Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1542674
JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 JANUARY 2026 NEWS Modernist HSBC branch in St Paul's Bay faces the chop A nine-storey hotel is being proposed in place of the former HSBC branch in Triq San Pawl, St Paul's Bay. The building is a modernist design by architect Richard England from the 1960s and, according to conservation experts, has considerable archi- tectural value. Along with other bank branch- es then owned by Barclays, the building was designed in an in- ternational modernist aesthetic with regionalist nuances hark- ing back to the Maltese vernac- ular. The new application, present- ed by Bradley Vella, foresees the complete demolition of the existing structure and the con- struction of a three-star La Mer Hotel. The proposal includes three underlying basement lev- els, a reception lobby and res- taurant at ground-floor level, eight overlying floors accom- modating 75 hotel rooms, and a pool bar at rooftop level. In the application, Vella declared that he fully owns the property. The building had already been earmarked for demolition under a previous application approved in 2015, which sought to re- place it with a five-storey office block incorporating an HSBC branch at ground-floor level. In comments given to MaltaToday in 2024, architect and conserva- tionist Edward Said described the St Paul's Bay branch as the best preserved and most worthy of protection among the bank branches built in the modernist style, and called for its inclusion on the list of scheduled build- ings. Despite similar concerns raised by Said and the NGO Din l-Art Helwa, the Planning Authority has already approved the demolition of another HS- BC branch in Mellieħa, while a further application concern- ing the Paceville branch is still pending. The Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage (SCH) had ini- tially called for the integration of the modernist bank façade in Paceville, describing it as "a building of evident architectur- al value". However, in a twist, the cultural heritage watchdog changed its position again in October 2023 after architect Richard England himself wrote to the Planning Authority stat- ing that he had always "felt un- comfortable with the way this building turned out" and was not opposed to its demolition. The building is a modernist design by architect Richard England from the 1960s and, according to conservation experts, has considerable architectural value