MIDI’s restoration of the battery located at Tigné Point in Sliema was recently recognised for its outstanding restoration works during the 14th edition of the Architectural Heritage Awards, organised by local culture and heritage NGO, Din l-Art Ħelwa.

MIDI was awarded a diploma for outstanding contribution to Maltese cultural heritage and to the achievement of architectural excellence in Malta for the admirable restoration and conservation of the Garden Battery. But before this local slice of heritage was restored, it lay forgotten and in complete neglect for over 30 years.

The story of the Garden Battery in Tigné, an artillery battery constructed to complete the defensive military unit along the Tigné peninsula in Sliema, can be characterised by two distinct states: that of neglect and that of resurgence.

Built by the British administration between 1889 and 1894, this formidable coastal artillery fortification was constructed as part of a line of defence for Marsamxett Harbour and Grand Harbour. It remained in use up to the early years of the 20th century, but after World War II, the defensive unit became obsolete and the situation further exacerbated once new structures to be used as Officers’ Quarters were built atop the glacis and the original gun emplacements, hence leaving behind only a hazy memory of the artillery battery until the Tigné project began to unfold.

The history

The Garden Battery is described as a long and narrow pentagonal body pointing outwards towards the sea, flanked by the adjacent Fort Tigné and Fort Cambridge on either side.

Old records show that the battery did have a historic link with the respective ditches of the forts, thus completing one single defensive military complex in Sliema.

The memory of this significant complex was almost lost forever, until it was rediscovered in the early 2000s, when excavation works at Tigné Point started.

Although the Outline Development Permit envisaged that the Garden Battery would be demolished, a decision was subsequently taken to retain and preserve the battery and to incorporate the entire area into the Tigné Point development and as part of the eventual heritage route linking Fort Tigné with Fort Cambridge, as was originally intended.

This decision necessitated the redesign of the Tigné North phase, including the underground trunk road, delaying the development by circa five years and costing MIDI plc an additional €7 million.

The project has successfully preserved the original layout

Apart from the works associated with the recovery and restoration of the battery, the single most challenging task was the construction of the trunk road, linking Qui-Si-Sana to Tigné seafront, which had to be diverted under one of the gun emplacements.

In order to achieve this, a structure, consisting of a series of concrete piles, was excavated in the rock below the gun emplacement and steel beams were placed on these piles to take the load of the gun emplacement.

Once it was assured that the weight of the battery was resting on these beams, the rock beneath them was carefully excavated and the structure of the underground trunk road was constructed underneath the battery.

In the end, it proved to be the right decision as this link of artillery fortifications, together with the historic values related to British military architecture, have made this complex worthy of preservation.

Through this, the leisure and commercial activities in Tigné are further balanced through heritage by delivering a lost part of Sliema to its people that many would not have ever known was even missing in the first place.

The artillery

Originally, the existing coastal defence fortifications consisted of Fort Tigné, Fort Cambridge and Sliema Point Battery and these were all equipped with the older RML guns by 1885.

It was then recommended that the area located between Fort Tigné and Fort Cambridge would be suitable to supply Malta with the following BL guns, some of which on disappearing mountings; one 13.5-inch, one 10-inch and two six-inch BL guns. In actual fact, the Garden Battery was to make use of a central 9.2-inch BL Mark VI gun, weighing approximately 22 tons, with a six-inch BL Mark VI gun on either side, each one weighing in at approximately five tons.

Prior to its construction, it was agreed that all guns would be built on disappearing mountings, constructed within the concrete emplacements. The disappearing guns had been a contemporary phenomenon at the time of construction of the Garden Battery due to the mechanical and technical quality.

The main scope of this gun was to be able to protect the equipment by allowing the gun to recoil into the gun emplacement below ground level. In this manner, only the gun would appear above ground during firing and will recoil down and out of sight during reloading.

Despite their ingenuity, these guns were found to be inefficient and inadequate when applied to artillery for land fire due to the reduced rapidity of the firing.

Besides the gun emplacements, the battery also included underground magazines built in between the two gun emplacements and consisted of a shelter casemate, an artillery store, as well as two shell stores for the guns on either side, together with gun-crew shelters and cartridge stores.

According to the research done, it does appear to have been an addition to the existing Battery when compared to the original drawings as a vaulted masonry space has been constructed between Gun Emplacement 1 and the underground magazines leading to Gun Emplacement 2.

This new additional vault has been constructed using a difference methodology as it has its own concrete hood which differs from the others.

As of 1907, the Garden Battery had ceased to operate as an effective military arm once again.

The fort had become redundant due to ever-changing technological advances.

In fact, the complex had been filled in, with Officers’ Quarters built in its place.

This became the long-standing memory for so many people as the battery remained buried until the Tigné project unfolded and the battery was revealed.

Conservation rationale

Following the initial phases of the rehabilitation of the Garden Battery military complex project, the restoration of the historic fabric was completed and thus the phases at this stage were completed. The finalised uses and the landscaping plans are to be completed in line with the adjacent developments.

The project was complex to undertake due to the various site constraints and developments occurring concurrently that included a pedestrian bridge as well as residential and commercial premises.

Hence, the conservation rationale needed to adhere to the neighbouring developments while retaining the overall significance and values of the site.

The prime objective was to retain as much of the existing fabric or return to its original state following modern developments. Nonetheless, the raised gun platforms and the inclined masonry hoods were reinstated while the staircases leading to the underground stores were re-moved and reinstated by the original full-length ramps where possible.

Unfortunately, portions of the original fabric have been lost over time  and the neighbouring development blocks do hinder the image of a unified complex. However, in many ways, the project has also successfully preserved the original layout through sensitive intervention techniques that will soon let the public revisit a heritage site within the commercial centre of Tigné.

The rehabilitation of The Garden Battery military complex project, which integrated the site with the Tigné master plan project, will help to create a new public realm with pedestrian routes linking Fort Cambridge, the Garden Battery and Fort Tigné.

Details of the restoration process can be found on www.midimalta.com.

Project coordinators: Midi Projects Management Team

Architectural Firms: AOM Partnership and Architecture XV

Time frame: Four years (three years preservation/integration into the project and one year restoration works)

Cost: €7 million

At an investment of over €15 million, the conservation and restoration work undertaken by MIDI plc at Tigné Point and Manoel Island are still considered the largest restoration initiative of local heritage, ever carried out by the private sector in Malta. The restoration works completed to date include Fort Manoel and surrounding areas, Fort Tigné, the Garden Battery, the Cattle Shed, St George’s Chapel and the Garrison Chapel.

Architect and civil engineer Ivan Piccinino is a senior project manager at MIDI plc.