Sustainable Communities ADC // second edition

The Kamra tal-Periti (Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers) has been entrusted for the second year running to organise an Architectural Design Competition for the Ministry for Social Accommodation and the Housing Authority as part of the Sustainable Communities Initiative funded by the Specialised Housing Programme Fund.

At the end of the Conference on International Design Competitions hosted by the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) and the International Union of Architects (UIA) at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 25th October 2019, a joint declaration unanimously adopted by architecture associations from across the world stated that:

“Architectural design competitions (ADCs) are among the most effective ways to achieve excellence in building and community design. They yield optimal concepts and plans for a given building programme, planning or landscape design task. Because they are based solely on the quality of proposed solutions, focused on the specific needs of a carefully defined project, competitions result in high-value solutions of great benefit to end-users, adding to the overall quality of life and design excellence in the built environment.

The International Union of Architects (UIA) and the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) urge policymakers and government bodies to include architectural design competitions as a recommended procedure in public procurement laws, in order to promote enduring, excellent and responsible solutions for buildings and communities.”

Following the resounding success of the two architectural design competitions organised under the Sustainable Communities Programme in 2019, the Ministry of Social Accommodation has decided to substantially increase the budget allocation for the 2020 edition an increase the number of projects to to be offered to community organisations to three.

The Kamra trusts that these positive experiences shared with public officials, voluntary workers and architects can be increasingly expanded to include other types of public projects.