The Planning Authority has been inundated with objections to a proposed office block replacing one of a row of terraced houses on the road opposite San Anton Palace, Attard.
Apart from doubling the height from the present two-storey building, objectors’ eyebrows were raised over the fact that the plans for the proposed office block include a bar area, a swimming pool, an industrial size kitchen, equipped with cold and dry storage facilities, food preparation areas, areas for cooking, washing and serving and a seating area on the pool deck.
Submitted by Anthony Spiteri, on behalf of Tal-Ħerba Environment Ltd, the application proposes the demolition of the existing building, the excavation of three floors of underground parking, a pool at groundfloor level and offices over three floors plus more offices on a receded topmost floor.
According to objectors, the development is an attempt to circumvent a previously rejected 2017 application which had unsuccessfully tried to a shift the residential priority demarcation along Vjal De Paule.
They argue that the development is in a residential priority area, but the proposed use is not residential.
This breaches the urban objective, they contended, included in the Planning Authority’s policies. Moreover, the proposed height exceeds limitations for the area and will ruin the streetscape.
“It is clear that this application is for a catering establishment or events venue, and not office facilities,” the objectors wrote in their submissions to the Planning Authority.
Its proximity to the protected San Anton Gardens and San Anton Palace was also of concern to objectors but not to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) despite being just two metres from the buffer zone protecting the Grade One palace and its gardens and 110 metres from archaeological discoveries.
The SCH did not object to the proposal to replace “a modern structure with no cultural value” although it pointed out that the street had “a very well-preserved streetscape with two to three storey houses with traditional design”.
It noted the risk that ground disturbance in this area may uncover cultural heritage features which may necessitate amendments to the proposal.
It therefore demanded that works are archaeologically monitored.
Among the objectors to the proposed project are Moviment Graffitti and International Hotel Investment plc, owners of the Corinthia Palace Hotel which is located opposite the site in question.