Residents appeal GAP’s 31-floor hotel in Fort Cambridge

Residents have presented an appeal against the approval of a 31-floor hotel on a site where building heights are limited to four floors at Fort Cambridge in Sliema.

The four-storey limit was set in a site-specific development brief approved in 2006, which was intended to regulate development in the area. It had been drafted before the land was transferred to GAP following a competitive tender.

The draft had paved the way for residential development on an adjacent site presently occupied by a 20-storey apartment block but did not foresee any development on top of the historic barracks.

Now, the company wants to build a 31-storey hotel on the site of the Fort Cambridge barracks. It will be the tallest building on the Tigne peninsula.

The appeal presented by architect Tara Cassar on behalf on residents, Din l-Art Helwa and Moviment Graffitti, quotes extensively from the legally binding development brief.

Montages showing different viewpoints of the proposed project

Montages showing different viewpoints of the proposed project

Montages showing different viewpoints of the proposed project

The brief not only limits development on the site of the barracks to four floors but specifies that the historical building should act as a buffer zone between tall buildings in Tigne point and the residential area of Qui-Si-Sana. Moreover, it limits the gross floor area in the barracks to 5,860sq.m.

Yet the hotel permit issued to GAP is set to include a gross floor area of 25,600sq.m which is five times larger than what is allowed on the same site.

The appellants contend that the site-specific Development Brief which is still legally binding should prevail over the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels which permits hotels on stand-alone sites to rise above height limitations imposed in the local plan.

The outcome of the appeal will depend on how the Environment and Review Tribunal will interpret the hierarchy of policies established in the Development Planning Act.

The residents’ appeal also refers to local plan policies which seek to keep a distinction between the commercial area in Tigne and Sliema’s primary town centre.

The appellants also question the PA’s failure to give due importance to a shadowing study which shows that the new tower building will cast a shadow on adjacent residences, particularly in the winter months.