Planning Authority turns down ministry’s Birgu restaurant application

An application by Ian Borg’s Infrastructure Ministry to build a restaurant on top of the regatta club in Birgu has been shot down by the Planning Authority.

The proposed development was deemed to be  incompatible with the urban design and environmental characteristics of the locality’s Urban Conservation Area and the adjacent Grade 1 scheduled bastions. All three Planning Commission members voted against the proposal.

The Design Advisory Committee (DAC), chaired by architect David Mallia, had described the proposed height of the building as “visually unacceptable” in view of the resulting “negative visual impact on the Vittoriosa fortifications.”

The DAC insists that the height of the structure should not exceed 6m as foreseen in a previously approved permit. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage (SCH) had also described the application as unacceptable from a cultural heritage point of view due to the negative impact on the abutting bastion walls and described it as objectionable in principle.

The club wanted to add an extra storey to its premises, which is located on government land, and increase heights by 3.2 metres. A small service room is also being proposed on top of the roof.

The Ramblers Association has questioned the ministry’s involvement in the application. Noting that this time round it is a government department which is behind the application, with the plans bearing the stamp of the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, it asked “is this a transport project, infrastructure, or a capital project?”

The application was presented by Nadia Gatt Curmi, the director of the project design and engineering unit within the Infrastructure Ministry. The club was constructed on public land.

In 2015, the Birgu local council withdrew an application to add a new storey to the club after its application was shot down by the heritage watchdog. According to the Superintendence, the proposed increase in height and volume in the immediate vicinity of the harbour fortifications would have resulted in a high visual impact “that will negatively impact the existing landscape value of the harbour fortification area.”

In 2016 the Planning Authority approved a small one-metre increase to create space for a conference hall proposed by the local council. This limited increase in height was deemed acceptable by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage which had objected to earlier plans.