The Mepa board, unanimously, yesterday allowed the Port Cottonera Consortium leave to develop the Macina without paying the €95,500 Urban Improvement Fund in lieu of insufficient parking provision.

Given the restricted space of the area, the restored Macina, with its rooftop restaurant and various other vaults for conferences and exhibitions, should have needed 125 parking spaces but found it had a shortfall of 82. As is normal with Mepa, this was converted into the UIF on a set formula.

But the consortium and architect Edwin Mintoff, who were faced with this demand almost at the last moment, refused to play ball.

They claimed there is a clear government commitment, dating back at least to 2000, that the government would build a car park and so the developers of outlets on the Vittoriosa marina will pay no UIF.

“None of the restaurants at the marina have paid, nor did the casino or the hotel: why should we be the ones to pay?” they asked.

The car park was meant to be constructed on Sta Margherita hill, but the previous government did not do what it had publicly committed itself to doing. This is not the first time the government did not do what it promised to do. The MIDI development at Tigne Point and Manoel Island was meant to see government build a special road from the Kappara junction to the seafront years and years ago, but again, nothing was done.

Even the recently approved development of the Cement Stores (as part of the Dock One regeneration) did not pay any UIF, the consortium owners pointed out. It should become a supermarket.

The Macina is a fortress-like building on the Senglea seafront facing the Cospicua Dock One area.

Its name comes from the Italian ‘macchina’ or machine and it was a rudimentary way of fixing masts to ships by raising the masts and putting them in place.

Edward Said, the young architect who has studied fortresses and bastions of the Knights’ period, explained to the board the place’s chequered history.

It was built in the 17th Century and nearby one used to find the sails’ warehouse.

It was thought that the building called the Annex dates from British times, but recent research found a warehouse stood there as early as 1731. By 1822 and under the English, the building was two storeys high.

The Annex received a direct hit in World War II and a ruined vault is still there.

After the war, many ‘restorations’ were carried out on the building, but many were ‘unfortunate’, especially when a road was punched through it.

What none of the speakers said at the Mepa meeting but which obviously would have been known by one and all, was that for long years the Macina was the Labour Party headquarters until the Centru Nazzjonali Laburista was built at the back of the Radio City theatre in Hamrun.

Since then, the building has been mostly abandoned and the roofs suffered damage.

The restoration of the building had already been approved in Outline format when the Cottonera Waterfront development was being discussed. Then an application had been submitted for the restoration of the building with a floating barge in front. This was refused.

Another application approved last year was for s pontoon and yacht berthing next to it.

The application which was approved yesterday is for the restoration of the fabric of the building. The building has massive walls and steep steps, so access to the floors above ground level are problematic for people with disabilities.

The solution that has been found was to restore the Annex, dropping its top floor which is a post-war addition, and install two lifts right up to the roof.

The wall at the back of the Macina, which separates the building from Senglea proper, will be removed and the people of Senglea are promised free access through the lifts to the waterfront.

On the first floor there are massive vaults, which are sometimes used for conferences and events. These will be restored.

The roof is of special interest for it was here that the Macina activity was carried out. The machinery that was in use in the Knights’ or early British times has gone but the roof still  has a series of huge iron rings and also cannon which are being kept in place to enhance the experience.

The roof will house a restaurant with outside tables and chairs. A raised floor will protect the roof. The tables and chairs will have umbrellas of stone colour.

Other accretions on the roof will be removed, but graffiti on the wall of a room will be studied and stored.

The last item to be settled by the Mepa board was the phasing of the project, with the developers clearly wanting to do the restaurant first and open it for business while board members complained that many times people just get the permit, do the business side and then  leave the restoration commitment for later or never done at all. A phasing plan will now be submitted within six months.