Marsa six-storey block over 19th century building and farmland

A six-storey high office development is being proposed on farmland in Marsa across the old matchbox factory, right next to the plot earmarked for a 16-storey high-rise, while another office block could replace a historic building on the waterfront.

An imposing late-19th century building close to the Marsa waterfront and inside the historical industrial zone, is being identified for the development of a five-storey office block, by Church Wharf Properties Limited. Previous plans for a 17-storey tower on the same site have been withdrawn.

But the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is strongly objecting to the demolition of the facade of the “historic port building”, drawing attention to its formality and “architectural rhythm”, which it wants safeguarded and retained.

A six-storey high office development is being proposed on farmland in Marsa across the old matchbox factory, right next to the plot earmarked for a 16-storey high-rise

The SCH has not shot down any development on this site but is insisting that any development on this site “should preserve and integrate this significant building”.

In the six-storey block application, Hompesch Station Ltd has earmarked a 1,115sq.m farmland plot adjacent to the former matchbox factory, which will also include two levels of underground parking, a ground-floor showroom and five floors of offices.

The site is already designated as an ‘Opportunity Area’ in the local plan, where the Planning Authority had to set parameters for development.

A previous application was turned down in 2011 as it was considered to prejudice the holistic development of the area. This exercise was finalised in a plan published in December 2018 which zoned a 100,850sq.m zone in Marsa as a ‘business hub’.

The policy limits building heights in all five areas to 22m – five storeys – but states that the floor-area ratio can be applied in line with the 2014 heights policy, which had already identified an undefined part of Marsa for high-rise development. A 16-storey office development is also being proposed on a nearby site by the developer Neville Agius.

In its first reaction to the 16-storey high-rise, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has drawn attention to the historical buildings located in the vicinity of the site, particularly to the former match factory located across the road and reminding developers the design of the new building, should not to be prejudicial “to significant architecture in the vicinity”.

In 2018 the Corinthia Group presented an application on the site of the former matchbox factory. Earlier proposals to knock down the historic building to make way for a five-storey multipurpose centre, set to include both offices and shops were dropped following objections by the Superintendence. Another application, details of which are not yet available to the public has been subsequently presented.

Marsa Opportunity Area