PL gets permit for seven-floor apartment block in Gzira

After a three-year saga involving numerous changes to plans, the Planning Authority has issued a permit to the Labour Party for the erection of a seven-floor block on the site of its political club in Gzira.

The building is located just across the road from the historical Orpheum Theatre.

The permit entails the demolition of an existing three to four-storey building which also hosts the party’s club. The new development will include a full-blown restaurant at ground floor and basement levels, a party club and hall on the first floor, and overlying nine apartments.

The permit was originally recommended for refusal by the case officer who flagged several instances where the proposed development is in breach of policy.

These included a failure to provide the required parking spaces. In fact, the development makes no car parking provision while creating the need for 16 parking spaces.

The development also exceedes the 20% capping of one-bedroom apartments. Four of the proposed nine apartments have one bedroom.

Both objections were overruled because the area in question is considered as “a restricted site” - one whose depth is less than 12.5m.

Existing policies allow the PA to “waive” these requirements when dealing with applications on these sites.

Another objection concerned the proposed restaurant, which the case officer argued will be located in a residential area. This objection was dropped after the applicant presented evidence of other permits for restaurants in the area.

The commission concluded that the proposed height of the building is in line with the height limitation of 20.8m measured from the highest street level.

In a meeting held in November the Planning Commission had still expressed concerns on the visual appearance of the proposed building because it did not fully respect the context of the surrounding structures.

This concern was addressed after the presentation of new plans which introduced a setback 1.74m for a length of 6.03m at fifth floor level at the corner between St Patrick Street with Sir Charles Cameron.

In 2020 the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage (SCH) had warned that the Labour Party’s plans to demolish its Gzira club and replace it with a seven-storey building would have “a negative impact” on the setting of the Orpheum Theatre, a Grade 1 building opposite the site proposed for development.

But subsequently the SCH had deemed the proposal acceptable following changes to the project’s design and in view of the context of the development.