Paradise Bay Hotel seeks two-storey extension

The four-storey Paradise Bay Hotel in Cirkewwa is seeking a two-storey extension to create an additional 100 rooms.

The new policy regulating hotel heights allows hotels to build two extra storeys over and above what is allowed in local plans, but does not apply to hotels located outside development zones.

Yet this has not stopped hotels located outside development zones from applying to get their share of extra storeys.

In fact, Paradise Bay Hotel is not the first hotel in the Cirkewwa area to seek space for more rooms. The Planning Authority has already approved a highly visible heart-shaped seven-storey extension to the Ramla Bay hotel, to replace a number of low-rise apartments, despite concerns on the visual impact of the development especially when viewed from the Comino ferry and the rocky foreshore along Triq il-Marfa.

Another hotel, the Riviera Hotel, originally consisted of a small 61-room hotel built in the 1960s which was later granted a massive extension in 2002 and given a permit for an extra two storeys in two successive applications.

The Paradise Bay hotel was already granted an extension for a fourth floor comprising 36 rooms, which was approved in 2009.

A decision over an application to upgrade existing hotel beach facilities, including an outdoor lounge and BBQ area will be taken on 7 August. The case officer has objected to this application which foresees the demolition of the existing lido structures and concrete platform, to construct a restaurant 4.4 metres above street level with an underlying snack bar and dive shop, on level with the coast. The structure as proposed will rise eight metres above the coastal level.

The Planning Authority’s planning directorate insists that the new additional floor-space at street level is “of great concern in terms of visual impact”. Subsequently the Planning Commission had asked the developers to present new plans which minimise the visual impact.

Paradise Bay Hotel is owned by Ferdinand Fenech Ltd, which inherited the portfolio of tourism pioneer Moses Fenech who started the business in the 1950s from humble beginnings, when he opened a small food and beverage outlet called Cote’ d’Or at Golden Bay. In the early 60s he built two floors on the Cote d’Or for tourism purposes and started the building of the original Golden Sands Hotel with 118 rooms, which by the late 70s had increased to 360 rooms.