Objectors to the controversial db Group project in Pembroke are due to file a request for a review of the appeal that gave the project the final green light.

Sources said the objectors will soon file an application claiming that the appeals court had not given due consideration to all their grounds of appeal. 

The db Group has already started preparatory work on its massive City Centre project at the site of the old Institute for Tourism Studies at St George’s Bay.

This follows objectors’ eight-year losing battle against the project in front of the Planning Authority and the law courts.

The group’s contractor placed concrete hoarding around the site and installed site offices, with full-fledged work expected to start in the coming weeks.

The project overcame the final hurdle in May when Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti quashed an appeal, upholding the Planning Authority permit granted to db Group.

A render of db group's plans.

The group will now excavate the site and build three towers rising 17, 16 and 12 floors. The project, described as world class by the developer, will include a hotel, high-end apartments and retail and commercial spaces.

The court’s decision was met with dismay and disappointment by Pembroke residents and environmental NGOs, who then set out to explore other avenues to challenge the project.

Sources said residents, who joined NGOs and local councils in objecting to the project, are due to file another legal challenge demanding a review of the appeal. 

The objectors, which include the local councils of Pembroke, Swieqi and St Julian's as well as NGO Moviment Graffitti, met on Monday evening to iron out the final details of their fresh legal challenge. 

When contacted, a company spokesperson warned that the db Group “shall not hesitate to seek damages to protect its rights”.

"After almost a decade of thorough scrutiny from various authorities, tribunals and the highest courts, the Court of Appeal [gave] the ITS project the final go ahead, and settling the matter conclusively."

"The db Group has always honoured its legal and procedural obligations to the hilt and will continue to do so. Simultaneously, the Group has already invested millions of euro in the project - to acquire the land, in bank loans, services, consultancies and other expenses," the spokesperson added. 

He said that should the objectors resort to further litigation, "the db Group will immediately initiate legal action against any signatories of the legal case to seek damages and protect its rights from hidden interests which are behind these vexatious attempts to delay this project."

Originally, db Group had planned to build a 37-storey tower and 17-storey hotel on the site. The Planning Authority approved those plans in 2018, having hired a private jet to fly in a board member specifically for the vote. The member in question voted in favour.

Objectors mounted a legal battle and, in 2019, the court revoked the permit after it was revealed that another PA board member who voted in favour of the project stood to financially benefit from the decision through a real estate agency he owned.

Objectors lost an eight-year battle to save the site from development. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Db Group then downscaled the project and resubmitted a planning application, which the PA subsequently approved in 2021 by a narrow 4-3 margin.

Objectors sought to overturn that decision at the Environment and Planning Tribunal. When they were unsuccessful, they turned to the law courts, with that avenue also running into a dead end.

The chief justice noted in his final judgment last May that the appeal was based on planning issues rather than points of law and the court could not decide on matters beyond its powers. 

Sources said it is on this point that the objectors will demand a review. Lawyer Claire Bonello, who is assisting the objectors, could not be reached for comment.