Building permit for airport business centre

Plans to build a €16 million business centre at Malta International Airport were given the green light by the planning authority yesterday.

The five-storey building will be built next to the terminal in Gudja having a footprint of 30,000 square metres. It will consist of offices, shops and an underground car park.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority board approved the full development permit to build the business centre submitted by the MIA.

The project includes two underground levels to be used as a car park and retail space on one underground level and the ground floor.

Case officer Jonathan Orlando pointed to a shortfall of 172 parking spaces for the offices, which will be spread over the five storeys. But project architect Edwin Mintoff said a traffic study of use of the airport's car parks was being carried out and, in the meantime, a former parking area, with around 200 spaces, could be used as an interim measure.

In July, the airport had announced that Vodafone would be the business centre's anchor tenant. The project is expected to be ready within 20 months with a target completion date of the end of 2011.