Ground stability findings eliminates Msida hotel underground parking

A basement car park for some nine cars has been removed from a prospective Msida hotel project, due to ground stability issues.

The 11-storey hotel of 107 rooms will be built on the main Msida thoroughfare opposite the Workers Memorial. The Planning Authority approved changes to the design, including the removal of the underground car park.

The removal was permitted on the basis of guidelines exempting developers from parking requirements “if this is physically and technically unfeasible/impossible, or undesirable” and if a contribution is made to the Planning Authority’s parking fund.

The sum, making up for the shortfall in nine parking spaces, will that of €47,000 payable to the PA’s Urban Improvements Fund for Msida, that will later fund traffic management, green transport, urban improvements or similar projects.

A ground investigation by Solidbase in March 2021 found that the ground under the proposed hotel consisted of loose material or very weak bedrock, and that excavations would have caused stability issues to neighbouring properties.

The hotel is being developed by J&J Holdings, a company owned by Josef Dimech and Jonathan Pace.

The Planning Authority’s planning directorate, which assesses projects on the basis of planning policies, had objected to the proposal because the development of hotels in this area of Msida was not foreseen in the local plan. Specifically, the case officer who had objected to the development noted that this “extensively exceeded the allowable heights” of four floors, foreseen in the local plan.

But the PA’s planning commission, chaired by architect Simon Saliba, concluded that the hotel use was compatible with the site context, while the height on Triq ix-Xatt was equivalent to the seven-storey height limitation when converted in metres.

The case officer continued to object even after the board indicated its intention to approve the project, describing the “non-adherence with the maximum building height limitation” as a “major concern”.

Moreover, according to the case officer, the development was not eligible to make use of the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels as it was considered “excessive in terms of the streetscape, context of the site, scale and building mass when compared to adjacent developments” and would “negatively impact the surroundings from the majority of views”.

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage had also objected to the demolition of the two 19th century townhouses. The approved plans envisage the preservation of one of the façades.