Pembroke’s community will be protected through a number of environment-friendly measures during the building phase of the City Centre project, developers db Group said.

In a statement, the group said there will be no road closures around the construction site. Heavy vehicles would not be allowed to pass through residential areas and would avoid visiting the site altogether during peak hours.

The excavation machinery would be of the type which generated the lowest amount of noise and dust and there would be an adequate site perimeter barrier to minimise sound disturbance. 

It also said that excavation and construction timeframes will be kept short to minimise disturbance.

The City Centre project, planned for St George's Bay in St Julian's, will see db Group build a hotel, residential units and a shopping mall, among other things, on the site of what used to be the ITS campus. 

Original plans were downscaled following massive opposition by citizens and local councils to the project.  

Council's remaining concerns

Earlier on Tuesday, Pembroke local council issued a statement highlighting their remaining concerns about the project.

These included that the project was still massive and disproportionate to the rest of the locality.

The council said that, in spite of the changes made, the developer still wanted a landmark building which would be the biggest and most prominent in the country.

The project would require the construction of kilometres of underground tunnels, including, under protected garigue.

The council said it could not be in favour of a project which would mean years of burden and destruction, both during its constructions and through its operations once completed.

Developers insist concerns addressed

In its statement, db reiterated that the project has been considerably downsized. The proposed tower had seven floors less than before, the equivalent of a third of the length a football pitch. The height was now approximately that of Mercury Tower, Fort Cambridge, Metropolis and Town Square.

The hotel had also been reduced by the equivalent of almost three standard floors. Crucially, the entire project was now 19,000 square metres less than permissible by the local plan with the developable area reduced by 50,000 square metres. 

Regarding the underground tunnels, db said Infrastructure Malta was currently carrying out the necessary studies on the matter.