PA approves Stivala’s 11-storey Gzira hotel

The Planning Authority has approved Michael Stivala’s application for the construction of an 11-storey hotel in Gżira.

The development application had garnered the opposition of a number of environmental NGOs and residents, but was approved regardless on Wednesday, with the Planning Commission saying that the proposal was acceptable.

Residents in the meeting accused Michael Stivala of turning Gżira into ‘Stivalaland,’ even as the developer – who is the President of the Malta Developer’s Association – argued that other projects of a similar scale in the area had not faced such opposition.

Situated at an intersection between Triq Parisio and Triq Moroni, the 11-storey hotel is set to replace an old farmhouse and would be overlooking the gardens of the scheduled Villa Bonici.

The hotel was also proposed in an area which is zoned as “residential” in the local plans, meaning that hotels are not allowed – however the case officer recommended that it be approved based on a different policy which allows a certain degree of flexibility if the proposed application is compatible with its surroundings.

But the case officer who recommended approval invoked a policy on ‘consolidation and regeneration initiatives’ that gives the PA flexibility in assessing tourism development if it is compatible with the surrounding neighbourhood.

The meeting was attended by a significant number of residents who expressed their concern at the application.

Howeber, Stivala’s architect, Maria Grazia Schembri, who also chairs the Building and Construction Authority, argued that a number of hotels are already situated in the area and that the case officer’s recommendation to grant the application was jusified.

The approval of the new hotel was facilitated by a change of heart on the part of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage.

Back in September 2021, it expressed “grave concern” at the intensity of the hotel with its “very considerable heights and volumes, which will bear onto the scheduled gardens of Villa Bonici.” The inevitable demolition of the existing farmhouse would also “generally not be viewed favourably by the Superintendence.”

However, the photomontages of the proposed hotel prompted the Superintendence to find the proposal “acceptable in principle,” because it is terraced away from the scheduled gardens.