The Planning Authority has given its go-ahead for the demolition of the older part of the Ramla Bay Hotel in Marfa and its replacement by a seven-storey structure.

The new structure will have 396 new rooms, a gym, retail outlets, catering establishments, an indoor pool, multipurpose halls and other ancillary facilities which will be spread over three new buildings.

The PA explained that like the design of the first phase of the hotel's redevelopment, completed some years ago, the new Ramla Bay will move away from the traditional hotel plan with long corridors leading to a number of rooms distributed on both sides. Instead, a more organic design was being adopted where the concept of ‘porosity’ would allow for the breaking up of the mass of volume and bring spaces that were usually underused.

All three blocks will be interconnected at the lowest levels and also linked by open-air bridges.

The board agreed with the Development Management Directorate’s recommendation that for purposes of upgrading and increasing the number of beds, there was enough justification for a minimal increase in the building footprint, given that this would be carried out within the existing committed boundary of the old hotel, the PA said. 

The project was subject to an Appropriate Assessment (AA) and an EIA which were both assessed by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), the PA said.

A number of conditions have been included in the permit to ensure these mitigation measures are adhered to.