Kiosk in Mercury Tower plaza set for refusal

The Planning Authority’s Development and Management Directorate has recommended the refusal of a development application proposing additional retail space and a new standalone kiosk within the public plaza of the Mercury Towers project in St Julian’s.  

The application, submitted by Mercury Towers Ltd, seeks to introduce significant commercial changes across three basement levels and add a 12.5sq.m Class 4C structure directly in front of the pavilion on Level B1. A final decision is expected to be taken by the Planning Board on 18 December. 

The directorate issued its negative recommendation in a recently published case officer report. The project, which includes a 33-storey residential and commercial tower and a smaller 19-storey hotel, was approved through the Floor Area Ratio mechanism, through which high-rise developments are obliged to create a public plaza proportional to the approved height. 

The proposal includes the change of use of a 348.31sq.m multipurpose hall and ancillary facilities into a 448.04sq.m Class 4B retail outlet, as well as the conversion of 119.20sq.m of back-of-house space into a 34.55sq.m changing room area and a 53.08sq.m back-of-house section.  

The applicant is also seeking to extend the existing intermediate level to create an additional 175.96sq.m retail space, together with internal alterations to improve connectivity with the upper levels.  

The proposal also foresees the change of use of the 136.36sq.m pavilion from a food and beverage establishment to retail, the reorganisation of areas previously approved for outdoor tables and chairs, and, most controversially, the introduction of a 12.50sq.m standalone food and beverage kiosk in the piazza immediately in front of the pavilion. 

While most internal alterations were not considered problematic, the Directorate concluded that the kiosk was fundamentally incompatible with the design principles governing the Mercury House public open space.  

The 4,313sq.m piazza forms an integral part of the Pender Place and Mercury House Development Brief, conceived as a high-quality open space intended to frame the restored Grade 2 Mercury House building and the Zaha Hadid-designed pavilion. 

According to the case officer, the kiosk would obstruct key sightlines, disrupt pedestrian movement, and introduce visual clutter in a plaza deliberately designed to remain open and unobstructed.  

The structure would also compete with Mercury House and the pavilion, two central architectural elements that define the space, thereby diminishing the landmark quality of the ensemble. 

Moreover, the kiosk proposed within the approved public open space is considered to run against the principles approved in the previously approved applications which established the ratio of the built and open space layout. 

The case officer cites SPED policies, which call for the protection of urban character and the safeguarding of public open spaces, as well as policy G23 of DC15, which discourages additions that compromise the setting of architectural landmarks.  

Although the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage did not object, the Directorate held that the kiosk’s impact on the piazza’s visual coherence remained unacceptable.