Tigné development to be finalised with 16-storey tower on coast

The transformation of the Tigné peninsula by MIDI, which has changed the Sliema skyline over the past decade and paved the way for other nearby developments, is nearing completion with the erection of a 16-storey tower“designed to maximise views out towards Valletta and the Mediterranean Sea”.

The project was originally proposed in a planning application presented at the end of last year but the application details are no longer available on the Planning Authority’s website after the authority took the unprecedented step of blocking access to “incomplete applications” in May.

Details of the project had already been published in a project development statement published on the Environment and Resources Authority website but any subsequent changes cannot be viewed online. The ERA has exempted the project from requiring an environmental impact assessment since its impact will not be significant. The PDS indicated that the project will generate an average of 650 new car trips vehicles.

According to plans submitted last year the new tower will accommodate 63 new apartments and will have the same height of the nearby 82 metre-high Fort Cambridge development, which was approved in 2008.

In February MaltaToday had also revealed that 8,000 sq.m of floorspace reduced from the Manoel Island development could be included in the final part of the Tigné development, with MIDI replying that it was still “reconciling the developed areas with the PA” something which was “likely to take a little time”.

In a statement MIDI gave more details about the 16-storey residential tower and new retail, food and beverage units.

The two buildings will be set within the newly-landscaped and restored Garden Battery, which incorporates part of a historic limestone battery that leads to Fort Tigné.

Architectural firm LOM has also designed a new pedestrian bridge that will link The Point shopping mall, adjacent to the development site, to the seafront promenade.

“The scheme will complete Tigné Point, which has been developed by MIDI over the past decade and includes residential, leisure, retail and office space focused around a public square,” the firm said in a design brochure.

The 13,200 sq.m residential tower will have a stepped profile to accommodate large penthouse terraces. Glass-reinforced concrete cladding will be used on the façades to reflect the local limestone and is contrasted with a secondary palette of bronze-coloured zinc balcony edges.

The Garden Battery landscape at the centre of the development will be accessible to the public and is being designed to highlight the battery’s history. Public information boards will be provided along the Battery path that leads to Fort Tigné.