Lower but larger Delimara hotel makeover heading for approval

Changes proposed to an already approved 17-room hotel development at Kalanka beach in Delimara are slated for approval.

The case officer has deemed the changes to the yet to be constructed hotel as “acceptable” since they do not entail “any additional visual impact”.

The original plans for the hotel were approved in 2018. The building is to rise on the derelict structures of a smaller hotel dating back to the 1950s.

The development foresees the removal of one of the two basement levels approved in 2018, the extension of an already approved basement level and a two-metre reduction in the overall height of the development.

The 2018 permit was issued despite objections by the Environment and Resources Authority, whose chairman Victor Axiak had voted against.

The existing built-up footprint of the old hotel covers an area of 343sq.m which was increased to 561sq.m in plans approved in 2018.

Through the latest changes the built-up footprint of the hotel will increase to 675sq.m.

The 2018 permit also foresaw hard landscaping for terraces, ramps and a swimming pool over 480sq.m which will now increase to 588sq.m, mostly on land already disturbed by the 1950s development.

The proposal involves the shifting of accommodation facilities from the main building to stand-alone cabins on the east of the site, and an extension of excavations to the west of the site for the relocation of the underground spa facilities.

The existing informal public parking area (1,856 m2) will be reorganised and landscaped.

Moreover, in the latest plans, excavations for the basement level are set back by a further 9.4metres away from the cliff edge.

The case officer concluded that the “minimal increase in the disturbed footprint” is offset by the decrease in total area and volume of the project, and therefore there is “no objection to the proposed land take-up”.

The Environment and Resources Authority has acknowledged that improvements have been made to the development in particular with respect to massing, design, the colouring scheme of the buildings and overall landscape impact. But the authority has expressed concerns about the lateral expansion of development, beyond the previously approved footprint.

“Though improvements have been made, these are not considered sufficient to offset ERA’s environmental concerns that had already been raised vis-à-vis the previous proposal,” the environmental watchdog concluded in a report published earlier this year.

In its final recommendations ERA had proposed the elimination of the proposed cabins in the easternmost portion of the site, which extend beyond the footprint of the approved development.

To justify the lateral extension, the case officer made reference to policies which permit the development of basements in ODZ.

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage described the proposal as “more acceptable” in terms of its spatial relation to the open areas than the one approved in 2018