The Monaco Municipal Council has approved the addition of 12 more apartments to the Honoria Palace, currently under construction.
With building works already well underway, the Municipal Council voted in favour of a measure to add more apartments through the addition of extra floors to parts of the structure.
Located on Boulevard de Belgique and Boulevard du Jardin, the Honoria Palace was initially designed to have 65 apartments, but the government submitted a plan in 2019 that had the possibility of adding five stories to one building, which initially had three, and an additional level over the long tower, to make 15 stories.
That version would have seen a total of 84 apartments, as well as the two commercial sites, a creche, an office, 85 caves and 168 parking spaces.
According to Monaco Matin, this was challenged by François Lallemand who reminded the Council that “according to the regulations in force, only the lower part can be raised but by four levels.”
This led the Mairie’s advisory committee to a compromise whereby a total of 77 new apartments will be created, more than the initial but less than the hoped for 84.
Image projection of project: Deverini/Lott Architects
Water Safety Day returned to the shores of Monaco last week after a two year hiatus, welcoming 40 children for a day of rescue training workshops and lifesaving courses with Princess Charlene and her Foundation.
Organised by the Princess Charlene Foundation and the Académie Monégasque de Mer, Water Day Safety Day returned to Larvotto Beach to teach a group of kids from the 6th grade classes of the Collège Charles III and the Institution François D’Assise-Nicolas Barré the basics of lifesaving, water safety and first aid.
The workshops were led by Pierre Frolla, four-time world record holder of freediving and Ambassador of the Foundation, who worked alongside his team from the Académie Monégasque de Mer and the Monaco Red Cross. Additionally, Princess Charlene, an Olympic swimmer herself, was in attendance as a special treat.
During the course of the day, the children learned about inshore rope rescues, rescue tubes, nipper boards, musical sticks and CPR.
They also had the chance to meet a group of professional athletes and personalities, who at the end of the day participated in an Ocean Race, involving swimming, onshore relay races and rescue paddle races in the sea.
The celebrities enlisted by Pierre Frolla included Olympic swimming medallist Coralie Balmy, Olympian Muriel Hurtis, Ice Dance Olympic medallist Gwendal Peizerat, Olympic Alpine ski medallist Florence Masnada, Olympic Taekwondo medallist Marlene Harnois, Coastal Lifesaving world champ Julien Lalanne, Junior European Inshore Rescue champion Anthony Mazzer, swim-run champs Alexandre Bermond and Kate Williams, freediving world champion Remy Dubernm martial artist Claude Pouget, sport manager Matteo Testa and radio and TV host Marc Toesca
Click on the gallery below to see more images from Water Safety Day. Photos source: Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation…
Repeat of 2021 podium at Monaco jumping competition
Austrian rider Max Kühner beat Darragh Kenny and Olivier Philippaerts to victory at the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix du Prince de Monaco on Saturday, in an exciting repeat of last year’s podium.
It was Kühner’s first LGCT victory, and comes after he narrowly missed out on last year’s title in Monte-Carlo, where he rode the same horse – EIC Coriolis des Isles. After last year’s triumph, Kenny narrowly missed out on the top step of the podium. The Irishman, riding Volnay du Boisdeville, finished just 0.3 seconds behind the champion in a dramatic two-man jump-off. Philippaerts rounded off the podium, earning bronze in consecutive years at the prestigious jumping championship.
Kühner received the trophy from Prince Albert II under the floodlights at Port Hercule in front of a packed crowd, who had come to experience the thrilling climax to the 10th event of the LGCT season.
Afterwards, Kühner revealed his delight at having achieved his maiden trophy. “It was really important for me to catch Darragh this year because last year I was in the lead but he was just a bit faster than me so this year, I was really on a mission to beat him,” he said.
The Austrian continued, “Monaco is a very specific place, it is small and tiny but my horse really likes it and he is flying in the incredible atmosphere here. You can feel the spectators and it is special.”
