Il-Maċina, the former Labour Party headquarters, will be transformed into a boat berthing facility after the project was given the go-ahead by the planning authority.

Unanimously approved by the Mepa board, the facility will be built along il-Maċina in Dockyard Creek.

The decision, originally meant to be taken in December, was put off after the Heritage Planning Unit said the building should be left free from structures – including the pontoon – as it “clutters” the Grade 1 scheduled fortifications.

Architect Edwin Mintoff said the revised plans would leave the area in front of the central doorway and the finger pontoon projecting from the main pontoon unobstructed.

The project includes a floating wooden pontoon connected to the quay by two bridges, anchored by sinkers at both ends.

It would provide landing stages for people to alight from boats and use facilities inside the Maċina. The proposal also features three perpendicular berths to the south of the Maċina. Boats would be detached from the historic building by about five metres.

Anchoring blocks will have to be laid on the seabed without excavation.

Il-Maċina was originally built by the Knights to house a machine that lifted masts from galleys. From the early to mid-17th century, this machine was originally made of strong hardwood, but in 1864 the British changed it to a modernised steel structure.

In 1927 the machine was dismantled by the Admiralty in favour of a floating lift crane.

It was later used as storage space, the Admiralty’s Head Office, and as a trade school. From the 1970s to 1994 it was used as the Labour Party headquarters.