An agreement between Vassallo Group and the University of Malta regulating the use of the land for the construction of the Campus Hub had to keep being extended to avoid the payment of penalties over deadlines.

In documents granted to Times of Malta through a freedom of information request, a preliminary agreement in 2016 between the University of Malta, Vassallo Group, the Malta University Holding Company and a company called Campus Residence Malta included a provision binding the builders to pay a daily €2,500 penalty if the project was not completed by the target date.

The agreement saw the developer agree to complete the construction of the planned university residence by September 20, 2018, to the extent that the facility would have acquired the necessary licensing from the relevant authorities and be in a position to welcome at least 300 guests, what it terms a “completion date”.

The agreement also defines a “final date”, September 1, 2019, which it says would be considered achieved upon the completion of construction and furnishing according to a master plan and licensed to accommodate the full number of planned guests.

“If in the event that for any reason whatsoever the completion date is delayed beyond, the company shall pay UoM, as pre-liquidated damages a sum equal to €2,500 for each day between the completion date and the effective day of completion,” the agreement stated.

However, in subsequent extensions to the preliminary agreement, the originally agreed-upon completion date and final date kept on being extended into the future, thus rendering the penalty for missing previous deadlines toothless.

The first extension, signed on July 31, 2017, changes the completion date to September 20, 2020, and the final date to September 1, 2021. A second extension signed on January 29, 2018, set the completion date to September 20, 2021, and the final date to September 1, 2022, with a third extensions agreement signed in January 2019 changing the completion date to December 10, 2021, and the final date to December 1, 2022.

Campus Hub eventually announced that it had started welcoming students to the university residence in October of 2021.

According to records hosted on the Planning Authority website, Vassallo Group filed two planning applications in 2016 related to the demolition required to construct the complex as well as plans for the complex itself, both of which were granted on December 20, 2018, with a published validation date of January 23, 2019.

A subsequent planning application for additional facilities as well as to sanction some minor alterations to the original plans was filed with the PA in August 2020 and this was granted in March 2022.

Meanwhile, as time began to roll on the 60-year deed for the land granted to Vassallo Group, the agreement shows that the group only owed some €375,000 in ground rent over the course of four years.

According to the agreement, Vassallo Group was to pay €37,500 in 2017, €75,000 in 2018, €112,500 in 2019 and €150,000 in 2020 for the 11,000 square metres of land that the site occupies. The ground rent appears to be set to escalate at a fixed rate with a provision in the agreement saying that ground rent would also include an 8% interest rate.