The Planning Authority has given the green light to transform a St Julian’s townhouse into a four-storey, three-star hotel.

Sirdar House, dating back to the 19th century, is located within the locality’s Urban Conservation Area and despite the application receiving over 140 objections, the development has been unanimously approved by the Planning Commission board.

Located just behind the popular City of London Bar, the application (PA/06209/22) will construct three floors and a receded level with a proposed chimney flue. The plan also includes excavation for a swimming pool and part internal demolition of the building.

The plans, submitted by Andrea Zammit Tabona and architect Edwin Mintoff, will retain the existing façade of the building.

A render of the existing Sirdar House and the proposed hotel. Photo: Planning Authority

The original proposal was for the hotel to rise to five storeys high, yet the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had expressed concerns about the proposed development’s intensity and height.

Following concerns, the developers lowered the height of the new building by one storey.

Following a site inspection last year, the heritage watchdog noted the “compromised context around the townhouse”.

“This results even from adjacent developments that have created high blank party walls bearing onto Sirdar House and prejudicing visual and spatial values within the streetscape,” according to the heritage watchdog.

It also concluded that an increase in height over Sirdar House could be considered as “this should mitigate the effect of the adjacent blank party walls”.

While the superintendence welcomed the retention of the façade, it urged developers to preserve a greater extent of interior fabric, including the existing staircase.

According to the case officer report, the developers took on the watchdog’s recommendations and will retain the internal apertures in the front part of the property. The existing stairs will be recovered and relocated in the proposed development.

The case officer report also notes that developers were to include 14 parking spaces but failed to do so. This requirement has been waived in favour of a €92,000 fee.

The news of the decision comes after hoteliers and restauranteurs urged the government to stop encouraging the development of new hotel rooms and warned that the rapid growth has led to overcrowded destinations and anti-social behaviour.

Sirdar House is located metres away from the scheduled Villa Leoni, which was planned to be developed into a hotel  but this was rejected by the Planning Authority back in 2019.

St Julian’s village core has changed drastically over the years, and just last month, Villa St Ignatius, another 19th-century villa was approved to be turned into a four-star hotel. The permit for the villa was granted after the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage back-pedalled on its position that the building should be scheduled rather than developed.