Sliema corner house to be lost to six-storey apartment block

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has approved a 13-apartment block set on six floors on a corner site between Windsor Street and Triq Arturo Mercieca in Sliema, in an area where only five floors are allowed, according to the approved local plan.

The corner site clearly falls within an area where only three floors and two receded floors are allowed and MEPA justified its decision by stating that the height limitation within urban conservation areas has been superseded by the SPED policies. These, it said, call for a more “contextual approach,” to planning in urban conservation areas, which gives the authority a more discretionary role in setting building heights. 

The existing buildings that are to be replaced by the new block consist of two well-preserved townhouses dating to the 1890s. Permission had already been issued in 2011 to allow the internal demolition of the townhouses and the construction of a five-storey apartment block and underlying garages. The present application also retains the facades of the building and an internal hall.

According to the case officer report, while one of the town houses fronting Triq Windsor was eligible for a building height of six floors, the one set on the corner between the Triq Windsor and Triq Arturo Mercieca was not.  But to avoid creating a blank party wall, the entire stretch should be developed to a height of six floors. 

Both the Sliema local council and Din l-Art Helwa had objected to the application, which was presented by Malcolm Dato Mallia, owner of MDM Investments Ltd.