Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517660
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 MARCH 2024 NEWS RESIDENTS have presented an appeal against the approval of a 31-floor hotel on a site where building heights are limited to four floors at Fort Cambridge in Sliema. The four-storey limit was set in a site-specific development brief approved in 2006, which was in- tended to regulate development in the area. It had been drafted before the land was transferred to GAP following a competitive tender. The draft had paved the way for residential development on an adjacent site presently occu- pied by a 20-storey apartment block but did not foresee any de- velopment on top of the historic barracks. Now, the company wants to build a 31-storey hotel on the site of the Fort Cambridge bar- racks. It will be the tallest build- ing on the Tigne peninsula. The appeal presented by archi- tect Tara Cassar on behalf on residents, Din l-Art Helwa and Moviment Graffitti, quotes ex- tensively from the legally bind- ing development brief. The brief not only limits de- velopment on the site of the barracks to four floors but spec- ifies that the historical build- ing should act as a buffer zone between tall buildings in Tigne point and the residential area of Qui-Si-Sana. Moreover, it limits the gross floor area in the bar- racks to 5,860sq.m. Yet the hotel permit issued to GAP is set to include a gross floor area of 25,600sq.m which is five times larger than what is allowed on the same site. The appellants contend that the site-specific Development Brief which is still legally bind- ing should prevail over the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels which permits hotels on stand-alone sites to rise above height limitations im- posed in the local plan. The outcome of the appeal will depend on how the Environ- ment and Review Tribunal will interpret the hierarchy of poli- cies established in the Develop- ment Planning Act. The residents' appeal also re- fers to local plan policies which seek to keep a distinction be- tween the commercial area in Tigne and Sliema's primary town centre. The appellants also question the PA's failure to give due im- portance to a shadowing study which shows that the new tower building will cast a shadow on adjacent residences, particularly in the winter months. Residents appeal GAP's 31-floor hotel in Fort Cambridge JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Residents contend that the Development Brief which limits development on this particular site to four f loors should prevail over a policy allowing high rise hotels Photomontage showing the 31-floor hotel development at Fort Cambridge Photomontage showing the 31-floor hotel development at Fort Cambridge with Townsquare