Multi-storey car-park beneath Hamrun school for 540 spaces

A 540-space car park is being proposed beneath the playground of the Maria Regina school complex in Hamrun.

The Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools presented the application, intended at providing easier parking facilities for school events but also for the nearby Hamrun football ground and political rallies for the adjacent headquarters of the PN and the PL.

The three-level underground car park will have a total 21,000sq.m floor space area, topped with a 7,200sq.m landscaped playground. A four-storey administration block will replace the drama centre.

The development will generate over 100,000cb.m in excavation waste, with the Environment and Resources Authority calling for more information as to whether the waste can be reused on site. The ERA gave its clearance on condition that electric charging bays and bicycle racks are included wherever possible.

The FTS said the car park will aid children’s and pedestrian safety with the removal of street parking, and the traffic generated by the neighbouring political party HQs.

The demand for housing is also increasing as students search for accommodation close to the University of Malta, with Pietà and Hamrun becoming the preferred rental area for foreigners on the peripheries of centres like Sliema and St Julian’s.

The decrease of car dependence will depend on major infrastructural changes that promote bikes, public transport, and car sharing. But by reducing street parking, the project could pave the way for the streets to become more pedestrian-oriented. A number of trees in the existing school yard will also be uprooted, but replaced by new trees in the new landscaped playground.