Applications for the development of the €40 million Farsons Business Park were submitted to the planning authority yesterday with the aim to embellish and reuse the listed Mrieħel brewery.
Planned for completion by the end of 2020, the project will have over 18,000 square metres of offices, more than 1,200 square metres of food and beverage areas, 800 square metres of a beer academy, visitors’ attraction and a bar.
The courtyard gardens and all office blocks will be connected to a multi-level car park of over 700 car spaces as well as the old brewhouse through restored corridors and walkways which used to serve the old brewery. The site boundary wall will be removed so that the precincts of the project are accessible to the public, the group said.
Group chairman Louis Farrugia said the business park project was designed by Ian Ritchie Architects Limited, with the support of Malta-based engineers, TBA Periti.
They are assisted by a team of local and international consultants.
“Great care has been taken to retain the integral and unique aesthetic quality of the building and the surrounding built environment, while paying special attention not to compromise the important historical sight-line between Valletta and Mdina,” the group said in its statement.
Farsons Business Park will be limited to five recessed floors and seven low density office blocks all of which will be intersected by generous courtyards inspired by the traditional character of Maltese palaces, according to Farsons.
The company has also reviewed its group internal structures and is planning to hive off a number of properties from its core food and beverage business activities. These properties will eventually form part of a separate property-focused public limited liability company planned for 2017.
The food and beverage business would retain the group’s core operational property assets such as the land and buildings at Mrieħel – the old brewhouse and other identified properties that may be used in future by the food and beverage business.
The board was also looking at a number of funding options for the investment. A presentation is to be delivered to shareholders during the annual general meeting in June.