High-rise, new road proposed in Muscat Motors building

Updated 8.30am with FAA reaction

An application to partially demolish one of Malta’s oldest car showrooms, Muscat Motors in Gżira, and construct a high-rise including a hotel and commercial space, and a new road, is awaiting recommendations by the Planning Authority.

The site, PA/03846/08, will be a stone’s throw away from the 23-storey ST Tower and just opposite the massive hole excavated for the undeveloped, 33-storey Metropolis Tower. Up the road from the showroom is the former Wembley ice-cream factory, which is now a high-rise offering office facilities.

The application is described as an “outline development permission”, which means further details and specifics of the application will be submitted at a later date.

The application was reissued earlier this year and includes a BMW showroom and offices on Triq Rue d’Argens and the Muscat Motors garages in Triq Luqa Briffa.

The first site notice, dating back to 2008, had proposed a partial demolition of the existing building, excavation and construction of residential and office buildings.

An iconic landmark in Gżira, Muscat Motors’ showroom is known for its round edges and corner windows and was designed by architect Joseph Colombo in the Streamline Moderne style. The showroom stands on the site of the Muscat Garage, which was built in 1934, and is known as one of the oldest car distributors in Malta.

In 2012, the building was scheduled as a Grade 2 building.

The applicant is Christopher Mizzi, managing director of Mizzi Estate, the company that owns the site, and the architect is Edwin Mintoff.

An aerial image of the area of the Muscat Motors site. Photo: Google Earth

Drawings of the plans for the Muscat Motors site. Zone 1 includes the proposal of a high-rise building (in blue)

Proposed high-rise to be over 30 storeys

A drawing of the new plans splits the site into four zones – one being third-party property.  The whole area (minus the third-party property area) consists of 6,605 square metres.

Zone 1, which is 3,026 square metres, is described as public space within the FAR (floor area ratio), the area for a high-rise. Another drawing showed 1,026 square metres were reserved for the high-rise.

The drawings include a 2m buffer between Zone 1 and the “scheduled structure”, which is the full area of the scheduled Muscat Motors building.

The proposed application includes the development of an 854-square-metre new road, which would provide access from Triq Rue d’Argens to Triq Luqa Briffa. The road would divide Zone 1 from Zone 2 and Zone 4.

Zone 2 is proposed as a “conventional building” to mitigate the blank wall of a third-party property (Zone 3 – which is excluded from the development). The drawings indicate that Zone 2 will be developed into a seven-storey corner building made up of commercial space and offices.

Zone 4 is the existing BMW building and will be retained. Application drawings note that a wall over the ‘new’ road will be designed as a frontage.

The application proposes that the high-rise development will be a “mixed-use”, including class 4A offices, a class 3B hotel and Class 1 residential units. The entire complex will be surrounded by an open plaza consisting of hard and soft landscaping.

According to plans, the 35-storey tower is proposed at a height of 130.6 metres, and is a mixture of residential and hotel rooms.

A drawing of the proposed high-rise. Photo: PA

Need for further ‘detailed plans’

Reviewing the application, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage draws attention to the “architectural and historical value” of the property, and despite being remodelled in the 1950s, says the showroom retains its very high architectural value.

The culture watchdog also drew attention to the Fawwara Gate, a historical archway, scheduled at Grade 1, which is abutting the façade along Triq l-Imsida, and how the central workshop also has historical value, as it functioned as a workshop during World War II and serviced Spitfires.

The Superintendence also refers to other documents, which are not included on the PA website. Times of Malta has sent questions to the PA about the missing documents.

The superintendence called for photomontages from viewpoints including the University of Malta, and also from the Cottonera area.

The Malta Tourism Authority said it will provide feedback once the formal application, including detailed plans, is submitted. Transport Malta said a vehicular access point needs to be indicated in the drawings, and there needs to be further clarification about the proposed “new road”.

Attempts to contact Mintoff were unsuccessful.

FAA condemns proposed project

On Thursday morning, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) told Times of Malta the project would devalue the iconic building. Condemning the proposal, it added that the building would be treasured as a landmark in any other country.  

"Gżira is already engulfed and gridlocked by traffic for most of the day, as well as being one of the towns that has seen the greatest population increase in recent years.

"The authorities' steadfast refusal to carry out Carrying Capacity Studies to establish whether towns' infrastructure and liveability can take more development is clearly intended to leave the gates open to projects such as this."

High-rise buildings, FAA added, consumed more power than normal buildings.

"How is this acceptable, given Malta's failure to meet EU commitments on climate change energy reductions? How can Gżira's utilities cope with three such mega-projects? How is this new high-rise building considered sustainable, given that years of polluting construction will be followed by decades of increased traffic, emissions, pollution and drainage overload, leaving the public to cope with a further deterioration of living conditions in that area."