34 dwellings proposed in Gharghur enclave

An undeveloped enclave of 2,590 square metres near Gharghur’s urban conservation area has caught the eye of mega-developers GAP Holdings, the developers behind Fort Cambridge and the proposed 40-storey hotel in Tigné, for the construction of seven maisonettes, 21 apartments, six penthouses, 43 basement garages and a shop.

Residents fear that development in this ‘internal area’  which was considered off limits for development, would change the urban fabric of the locality but GAP insists that the development will respect the locality’s characteristic.  

MEPA recently suspended the processing of the application presented in August 2015, but is concurrently processing a parallel GAP application presented in October which, if approved, would pave the way for the development of apartments in this land parcel.

A MEPA spokesperson confirmed that the application was suspended following a request by GAP Holdings’ architect Stephen Farrugia in view of a pending planning control application.  

The planning control application proposes a change in alignment to create “residential blocks and open space”. 

Any eventual permit has to conform with the approved alignment so “it was deemed appropriate by the architect to request the suspension of the other application”, the MEPA spokesperson told MaltaToday.

Although located within the development zone, residents have expressed concern that the development will continue to ruin the character of the locality, which has already been negatively impacted by the increase in building heights in 2005.

A number of properties in the UCA also border on the proposed development. Residents expressed concern that the development will create a four storey high blank wall facing their properties. “This will create a blank wall that will completely destroy the rural and village context of the property,” one of the submissions to MEPA states. 

On his part GAP Holdings director Paul Attard insisted that the  project is designed to create a new public open space. 

“This space retains the views onto the Gharghur parish church thus keeping a visual connection to the Urban Conservation area, although the site itself is not within the Gharghur UCA”.

Attard claims that when taken in context of the “existing, proposed and potential development of the surrounding properties”, the proposed development, through the stepping of the upper level, will create a transition effect between the UCA and the rest of the scheme. 

Moreover according to GAP the proposed design and orientation of the development will eliminate the possibility of erecting blank back yard party walls onto the UCA properties and will ensure respect for residents’privacy.