Rabat’s Grand Hotel Verdala will be demolished to make way for a luxurious eight-storey complex, after the development was green-lighted by the planning authority on Thursday.

The project was given the go-ahead one year after the PA approved its outline permit, following recommendation by the planning directorate that had claimed the proposal would have a "moderate positive impact" compared to the current building.

The existing building, across Inguanez, ir-Rgħajja, San Bastjan and Santa Katerina streets, will be demolished. Three separate blocks with six floors above street level and two ones below will be constructed. A garage will also be able to host 176 cars. 

One block will have 39 apartments and three shops, while another block will have 47 apartments. The third block will be a hotel, which consists of 17 serviced apartments and 26 guestrooms.

In its submissions, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, along with the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee reiterated its concerns on the height and massing of the development as proposed.

Nevertheless, it added, according to photomontages submitted by the developers, the visual impact of the proposal did not exceed the outline approved last year. 

The long-closed Verdala Hotel (the block on the left).

Located on a ridge, the existing hotel had significantly altered the Rabat skyline when it was inaugurated in 1971 as a 160-bedroom five-star hotel.

It ceased operations in 1997 and was intended for redevelopment by construction magnate Angelo Xuereb.

That project included an 18-hole golf course stretching down into the valley, a proposal that prompted major controversy and opposition from environmentalists and which was finally rejected by the Planning Authority.

Xuereb then applied to demolish the derelict hotel and split the large building mass into three blocks, introducing publicly accessible space in between the blocks.