Gzira gardens redesign includes bike-friendly promenade, office

The concessionaires of Gzira’s Council of Europe Gardens want to build an office building to run as an administrative office for the marina and the public garden itself.

Plans in a project development statement to build two additional pontoons in the yacht marina, propose an “operator concession area” for the marina’s offices and other unspecified services in the garden.

The concession awarded to Gzira Gardens Marina Consortium includes the Gnien il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa itself.

The 25-year concession was awarded by public tender in 2018, attracting bids from 14 entities. But the application for the additional two pontoons has been presented by Transport Malta, and not the concessionaires.

A general masterplan is mooted in the project statement for the pontoons, which refers to “a holistic redesign” of the area, the current access-only road and the public garden. The landward concession area will be subject to a separate planning application.

The project will take place in four phases, the first being the construction of a pontoon which was already approved back in 2011. The second phase will be the two new pontoons.

The third phase is described as the “formalisation and rationalisation of on-street car parking”, aimed at minimising the footprint taken up by the parked cars so that the entire stretch of road is turned into a “a pedestrian-priority, low-speed area with a paved finish that is continuous with a fully pedestrian and bicycle-friendly promenade to connect the western Gzira promenade to the eastern promenade of Ta’ Xbiex.”

Phase 4 will consist in the upgrading of Gnien il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa “to ensure the relevance of the public space by providing an access-for-all, safe, green park, maximising the vegetation and redesigning the park around the existing mature trees.”

But plans also refer to the “introduction of operators concession area” housing the marinas administration offices and “services”.

According to the PDS, the rehabilitation and upgrade of the Gzira gardens marina will also  bring about an increased number of people to the area. “Increased footfall will bring increased economic activity to the entire area and the presence of more people within the area will provide further safety to the spaces themselves, through natural surveillance.”