The event is a long-standing and popular stop on the LGCT calendar, which garners large crowds. This year was no exception, although with a repeat podium, some in attendance under the lights at Port Hercule may have felt a hint of déjà vu.
Photo of Kasper de Boeck by Luke Entwistle, Monaco Life
It was a flawless weekend for ROKiT Venturi Racing in Morocco, as an Edoardo Mortara victory allowed both himself and his team to take the lead in their respective Formula E standings.
Mortara’s first-place finish, coupled with an impressive drive from Lucas di Grassi that saw the Brazilian make up seven positions on his way to fifth, gave Venturi the team’s standings lead in Marrakesh on Saturday.
Whilst cars squabbled and vied for position behind him, Mortara led a controlled race and the victory never looked in doubt. Starting behind DS Techeetah’s Félix da Costa, Mortara kept it clean off the line, and kept within striking distance of the Portuguese driver.
Mortara hit the front during the first round of power boosts as da Costa slipped down to third, and thereafter he never looked troubled. The DS Techeetah duo of da Costa and Jean-Eric Vergne tried to collectively hunt down the leader, giving themselves the best chance of doing so through the use of team orders. However, neither driver could get close as Mortara took the chequered flag to secure his third victory of the season.
Mortara’s day got even better during the final lap, as his closest title challenger, Vergne, was overtaken by New Zealand driver Mitch Evans to deny the Frenchman a podium, whilst da Costa consolidated second position.
That late switch, coupled with a spectacular di Grassi overtake at the penultimate corner of the final lap sweetened the taste of victory for Venturi, as it allowed them to inch past DS Techeetah in the team’s standings. The Monégasque brand now has a two-point lead with six rounds of the season remaining.
In the driver’s standings, Mortara leads Vergne by 11 points, whilst Monaco ePrix winner Stoffel Vandoorne is a further three points adrift.
Post-race, team principal Jérôme D’Ambrosio said, “We stuck to our strategy, executed it perfectly and it allowed us to deliver a strong haul of points to take the lead in both World Championships.”
He continued, “From here, we need to prepare for New York, be confident in our race prep and focus on the task at hand so we can maximise and take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way.”
Venturi and Mortara will be hoping to consolidate, or even grow, their respective leads in the next round of racing in New York in two weeks’ time as the championship hots up.
Photo source: Rokit Venturi Racing
Arthur Leclerc wins at Silverstone to join championship hunt
Whilst Charles Leclerc suffered another frustrating afternoon at the wheel of his single-seater Ferrari on Sunday, Arthur Leclerc succeeded where his brother failed by winning the F3 British GP.
Victory for Arthur takes him to second and within just six points of F3 championship leader Victor Martins. Post-race, the young Monégasque was congratulated by his brothers (Charles and Lorenzo), who both watched Arthur take the chequered flag at the iconic circuit.
Arthur looked racey from the offset. Having got a less than ideal launch, he was forced to defend his second position during the opening corners, but having done so, he immediately launched an assault on Zak O’Sullivan’s Carlin.
The Prema driver attempted an audacious move around the outside of Stowe corner, but after pulling it off, he was forced to give the position back as the safety car had been brought out midway through the move.
Leclerc did then take the lead on lap six with a move around the outside of Brooklands, which gave him the inside line heading into Luffield, allowing the move to stick.
Whereas a late safety car undid Charles’ race in the afternoon, as the Monégasque moved from a race-winning position to outside the podium places, Arthur remained unfazed. As he had since the beginning of the race, he held position with good pace and zero errors.
Behind him, O’Sullivan and Prema team-mate Oliver Bearman, both hoping to clinch second place in their home grand prix, had a spectacular late tussle all the way to the line. As the two went side-by-side into the final corner, it was O’sullivan who held position by just 0.051’s of a second.
