Plans to demolish a Rabat nightspot and build a large apartment complex have been submitted to the Planning Authority - months after the courts revoked plans to build a hotel on the site. 

Developers have asked for permission to demolish Tattingers nightclub, which shut in 2018, and a handful of adjacent properties on Saqqajja Hill.

The plans were submitted by Mdina Property Limited and architect Jesmond Mugliett, the same people who were behind the rejected hotel plans. 

If approved, PA/05545/23 would see a five-floor building with 34 residential units. They would be made up of six one-bedroom apartments, 17 two-bedroom apartments and 11 three-bedroom apartments. 

Plans for the new complex also include two restaurants on the ground floor, a gym and a spa for the complex’s residents.

The nearby Villa San Clemente also features in the plans, with a request to make alterations to turn it into a restaurant, while a small parking area across the road is set to be refurbished and included in the development. 

The former Tattinger nightclub would be demolished under the plans. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Heritage watchdog highlights concerns 

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage warned in a submission to the application that any development that negatively impacts Mdina’s historical landscape setting should not be approved, as it could interfere with its tentative listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

It said the buildings are in an area that once formed part of the military glacis of Mdina, which has an intrinsic value as part of the fortifications as well as archaeological potential.  A glacis is an artificial slope that was part of early fortresses. 

The site itself is also close to protected archaeological remains, including a Roman wall, while a protected railway tunnel also runs beneath part of the site’s footprint. 

The superintendence also questioned why the project is still proposing the excavation of two tunnels, despite the site no longer being envisaged for use as a hotel. 

Plans that show a cross section of the newly-proposed building. Photo via Planning Authority

The SCH has also asked the developers to provide detailed drawings that show exactly what has changed about the proposed building from the hotel plans, as well as photomontages from strategic viewpoints.

The Planning Authority had originally approved plans for the hotel in 2021, on the condition that archaeological and geological studies would be carried out before excavation work could be carried out on the site. 

The case was appealed and the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal revoked the permit and sent it back to the PA, saying that the permit should not have been issued before these studies were carried out. 

Earlier this year, the court of appeal overturned the permit and said that it was not in line with the locality’s local plan.