Sliema hotel extension given the green light

The proposed extension to the Victoria Hotel, in Sliema was yesterday given the green light by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

In a marathon three-hour public hearing, the board also approved an amendment to a development next to Villa Preziosi, in St Paul's Bay and an application to change the use of a film production site in Ricasoli for paintball games.

The proposed extension to the Victoria Hotel, submitted by Angelo Xuereb on behalf of AX Holdings, will include a building of nine storeys above road level and five storeys below with its frontage overlooking High Street.

The existing hotel, with the entrance from Borg Olivier Street, is nine storeys high and the developers have also proposed an additional storey for a restaurant with a roof terrace.

The extension consists of an additional 134 hotel rooms together with complementary facilities and an underground multi-storey car park.

Excavation works are estimated to take six weeks and will require an average of 65 truck trips, totalling 820 cubic metres of material per day. The construction work is expected to take 18 months throughout the whole week except Sundays.

The proposal includes the demolition of a dilapidated two-storey house, a block of five flats with a shop at ground floor and an old two-storey building occupied by an 82-year-old woman.

The children of this woman, Doris Agius and Alfred Mifsud, yesterday objected to the demolition of their mother's home because they said moving would devastate her. She has been living there since 1944.

They called on the developer to build an alternative house along High Street to make up for it.

However, Mr Xuereb explained that the lady in question was a tenant on his land. While he understood the heartache involved, he had already offered to give her a free suite at the Capua Palace home for the elderly, next door to the hotel, on a full-board basis plus Lm20 a day in cash.

Another request was that an old shopfront along High Street, one of the few standing examples of early Sliema shops, should not be demolished. It was agreed that this façade would be incorporated in the project .

The applicant was originally meant to pay Lm10,000 to Mepa, as part of the permit conditions, as a planning contribution towards the restoration of the adjacent chapel of Our Lady of Graces. Since this has already been restored, the money will now go towards an environment improvement fund.

Another case discussed by the board involved amendments to an already approved development of an apartment block as a backdrop to Villa Preziosi which will be restored and turned into a restaurant.

The amendments to the building, which has a frontage on Konverzjoni and Bugibba streets, include a reduction in the footprint and an increase in height of four storeys; the change of one basement level from public car parking spaces to private car garages and the removal of four commercial units.

Before the amendments were approved there was long debate over the fact that the commuted parking payment scheme of 50 parking spaces had now been eliminated due to structural necessity.

While St Paul's Bay council felt the developer should pay Lm250,000 in compensation for the loss of these 50 spaces, Mepa suggested Lm100,000.

Mepa also recommended the developer fork out Lm20,000, for environmental improvement of the area, plus a fine to sanction the situation since construction had started prior to approval.

In the end, the developer had to pay just Lm50,000 in lieu of the 50 parking spaces, Lm49,000 for environmental improvements and a nominal Lm1,000 fine.

The third case Mepa approved consisted of the conversion of a derelict field contiguous with the Mediterranean Film Studios into a space for the popular paintball games.