A skyscraper in Sliema is set to be the tallest hotel on the island and architect Ray DeMicoli insists the building will become a reference point to a generally flat skyline.
The towering property, planned to form part of the Fort Cambridge complex in Tigné, will have 40 floors– roughly double the height of the Portomaso building in neighbouring St Julian’s.
Plans for the tower have raised concerns of traffic impact and overshadowing among Sliema residents who believe the building would attract more residents to the already crowded area.
Mr DeMicoli told Times of Malta he understood the concerns and was taking them into consideration.
“In the past we have seen that major investment projects have brought about considerable upgrades in the locality. As for people’s concerns on traffic, a hotel generates far less vehicular traffic than an apartment block,” he said.
Mr DeMicoli said the hotel development would not result in hundreds more cars clogging up the area. On the contrary, he noted, the existing 850-space car park beneath the Fort Cambridge complex would more than suffice.
As for the issue of overshadowing, Mr DeMicoli pointed out that the south-facing building would cast a shadow; however, this would impact the rest of the Fort Cambridge project and not other residences.
“As of noon, the shadow cast by the building will be on the rest of our own development,” said Paul Attard, director of GAP Developments, the company behind the project.
He feels the building had drawn a negative reaction because it had not been explained to the public. Details reported by the press did not reflect the project as its intended use did not come across, he said.
Mr DeMicoli said the tower building would add to the Sliema skyline.
At present, the tall buildings in the area were clustered in the Tigné Point area and the addition of this much taller building – and another planned by another developer not far from the proposed hotel – would become reference points in the skyline, much like a campanile of a church in a village.
The Tigné peninsula, which already includes the 17-storey-high Fortina Hotel (once the tallest building on the island), is one of the six localities where tall buildings can be developed, after the planning authority drafted a new tall buildings policy last year. The other five areas where such buildings can be erected are Gżira, Qawra, Paceville, Marsa and Mrieħel.