Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1417022
8 ANALYSIS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 OCTOBER 2021 Sliema Tower Road: new 15-storey hotel proposed Cruise terminal design will obscure Valletta bastions JAMES DEBONO A 15-storey hotel is being pro- posed instead of the eight-storey Carlton Hotel at the corner of Tower Road, Old College Street, and Nazzarene Street in Sliema. As proposed the new hotel will rise to the same height of the neighbouring Plaza Regency Hotel, which had an additional three floors approved last year. But the development will cre- ate a higher blank party-wall on one of the last remaining traditional residential build- ings in Tower Road. It will also increase the building density on Old College Street and Naz- zarene Street. The height limitation for the area is eight storeys with semi-basement on Tower Road, and six floors with semi-base- ment on Old College Street and Nazzarene Street. But hotels in Sliema are el- igible to three extra storeys above local plan height limits: one foreseen in the local plan itself and another two foreseen in a policy for hotel heights ap- proved in 2014. Matalec Limited, owned by Jean Pierre Saliba, is proposing the hotel. The hotel will cater for 76 suites over 14 floors, and have a rooftop pool. A similar application was rejected in 2020 because the height of the proposed ho- tel, specifically the elevations on the relatively narrow Old College Street and Nazzarene Street, exceeded maximum heights allowed by the width of the street as required by sani- tary regulations. Sanitary regu- lations stipulate that the height of a building should not exceed three times the width of the street in which it is located. This decision was confirmed by the PA's appeals tribunal in March 2021, which conclud- ed that the lack of conformity to sanitary regulations cannot be overlooked in safeguarding good urban planning. The tri- bunal also referred to the dis- proportion in height created by the hotel on Nazzarene Street. Similar request twice previously refused, by planning commission and appeals tribunal Innovative design for three-storey Valletta Cruise Port block strongly objected to by heritage watchdog JAMES DEBONO THE Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage has warned that a proposed three-storey office block will negatively impact on views of the Valletta fortifica- tions and the adjacent Pinto Stores, and is insisting that the area should remain an open space. "The proposed development will have an unacceptable im- pact on the surrounding envi- ronments and on the values of the scheduled historical proper- ties," the SCH said in its reac- tion to an application presented by Valletta Cruise Port plc. Valletta Cruise Port is part- ly owned by Angelo Xuereb's AX Port Holding Ltd as well as Turkish investors. The development is proposed in a style reminiscent of Renzo Piano's parliament building, and would occupy 507sq.m of land which forms part of the existing road and surface car park. As proposed, the building will be slightly lower than the other historical buildings on the wa- terfront but will obscure views of the bastions from the wa- terfront itself, as confirmed by photomontages submitted by the developer. The PA's design panel asked the developer to present new photomontages showing the project as viewed from across the Grand Harbour, taken from points from which the building will be visible such as from the Gardjola garden at Isla. A previous application for the construction of new four-storey office building, submitted in 2017, was withdrawn.