64 parking spaces envisioned for Dingli hotel

Plans for a new hotel instead of the abandoned explosives factory in Dingli foresee 64 parking spaces in an underground car park.

The newly published plans foresee the demolition of the existing explosives factory and its redevelopment onto an Eco-Spa.

The proposed development would require the excavation of the site to create three underground levels, two of them earmarked for parking and storage and another for a restaurant, spa, a kitchen, a bar lounge and a reception.

Two pools will be located at ground level. The hotel rooms are located on 11 separate blocks. Various indigenous trees are foreseen to mitigate the visual impact. Development is limited to the footprint of the existing building.

The Pulvich Explosives Industries Ltd is no longer in use, and the present building includes 36 stores – each the size of a large garage. The application was presented by La Toc Hotels Limited, a company formed in 2014 and owned by Dirk Hili, Bianca Anastasi and Veli Holdings. La Toc hotel has recently opened the La Folceneria hotel in Valletta.

In the application La Toc Hotels declare that they are not the owners of the site but have been given the consent of the owners to submit the application on their land.

The original permit for the development of the explosives factory had been issued in 1977. Another application presented in 1994 to erect a store in the existing factory was also refused.

In 2000, both the PA and its appeals board refused an application that had been presented by Edgar Pugliesevich and which envisaged the re-use of existing industrial premises at Dingli for educational and agricultural use and for residential purposes.

The application had envisaged the development of five residential units, built over a footprint of 1,500sq.m.