The Planning Authority is backing plans to build a 31-storey hotel on the site of the Fort Cambridge barracks in Sliema. 

The PA's planning directorate has recommended the proposal for approval, despite a pending request for the building to be scheduled by the local council.

Application PA/02906/16 proposes retaining the existing facades of the barracks while demolishing internal structures and excavating four basement levels to build the 31-floor class 3B tower hotel. 

Proposed on a total area of 2,498 square metres between Triq Tigné and Triq il-Ponta ta' Dragut, the hotel will include 345 guest rooms with a main entrance on Locker Street in Sliema. 

It is being proposed by Paul Attard of developers Gap Ltd, which obtained a lease for the site in 2007. The company has since developed a series of apartment blocks in the area and now has its sights set on developing the historic barracks. 

The late 19th-century building was used as an officer’s mess and quarters during the British occupation of Malta. In the 1980s it was converted into a Holiday Inn hotel. The hotel extension was demolished in 2008. 

Gap Ltd initially proposed building a 40-storey tower at the site but later downscaled the plan to the 31-storey building now being proposed.

The application to build a tower at the barracks received hundreds of objections, with the visual impact of the proposed towers being cited as one of the principal concerns with the development. 

While acknowledging the existence of high-rise buildings in the area, objectors argued that further intensifying the area would result in a broken skyline and an irreversible visual impact on the landscape and its historical context. 

Heritage concerns were also raised by objectors, given that the officer’s mess is of historic importance and was described as a “landmark building” in the 2006 development brief for Fort Cambridge that was drawn up by the Planning Authority. 

A digital render of the proposed tower integrated into the Fort Cambridge barracks. Photo via Planning Authority

The environmental impact assessment of the project also noted that the building deserved Grade 2 protection, as had been granted to similar buildings, adding that it had not recommended Grade 1 protection only because of the irreversible changes made to it when it was previously converted to a hotel. 

Grade 2 scheduling normally allows internal alterations to the existing building but precludes more substantial alterations. 

Many objectors proposed preserving the officer’s mess with restoration, saying only “sensitive adaptive reuse” should be allowed on the site, the case officer said. 

The Environmental Resources Authority also commented on the substantial visual impact set to be created by the proposed building, noting that although revised plans had decreased the overall size “the overall residual impact significance remains the same, being major adverse, for both long and short distance viewpoints” on the Valletta skyline as seen from the Cottonera area.  

In its original assessment, the Superintendence of Cultural expressed concerns about the extensive demolition and the impact on the Valletta skyline, making a case for an adequate level of protection to be awarded to the building following a site inspection. 

“The whole envelope of the building has survived to a very great extent, preserving clear legibility of the architectural styles and the significant architectural spaces, including the central courtyard and the facades fronted by arcaded loggias on the external and internal facades,” the SCH said.

“This is a property that retains a very high architectural and historical value and that would merit scheduling at an appropriate level to ensure its protection and appropriate treatment.”

The case officer recommended the application for approval subject to a number of conditions. The case is set to be heard by the planning board on July 13.