Six-storey hotel proposed in Sliema two-storey area

A six-storey hotel is being proposed in Triq Marjanu Vella, a residential part of Sliema in the vicinity of Balluta, presently characterised by two-storey townhouses.

Plans show that the development will result in a pencil-like development, jarring with the surroundings.

The proposed development of the 20-room hotel foresees the retention of the existing façade, the excavation of a small garden which presently includes a lemon tree and a loquat tree, and the development of four new floors, including a penthouse level.

The local plan sets a height limitation of three floors in this area but a policy approved in 2014 permits hotels to develop two extra floors over and above local plan limitations. This part of Sliema was not included in the locality’s urban conservation area in the local plan.

The new hotel is being proposed by Gordon Gerada’s Gerada Quality Construction Ltd.

Over the past months the Planning Authority has been confronted by an increasing amount of applications for hotels located outside existing tourist areas, spilling into residential areas.

One such proposal is being made in the one-time quiet environs around Casa Leone and the Sacred Heart Convent in St Julian’s which are facing the prospect of a 49-room hotel constructed on eight levels, right across the school and convent instead of a two-storey, 19th century house.