Portelli’s Psaila Street block to include 62 one-bedroom apartments

Joseph Portelli’s latest massive development instead of the former GO Exchange building in Birkirkara includes 62 one-bedroom flats, accounting for half the proposed dwellings.

The project seems to fly in the face of a policy which limits the proportion of single bedroom apartments to 20% of the total number of apartments. If this policy is to be applied, the number of one-bedroom flats for this project should stand at 25.

However, since the project is partly located in a zone designated as “commercial” where no such restriction applies, the Planning Authority case officer has concluded the proposal is within the allowable limits.

The new five-storey apartment block on Psaila Street is being proposed by Excel Investment Ltd. It is now recommended for approval by the Planning Directorate.

Photomontages presented by developer’s architect showing impact of new residential block on Psaila Street streetscape.

The project will consist of 125 apartments, including 17 penthouses with swimming pools, 11 shops on the ground floor, and two basement car parks. A final decision by the Planning Commission is expected on 3 November.

The project appears to be geared at catering for a growing demand for small one-bedroom apartments, especially but not exclusively, for use by foreign workers.

The 2021 Census has found 70,156 individuals living alone, of which 26,221 are foreigners.  Under-30-year-olds account for nearly a third of foreigners living alone, in contrast with less than 10% of Maltese born people who live in similar households.

An urban design study presented by architect Maria Schembri Grima states the proposed development “seeks to architecturally elevate the area, by “providing units for middle income residents” and penthouses for higher income residents.

It also describes the present social make up as a “mixed type of income occupancy, ranging from low to medium income residents” which is visually identifiable due “to the low quality of architecture present along the streetscapes”.

Moreover, 40 of the proposed 125 units being proposed fall short of the minimum area required by policy which ranges between 54.5sq.m for one-bedroom apartments and 146.3sq.m for three-bedroom apartments.

These include eight one-bedroom apartments of between 49sq.m and 50sq.m.

However, when terraces are considered all the apartments are deemed to be within a 10% ‘allowance’ for flats with outside terraces.

The case officer notes that the  design of the building compliments the existing streetscape and has a holistic design which is deemed preferable to piecemeal development of this 3,700sq.m site.

For this reason, while acknowledging small deviation from the allowable height on a minor portion of the site, the application was still favourably recommended. Moreover, the new building’s elevation and the setback floors will not have a negative impact on the traditional urban skyline of the existing streetscape.

The development also falls short of regulations on the size of reservoirs for storm water collection.

According to the report, the minimum volume of the rain-water reservoirs for this project should be of around 1,732cubic metres.

But the reservoir proposed in the basement level will only cater for 785 cubic metres. But a Storm Water Management Plan presented by the developer states that since the water shall be used to irrigate the landscaped area on a regular basis, a much lower water volume needs to be stored.

The two proposed parking levels will provide a total of 162 car parking spaces, 14 more than what is required by the development. A traffic impact assessment also concluded that the new traffic created by the development will not have an impact on existing junctions, even if one of the junctions (the one between  Triq Il-Kbira San Ġuzepp , Triq Il-Kanun and Triq Fleur De Lys) is already failing.

The study found that this junction is inadequate at all peak hours, both without and with the new development, due to delays and capacity issues on Triq Il-Kanun.

A visual impact assessment states that the new development will also include features typical of residential buildings built in 1960s which characterise some of the houses found along the road.

The development has also been receded from the corner facing the Primary school to allow for a wider pavement on Triq Salvu Psaila.