35-home Tattingers site project faces excavation concerns

A 35-home residential development on Saqqajja Hill in Rabat is being recommended for approval by a case officer, but works cannot begin even if the Planning Board gives the project the green light until major concerns over the site's deep excavation are addressed.

The Planning Board is due to take a final decision on 1 October.

The development is proposed on the former Tattingers nightclub site, which closed in 2018, and involves demolishing the existing buildings and replacing them with a stepped residential complex.

Full development application PA/05452/24 was filed by Mdina Property Ltd, represented by Dominic Micallef, and designed by architect Jesmond Mugliett. The site covers around 5,300sq.m and includes the former Tattingers Club, Rainbow Apartments and properties along Telgħa tas-Saqqajja and Triq tal-Infetti.

The plans provide for 35 homes, including apartments with one, two and three bedrooms, as well as the restoration of the abandoned Villa San Clemente.

The scheme also includes a small office, residents' gym and spa and around 65 underground parking spaces.

It is the excavation required to create the two basement levels, however, that has emerged as one of the project's main concerns.

The site sits above the historic Notabile railway tunnel, a Grade 1 scheduled monument, meaning that excavation for the underground garages and other facilities would take place in an area of significant archaeological and structural sensitivity.

The project involves substantial underground excavation, with two basement floors beneath the main building for 65 cars, utilities and circulation, as well as a 730-cubic-metre rainwater reservoir.

A lower services tunnel would also be excavated beneath Triq tal-Infetti, while foundations require further digging. Given the historic railway tunnel beneath the site, unstable clay and archaeological sensitivity, no excavation can begin until a detailed works method statement and geotechnical report are approved.

The Mdina Local Council has objected because the application did not provide sufficient structural and geotechnical evidence showing that the deep excavation would not compromise the tunnel. Responding to representations that excavations pose a physical threat to surrounding properties and Mdina's bastions, the case officer noted that the containment of structural impacts relies on good construction practices, which are the legal

responsibility of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the developer's architect (Perit)

The concern is compounded by the geological conditions beneath the site. The area contains clay strata which can be unstable, raising questions not only about the tunnel but also about surrounding properties and the nearby bastions of Mdina.

The case officer is recommending approval, but the permit would remain non-executable until these concerns are addressed.

The developers will have to obtain approval from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage for a detailed Works Method Statement and a comprehensive geotechnical report before excavation can proceed. These are intended to demonstrate how the works can be carried out without compromising the scheduled tunnel, archaeological remains or the stability of the surrounding area.

The excavation issue is not the only concern surrounding the project.

A landscape assessment found that the development would have a major negative visual impact when seen from the Saqqajja junction and a moderate-to-major negative impact from Triq il-Belt Valletta. Other viewpoints also recorded moderate negative impacts.

The developers have sought to reduce the impact by lowering the building slightly, setting back upper floors and incorporating landscaping, but the assessment's overall impact ratings remained unchanged.

The site itself is particularly sensitive. It lies within an Urban Conservation Area, partly within a Category 1 Rural Settlement and outside the development zone. It is also within an archaeologically important area and an Area of High Landscape Value, while facing the scheduled fortifications of Mdina.

The proposal follows the collapse of an earlier attempt to develop the site as a hotel. An 81-room hotel had previously been approved under application PA/08732/18, but the permission was annulled by the Court of Appeal in 2023 after the court found that new tourist accommodation was not allowed under the applicable planning policies.

The current proposal instead consists mainly of residential development, which the case officer considers compatible with the area's residential status.

Transport Malta has also raised concerns about the proposed access to the underground garages from the Saqqajja junction, where vehicles approach on a steep gradient and at relatively high speeds.

The Environment and Resources Authority has raised no objection subject to conditions, while the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage withdrew its objection after an upper pedestrian tunnel was removed from the plans. A lower service tunnel remains proposed.

Despite the outstanding issues, the case officer argues that replacing the former nightclub with residential development would improve the Urban Conservation Area and is recommending a grant of permission.

But the approval would effectively be conditional on proving that the excavation can be carried out safely.

The project therefore faces a crucial test before construction can begin: demonstrating that digging deep into the site to create the underground parking will not undermine a scheduled historic tunnel, destabilise surrounding land or put Mdina's historic fortifications at risk.