The Planning Authority has approved the further restoration of the Garden Battery in Tigné.

In a meeting this morning, the board commended the MIDI consortium for having taken the initiative for this project in the interest of the national heritage, saying it was unearthing this once ‘lost' British military gem and carrying out all the necessary studies and restoration works at their own expense.

Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna earlier this year said the Garden Battery, a British-period coastal defence system, was not originally part of the restoration obligations, but the foundation convinced Midi to take on the onus of keeping it.

“The fact that a developer actually consented to save something that was not even indicated in the original outline plan is probably a first in the heritage field in Malta,”

“The preservation of the Garden Battery involved a lengthy process since the road passing beneath Tigné Point had to be accommodated below the Garden Battery – an engineering feat in itself – and the whole of the Tigné north master plan had to be revisited. Buildings earmarked for the site had to be redesigned and the developer had to forfeit the area of and beneath the Battery (that would have been used for parking) – at a cost of over €3.5 million.”