Garden of Eden wedding hall to be replaced by 14 bungalows

Plans have been filed to demolish the Garden of Eden wedding hall in the pictoresque area of Wied Babu in Żurrieq and replace it with 14 single-storey bungalows.

The plans, submitted by Baldacchino Holdings Ltd, also include a reception and a new parking area.

The proposed bungalows will occupy a total footprint of 1,562sq.m, with paved areas—including pools—covering a further 2,094sq.m. An additional 1,778sq.m will be dedicated to soft landscaping.

The current built-up footprint, comprising the wedding hall and other structures, amounts to 1,661sq.m.

The proposal foresees the construction of six smaller bungalows of 63sq.m each that include an outdoor terrace, and eight larger bungalows of approximately 140sq.m, each with a larger terrace and pool area ranging between 65sq.m and 85sq.m.

The company was granted an outline permit setting the development parameters in 2023. The latest application broadly complies with the conditions of that permit, but includes two additional bungalows beyond the 12 originally approved. These were added mainly due to a reconfiguration in the size of the individual units.

The outline permit had also tied the bungalow development to the reinstatement of an illegal car park opposite the Garden of Eden site, requiring its return to its original garigue state.  This defied the Environment and Resources Authority’s insistence that the restoration of the car park land should take place before the approval of the bungalow project.

The original permit for the wedding hall was never traced, except for a permit for a boundary wall issued to Joseph Baldacchino in October 1988, and a trading licence for “an open-air disco” issued by the Works Department in 1989.