Illegal Marsaxlokk demolition, a €50,000 fine later... five-storey guesthouse plans

A five-storey guesthouse is being proposed in between two protected two-storey buildings fronting the Marsaxlokk promenade, on the site where a protected building was illegally demolished over a decade ago.

But that illegal demolition was later ‘sanctioned’ – read, regularised – against a €50,000 fine in 2017, when the Planning Authority had issued a permit for a two-storey restaurant development.

The plot stretching between the picturesque Xatt is-Sajjieda and the residential Triq tas-Silg, where the hotel is being proposed, is partly located in the Urban Conservation Area where development cannot surpass two floors.

The plans presented by the owners of the site, foresee the erection of three receded floors on the part of the plot which is outside the UCA boundary. A pool area is being proposed on the part of the building where the height is being limited to two storeys.

The application is one storey lower than that foreseen in an application refused back in 2017 due to its “unacceptable visual impact”.

The part of the building fronting Xatt is-Sajjieda was previously occupied by a protected building, which was illegally demolished in 2010.

The building was demolished after the police ordered the owner to remove dangerous structures due to falling masonry. Subsequently, a permit was issued allowing the owners to carefully dismantle a dangerous collapsed roof, but not the façade of the old building. But the building was instead demolished in its entirety.

But in 2017, the Planning Authority not only “sanctioned” the illegal demolition of the protected building against a planning contribution of €50,000, but allowed the owners to build a restaurant and an overlying maisonette in its place. The façade of the restaurant was to be an exact replica of the demolished building and had to be finished in pointed weathered stone and timber and glass apertures employed.

Subsequently, an application was submitted to change the restaurant and an adjacent residential plot fronting Triq tas-Silġ, into a hotel. The proposal also entailed the construction of four new floors just outside the extent of the UCA boundary. But this was refused because of the unacceptable visual impact of the proposed development.

The development is being proposed by Itaiana Abela, a director in FSH Fashion Retail Ltd and Cieffe Projects, both owned by F Schembri Holdings.