Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/638406
6 James Debono A 12-storey high hotel is being pro- posed in the new Institute of Tour- ism Studies campus, which is being re-located from St Julians to Smart- City. Plans submitted to the Malta En- vironment and Planning Authority envision the construction of a hospitality campus to cater for 2,500 local and foreign students, a 135-room hotel, government offices, underground parking spaces, a gymnasium, a spa and a rooftop hotel. Official sources confirmed that any private development in the project will be subject to public procurement procedures. The announcement that ITS, whose premises in St Julians are being vacated to make room for a private tourism development, was made in the budget. Only Sea- bank developer Silvio Debono ex- pressed an interest on the St Julian's site. The application, which covers de- velopment over an 11,407 square metre plot in SmartCity, was pre- sented by Projects Malta, the entity responsible for private public part- nerships. MaltaToday is informed that the government will be seeking amendments to the SmartCity masterplan to change development pa- rameters in the area. The plots identified for the new development were previous- ly allocated for offices. The master plan approved by MEPA in 2010 envisioned a maxi- mum height of 38 metres, which roughly equates to 10 floors. Kalka- ra was not identified in a planning document regulating tall buildings approved in 2014, among the locali- ties where over 10 storey buildings are allowed. A planning application has been recently presented for the construc- tion of St John Paul II Hospital in SmartCity, which is being proposed over seven floors, a semi-basement floor and one floor of underlying parking garages. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt James Debono THE Malta Environment and Planning Authority has approved a 100 square metre extension and swimming pool to a 72 square me- tre building in Xewkija, against the advice of the Planning Direc- torate – the directorate argued that the approval was in breach of a policy which does not allow extensions to be bigger than the original building. The MEPA approval comes in the wake of a MEPA refusal back in 2012 when it turned down the application for a smaller 40 square metre extension to the same ODZ dwelling. The decision had been confirmed by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal a year later but this was followed by the approval of the new rural pol- icy in 2014 which allows MEPA to approve the redevelopment of ruins if these had been used as residences in the past. In fact the extension proposed by owner George Saliba will take place on land presently occupied by countryside ruins. An inspection by the MEPA EPC board conducted in 2012 noted that "the building consists of three derelict rooms, one is in complete ruins with only one wall still standing, a second room is hardly eight courses high with walls in an advanced stage of de- terioration whilst the third and largest room has only one small aperture overlooking the road and is structurally unsound, the roof structure being presently supported with stone pilasters and a timber beam". The EPC has concluded that given the internal dimensions of the two smaller rooms it is most likely that these were used for keeping animals rather than for domestic habitation. "The third and larger room has a higher ceil- ing, no external windows and only a small opening, possibly for ventilation." The case officer did not express any doubts about the claim that the ruins had once been used as a residence, the applicant having provided proof that the ruins had been used as a residence in the past. These included the 1952 electoral register. But the case officer insisted that the policy applicable to this case was the one banning new extensions from over shadow- ing the original building. On the other hand the EPC insisted that since proof existed that the ruins constituted a residence, another policy allowing MEPA to allow extensions to ODZ dwellings to a maximum of 200 square metres could be invoked. But the same policy quoted by the board comes with a caveat, as another article states that "exten- sion should not visually dominate the existing dwelling." The devel- opment was approved in Novem- ber. An appeal against the deci- sion has now been presented by third parties and is being heard by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 10 FEbruArY 2016 News MEPA allows ODZ building to grow by 138% 12-storey hotel proposed in ITs smartCity campus Fountain by the sea at SmartCity and (inset) architectural drawings of the planned hotel