Heritage watchdog slams fresh plans to tear down and rebuild Festaval hotel

Updated 1.06pm

Fresh plans to tear down and rebuild the dilapidated Festaval Hotel in Mellieħa have been met with disapproval by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage for a second time, as objections to the project continue to mount.

Last month, Mizzi Estates resubmitted plans to rebuild the Richard England-designed hotel after an earlier similar proposal by the company was withdrawn following a recommendation for refusal by the case officer in September.

In their assessment of the original plans, rather than give their blessing, heritage authorities had instead recommended the existing structures be demolished and the area – a “significant landscape” close to the Grade 1 scheduled St Agatha’s Tower – be rehabilitated.

After reviewing the recent application, on Monday the superintendence came to the same conclusion; it said it was “not in favour” of the proposed development and objected to the application “while remaining supportive of the rehabilitation of the site”.

Meanwhile, objections to the recent proposal have flooded in; some 225 representations have been lodged on the Planning Authority (PA) website since the start of the week, including from prominent environmental NGO BirdLife Malta, which noted the site lies within a protected ecological zone.

The application has also seen objections from the Mellieħa local council and ADPD.

The architect for the site is Edwin Mintoff, with developers currently seeking an outline development permit – granting approval in principle ahead of more detailed plans being submitted.

The Festaval/Festival Holiday Complex next to the Red Tower, Mellieħa, opened in 1980. Photo courtesy of Giovanni Bonello

Like the 2022 proposal, the recent application (PA/00154/26) seeks to demolish and rebuild the hotel to the same number of floors and rooms and with the same gross floor area as the original hotel.

Plans uploaded on the PA website show the envisaged development spanning six floors, including four lower ground levels, while following the contour of the landscape as per the original hotel.

The Festaval Hotel dates to the late 1970s but was abandoned early on due to structural problems. As the site was taken over by nature, it became an alternative tourism destination – while being slapped with two enforcement actions for being left derelict.

The proposed development, which lies within the Outside Development Zone (ODZ), covers 8,850 square metres and is accessed by a side road off Triq tad-Dahar.

The site presents a clear opportunity for ecological rehabilitation

The numerous objections mirror arguments brought forward by BirdLife Malta which, like the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, focused on the environmental impact of the project.

BirdLife Malta stressed that the site lies within a Natura 2000 site ‒ a network of nature protection areas across the EU where development is strictly controlled.

Drawing on national and EU guidelines for such sites directing that local wildlife be encouraged and any tourism activities complement conservation efforts, the NGO said the PA should prohibit development projects that fail to do so.

“Rather than reintroducing intensive built infrastructure and commercialisation of the area, the site presents a clear opportunity for ecological rehabilitation,” it said.

Among its concerns, the organisation accused the project of contradicting Malta’s Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), including an objective highlighting the need to control the cumulative effect of rural developments – one, it said, was “especially relevant” considering the redevelopment of the nearby Mellieħa Bay Hotel.

The site has been slapped with two enforcement notices due to being derelict. Photo: Pichemist/Wikimedia Commons.

The NGO objected to the application, calling it “incompatible with the Natura 2000 site and the ecological, educational and amenity value this offers”, while inviting the developers to consider removing the dilapidated structures and submit such plans to the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).

The ERA asked for a description of the project to see whether it requires an environmental impact assessment.

'We need more trees'

Mellieħa mayor Gabriel Micallef said the council “has remained firm and unanimous in its opposition to this development” and had unanimously voted to object to the new application.  

Stressing that any development would “irreversibly mar the visual landscape of this historic site”, Micallef said the council’s goal was to ensure Mellieħa’s ‘green lungs' were “protected from any further encroachment”. 

In a statement yesterday discussing “overtourism and unchecked speculation”, ADPD said the proposal undermined the ecological integrity of the area and lent its support to calls for the site’s rehabilitation.

Among the hundreds of objections to the project, concerned parties called on the authorities to “reduce, not increase human impact on the fragile ecosystem”. They said there was “no justification” for a new hotel in such a sensitive site, “given recent studies forecasting an oversupply of hotel capacity in Malta”.

A 2024 Deloitte study commissioned by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) found that hotels were seeing their profits squeezed due to increased bed supply and high inflation, while predicting that arrivals would need to hit between 4.4 million and 4.8 million in 2025 to meet capacity.

Last year, Malta recorded just over four million tourist arrivals.

Reflecting the various opinions on the development among concerned parties, one objector implored the authorities to: “Please leave this green space. We do not need more hotels. We need more trees”.