Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1487299
10 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 DECEMBER 2022 JAMES DEBONO PLANS for a proposed 31-sto- rey hotel with 375 rooms on the site of the Fort Cambridge barracks have been marked as "recommended for approval" in a clear indication that a yet- to-be published case officer's report will be advising the PA's planning board to approve the project. MaltaToday is informed that it is a standard procedure for plans to be marked as "recom- mended for approval" when the case officer intends rec- ommending approval but the report is still awaiting the re- view of an endorsing officer. It is only after this process is finalised that the case officer report is published. This is done prior to a meeting of the planning board, which has the final say on whether a project is approved or not. The project, as first proposed by GAP ltd in 2015, consisted of a 40-storey tower hotel on the site of the former Fort Cam- bridge officers' mess in Tigné. But in 2020 new plans were presented lowering the height of the tower to 31 floors after the removal of the hotel's con- ference facilities. The haircut corresponded to a similar re- duction in the height of the Townsquare Project from 38 floors to 28 floors. The recommendation to ap- prove the project suggests that the PA will be deciding on the project before it decides on whether to include the Fort Cambridge officer mess in its list of protected buildings. The policy permitting high- rise hotels specifically bans such developments on scheduled historical buildings. But the PA still has to decide on a request to schedule the Fort Cambridge officer mess presented by the Sliema Local council in 2015. The building's historical impor- tance was recognised in studies included in the Environment Impact Assessment which rec- ommended Grade 2 scheduling for the building, a status which normally precludes substantial changes. In 2021 the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage expressed concern on the visual impact of the project, noting that the development will be visible above the Valletta skyline when viewed from across the Grand Harbour. But the heritage watchdog had welcomed plans to preserve the external facades and arcades and masonry fabric of the orig- inal building. It also welcomed plans to preserve and recreate the internal courtyard. The 2007 development brief for the land on which Fort Cambridge was leased to GAP Ltd for €54 million, had ex- cluded development on the historical barracks limiting the development to the area where the 20-storey Fort Cambridge development now stands. But the brief itself is not men- tioned in the deed signed be- tween the government and Gap Holdings in 2007. Back in 2016 former parlia- mentary secretary for lands Deborah Schembri confirmed with MaltaToday that since the 2007 deed does not take into account the development brief, the Government Property Divi- sion "has to honour the original deed" – that would imply that no renegotiation of the lease price or any changes were being considered. Fort Cambridge high-rise heading for approval 31-storey hotel "recommended for approval", preceding pending decision on scheduling of Fort Cambridge officers' mess MATTHEW AQUILINA On the 27th anniversary of your tragic and mysterious disappearance together with the other passengers of the Piper Lance 9H-ABU We miss you so much dearest Matthew, love Mama, Papa, Daniel & Adrienne, Gillian, Emma, Sophie, Luisa, Anna, Nino, Mattia, Luca, family and friends. Please remember Matthew in your thoughts and prayers. In 2020 new plans were presented lowering the height of the tower to 31 floors after the removal of the hotel's conference facilities. The haircut corresponded to a similar reduction in the height of the Townsquare Project from 38 floors to 28 floors JAMES DEBONO THE Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage "has no further comments to add" following the presentation of photomontages showing the visual impact of de- veloper Michael Stivala's 17-sto- rey tower in Ta' Xbiex on the Valletta skyline from the univer- sity, a view protected by the local plan. Stivala's architects replied by presenting a photomontage which shows the 33-storey Me- tropolis tower screening the new Ta' Xbiex tower, in a clear indication that the larger tower was approved in breach of the local plan, which bans high rise development from obstructing the protected views. Following Stivala's applica- tion to add two new floors to an approved 15-storey tower in Ta' Xbiex the SCH had re- quested photomontages show- ing the impact of the enlarged development on the view of Valletta from the university which is protected by the local plan. In its latest comments on the case the SCH simply noted that the approved 15-storey tower "already far exceeds the Vallet- ta skyline". But it also noted "that the tower will be screened from viewpoints captured from the University Quadrangle by the approved adjacent develop- ment, the Metropolis tower which is considerably higher than what is being proposed in this application". In view of the above consid- erations, the Superintendence declared that it "has no fur- ther comments to add from a cultural heritage perspective", thus clearing the way for the approval of Stivala's applica- tion. The photomontage shows the proposed ST Tower 'hid- den' behind the yet-to-be- built Metropolis Tower, a massive 33-storey tower by Libyan developers Husni Bey, when viewed from the Univer- sity of Malta. But in the absence of the Me- tropolis – now a decade left undeveloped – the ST Tower will stick out like a sore thumb when seen from this protected view. Local plan policy NHSE 08 clearly states the PA should "refuse development permis- sion" for any proposed devel- opment that is likely to have a detrimental effect on the "stra- tegic view" linking the univer- sity and Valletta. Yet despite these very specif- ic policies, the Metropolis de- velopment was still approved in 2009 and renewed in 2014, despite its clear and definitive impact on this protected view. So far, apart from the excava- tion of a massive hole of circa 6,000sq.m, works on this de- velopment have not even com- menced even if the permit is set to expire in September 2023. Yet the prior approval of the Metropolis development has set a precedent for other de- velopments in the area. In fact, the case officer report for the Stivala tower approved in 2020 suggests that the visual impact of the new development will "complement" that of its larger neighbour. 'Nothing more to add': Watchdog on towers marring University vista