indus- try Consultative Council (BICC) is that of ensur- Page 10. ing that the necessary reforms in the building industry are carried out so that it would be able Developing Project to meet the challenges of the future. This re- Fort St. Elmo. quires not only the introduction of new tech- niques, equipment and material but more impor- tantly we have to ensure that construction work- ers have the necessary skills to carry out the Page 15. work. The problem therefore is how to train ex- A catalyst in isting workers and attract persons to learn the supporting cultural necessary techniques. To date most persons infrastructure. who become construction workers do so not through choice but out of necessity – they lack the basic skills to carry out any other tasks. Page 16. BICC is striving hard to change this situa- Restoring tion. This is being done by means of various Fort St. Angelo. initiatives such as the promotion of various suc- cess stories within the building industry. One such success story is the restoration work car- ried out on the fortifications. This was a massive Page 22. project costing time of millions of euros, a project which gave added value to our unique military Defending the architectural heritage to be enjoyed by the Mal- Walls. tese as well as the tourists who visit our island. Unfortunately in Malta we did not have enough skilled workers for these tasks as a con- Page 25. sequence of which a substantial part of the pro- ject was carried out by foreign contractors. On The technical input the positive side these contractors taught the in the revalorisation Maltese workers how such works are carried out of the Valletta and thus they gave them the necessary exper- tise and experience for such jobs. Page 29. These restoration projects have proved that the building industry can contribute in a The old town of positive way to our economy – not only directly Cittadella, Padua. but also indirectly since it adds value to our tour- ism product. These projects have shown that the building industry can provide well paid jobs to the persons who have the necessary skills. Introduction article, BICC Executive Chairman Perit Charles Buhagiar, Malta is unique in the incredible amount of other articles Perit Tabitha Dreyfuss, Perit John Ebejer, Godwin Vella, military architecture it possesses and which Periti Ruben Abela, Veronica Bonello, Daphne Fenech & Matthew Balzan, Perit Norbert Gatt, Perit Hermann Bonnici, Valletta needs to be restored and maintained. The pro- 2018, Prof. Architect Patrizia Valle. ject which has been carried out has only touched Layout and page setting Philip Schembri. a relatively small portion of our heritage. We Front cover photo Joseph Ablea. now have the workers with the necessary skills This magazine has been published by the Building Industry Consultative Council (BICC). No photos to continue with these works for the benefit of or articles can be copied or reproduced without the permission of BICC. The articles written in this publication are those of the authors or contributors and are not necessarily those of the editor or our people, our economy and our country. publisher. 3 Transmitting Malta’s legacy of forts and fortifications through the reuse of an abandoned 16th Century warehouse. By Tabitha Dreyfuss Its vicinity to St. Andrew’s Bastion places it on an important access route into Valletta and 1. Introduction and context more over, provides direct immediate access to Valletta’s main bastioned enceinte, providing The new Fortifications Interpretation Centre excellent panoramic views of the fortifications is the new use assigned to the 16th century inside Marsamxett Harbour, namely Fort Manoel, Hospitaller warehouse in Valletta. The project Fort Tigné and the sea walls along the northern started out at a time when the main fortifications in flank of the city itself. , physical models and virtual Malta, namely those of Valletta, Birgu, Mdina and representations. The building is a 16th century Cittadella (Gozo) started to be restored under the warehouse adjoining St. Andrew’s Bastion located partly financed European Regional Development next to the Marsamxett Gate (no longer standing) Fund (Operational Programme I) by the which is one of the three main gateways into Restoration Directorate within the Ministry for Valletta. It was built for the storage of merchandise Resources and Rural Affairs. The Fortress Builders off-loaded from the ships and other vessels FIC was a €2,100,000 project undertaken by the berthed in Marsamxett harbour. Its location close same Restoration Directorate and also granted to the Falconeria (a building that was used as European Union part funding under the same reserve armoury from the mid-1700s onwards) ERDF programme, with a co-funding rate of 85% also suggests some form of military use. EU Funds and 15% National Funds. The project involved reconstruction works, The building was chosen largely for its vast alteration works, new construction works, interior interior spaces and its location which provides and exterior restoration works of the masonry building fabric (both walls and floors), restoration of direct access to Valletta’s ramparts. The need to original timber apertures, the installation of new transmit to the public that which is Malta’s timber apertures, finishing works, the introduction patrimony of forts and fortifications was met of power generating photovoltaic cells, rainwater through the rehabilitation of an unused and collection and reuse, restoration and reuse of abandoned building. The centre is hosted in St. original passive ventilation systems, furnishing Mark’s Street, Valletta on one of the main entry works, exhibition design and exhibition content routes into the city providing direct access to formulation – panels, physical models and virtual representations. Valletta’s ramparts. Figure 1: location plan Figure 2: section and elevation of the building 4 2. The building before intervention Prior to the commencement of the project Generally, the condition of the masonry the building existed as three separate floors that fabric differed externally from the internal situation. were not physically connected; it was largely in a Internal areas were exhibiting mild powdering and derelict state with the three floors in varying flaking of lime wash layers and paint. Externally, degrees of neglect and deterioration. The ground the stone was heavily weathered with large areas floor consisted of two independent halls roofed of disintegrated stone, honeycombing, exfoliation, with ribbed arches and masonry roof slabs. The flaking, powdering and back weathering. At first hall was located 0.60m below street level ground floor level a past attempt to replace the whilst the second hall was located 1.20m above more deteriorated stonework had been undertaken the first hall. These were both being used for some years ago but the intervention had not been storage purposes and the second hall was completed and was aesthetically unpleasant. exhibiting water infiltration problems. Given the nature of their uses, these halls had not been Given the open nature of the second floor, vastly modified over time. A small concrete water infiltration through this level and to the levels platform was added in the first hall whilst part of below was a serious problem. A crack down the the floor in the second hall was removed and re- corner of the building indicated movement/ roofed with Rolled Steel Joists and concrete in settlement in the area, as did the fact that parts of order to roof the basement. The second hall the façade were out of plumb and out of line. The contained four wells which were accessible from apertures were not maintained and in a poor the basement below by means of taps at floor condition with wet rot widely spread in localised level. The basement was full of debris as were sections of the timber. the wells. The building is particular in that its front and The first floor halls were accessible through back facades are not on the same level thus the Biagio Steps (outside the building site) placing the back part of the building underground. The front elevation on St. Mark’s Street is some through a recently (circa 1960s) concrete one- 11m below the back façade which is on Melita storey accretion. These halls served as Street above. This configuration, with neighbouring examination halls until fairly recently and the property above the back part of the building puts concrete accretion provided sanitary facilities to the building in a disadvantaged position especially these examination halls. These were found to be in terms of water infiltration. To this end, a wall and in a state of disrepair with the sanitary facilities floor stone carved canal system was discovered in inoperable. The halls are large and barrel vaulted. the two ground floor halls dating back to the knight’s period. Due to their use, services including lighting and power had been introduced to the halls and This system is directly linked to a natural trenching of the walls was substantially present. passive ventilation system that exists in the halls. The terrace outside these halls was overgrown Each of the two halls at ground floor contains a with vegetation as was the exposed rock face and stone carved ventilation shaft in the back wall that the side of the public stairs. is linked to the hall above and further up to Melita Street, allowing for natural ventilation to occur through a tunneling effect. These two original An assessment of the rock face also systems – the stone carved water canals and the indicated the possibility of the displacement of stone carved ventilation shafts – illustrate a boulders from the rock face.