Post-race, Arthur Leclerc said, “I’m really happy about the win, we gave everything. Finally, a good weekend from beginning to end. We had a good qualifying and started on the front row. It was a hard race to keep it in front, we had a lot of degradation with the rear tyres. I was struggling quite a lot with the tyres but in the end, we made it to P1. Now on to Austria.”
With wind in his sails, Leclerc will hope to carry his form into Austria next weekend, where the Prema and Ferrari academy driver could very feasibly take the lead of the F3 championship.
Carlos Sainz Jr. was the major benefactor after a late safety car shook-up an already intense race, which was heavily delayed after a dramatic Guanyu Zhou crash brought out the red flag.
After a sodden qualifying on Saturday, which saw Sainz claim his first ever pole position, the sun shone on Silverstone on Sunday as Charles Leclerc looked to get his championship bid back on track.
Things couldn’t have started much worse for the Monégasque nor his Ferrari team-mate. Pole-sitter Sainz was swallowed up by the charging Red Bull, whilst Leclerc lost out to home-favourite Lewis Hamilton, whose improving machinery is now allowing him the opportunity to challenge the race leaders.
However, what happened behind would undo everything. Pierre Gasly tried to fit through a George Russell-Zhou sandwich, but as the former squeezed the space, there was contact between the Brit and Gasly. Russell was sent spinning into the side of Zhou, whose car was immediately overturned and sent hurtling towards the barriers.
Thankfully, the rookie emerged unscathed, but was grateful for the halo system, which once again most likely made a life-saving intervention. After a 50-minute red flag, the action got underway once again, but as the cars hadn’t passed the second safety car line, the grid would once again line up in qualifying order.
Sainz made the most of his reprieve. Despite getting another poor start, the Spaniard defended aggressively from Verstappen to retain the space. Behind them, Leclerc made contact with Perez as the two vied for position at turn four. That contact forced Perez into the pits and seemingly put him out of contention for the podium places.
Verstappen did take the lead on lap 9, capitalising from a Sainz error at Becketts corner, but soon after the race took another turn. Verstappen was heard over team radio reporting that he had run over debris and the Dutch driver was immediately forced into the pits, ceding the lead to Sainz but also handing second place to Leclerc.
Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
Despite Leclerc’s stricken front wing, the Monégasque had the pace over his team-mate and took the lead on lap 20. Following a round of pit stops, Sainz came back out in the lead, but it was once again apparent that he didn’t have the pace to hold it. Ferrari initially told the drivers that they were “free to fight” but seeing Hamilton eat into their lead, the switch was made and Leclerc once again hit the front.
After last year’s disappointment at the British GP, where he had held the lead for so long before being overtaken by Hamilton at the last, it looked as if Leclerc would finally obtain that elusive Silverstone victory.
But, with just over 10 laps to go, lady luck once again didn’t shine on Leclerc. Esteban Ocon stopped on the old start/finish straight, bringing out the safety car. Whilst all of his competitors used that opportunity to stop for soft tyres, Leclerc stayed out on his used set of hards. His team’s strategy had once again failed him, just as it did in Monaco, and he was a sitting duck.
Sainz made short work of getting past his stricken team-mate, but Leclerc put up a more stern rear-guard, culminating in one of the best laps of racing seen in F1 for many a year on lap 48. Ultimately, however, Leclerc didn’t have the tyres to keep them behind and Perez, who had miraculously recovered from that unscheduled early pitstop and Hamilton both forced their way through.
Up front, Sainz made no mistakes as he took the chequered flag for the first time in his career to break Red Bull’s run of six consecutive victories. Leclerc was left to mull over “what ifs” once again, as he watched on whilst his team-mate held aloft the winner’s trophy.
Perez brought his Red Bull home in second, whilst at his home race Hamilton managed third. Leclerc finished fourth and, in what was a drive of damaged limitation, Verstappen managed seventh. The reigning World Champion therefore retains a healthy championship lead going into next weekend’s Austrian GP.
Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
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