Xgħajra council makes U-turn on 15-storey high-rise

The Xgħajra local council is giving its blessing to a massive 15-storey high rise after having first objected to the development.

The project comprises three gigantic tower blocks rising to 15 storeys on farmland located just outside the site of Smart City in Xgħajra.

The proposed high-rise will overlook the sea on one side and Wied Glavan on the other, and is set to include 14 retail shops, 153 apartments and nine penthouses.

The application was presented by Jason Mifsud, a shareholder in the Fanu Mifsud company of Mqabba, as well as Univest Enterprises and Four Site Operation.

In a letter to the Planning Authority on behalf of the council, Xgħajra mayor Neil Attard welcomed changes made to the original plans which now include “a spacious piazza” accessible from Dawret ix-Xatt.

The council claimed that as proposed now, the project will benefit the local community and the general public as it includes a “walk-through leading into a spacious public piazza.”

The council said that it prefers the application of the floor-area ratio through which building heights are compensated by the creation of a public piazza, than building the entire area with five-storey buildings as allowed in the local plan.

It also said the project would result in the upgrade of the small seaside locality “into a high-class residential destination complementing the surroundings and Smart City.”

Although the council claims that it was “never against such a development” as long as it conforms to the FAR policy, the previous council had sent an objection drafted by an architect firm. One of the main objections was that Xgħajra was not one of the localities identified for the development of tall or medium-rise buildings in the FAR policy.

In fact, Xgħajra was not among the sites where tall, over 10-storey buildings can be allowed, but the FAR policy can be applied on all sites, which are over 4,000sq.m in Malta, subject to a number of conditions – including being surrounded by roads on all sides.

The policy also states that high-rise developments defined as developments higher than 10-storey developments can only be considered in Tigné, Marsa, Paceville, Qawra, Mriehel and Gzira. But this particular application is proposing 14 storeys, which would effectively result in a high-rise development.

The council argued that the site cannot be identified for high-rise because streets on four sides do not surround it as required by policy.

Moreover, it pointed out that according to the policy tall buildings should be located “away from priority residential areas” as these are deemed to be alien to “low-rise compact locations.”

In 2019 the council warned that the development will create more infrastructural pressures on the locality and will have a negative impact on residents’ quality of life.

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage also expressed concern about the “excessive heights and volumes” of the project.

It was a deceptive zoning application approved by the PA in August 2018, that earmarked the site for application of the FAR mechanism, which allows the 17.5-metre height limitation to be spread over additional floors, in return for the allocation of open piazzas.

In 2019, the PA ad received objections from around 100 residents, many of whom said the development would ruin the character of Xgħajra as “a traditional residential location”.

Residents were unaware that the zoning application approved in 2018 had anything to do with high-rise developments, as it simply referred to the removal of a schemed 3m front garden and changes to the road and building alignment.

In fact, the application did not even solicit any objections from residents and any response by the local council.

But the aim of the application, as explained in the case officer’s report, was to remove the front garden so that this area could also be included in the calculation of the FAR for the site.

The FAR is based on the ratio of a building’s total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built.