The Manoel Island Foundation has raised no objections to new plans for higher buildings on the island, noting that the overall building volume will remain unchanged.
The foundation includes representatives of the Gżira local council, NGOs and developers Midi, and was set up to oversee a guardianship agreement signed between the stakeholders earlier this year.
In a statement on Tuesday, the foundation said: “The amendments as proposed constitute a transfer of the residential volumes from the north clusters to the south clusters and the overall development remains a low rise development which does not exceed four floors across the island. Furthermore, the proposed amendments do not contemplate any change to the building volumes as originally proposed.”
The foundation reiterated its commitment to ensuring that Midi adhered to the obligations in the guardianship deed.
The proposed amendments to Midi’s mega-development masterplan will increase the height of planned apartment blocks on the landward side of Manoel Island to four storeys, or 18.5 metres, instead of the three storeys (14.5 metres) in the original masterplan submitted last year.
In exchange, the new plans eliminate some of the previously-planned blocks overlooking the yacht yard, with the cleared footprint designated instead as “private open space”.
Midi said in a statement that the overall built-up area and the overall building heights would remain in line with the original plans. It confirmed that an additional floor would be added to buildings along the marina to accommodate building volume transferred from elsewhere.
“These modifications do not increase the overall heights of the development as contemplated in the original master plan and the overall built-up area of the Manoel Island development remains unchanged. The amended plans respect Midi’s obligations in terms of the guardianship deed,” the consortium said.
Previous plans for Manoel Island. Areas shaded in purple represent three floors, while those in red represent four floors.
Amended plans showing more four-storey buildings (shaded in red) and a reduction in building volume from several clusters (including 3, 5, 7 and 10).