A glimpse into Tigne’s future: photomontages show how Sliema’s streetscape will change

New photomontages for a proposed 31-storey hotel at Fort Cambridge show how the Tigne skyline is expected to change.

The images prepared by the applicant, GAP Ltd, show the proposed hotel alongside projections of other high rise developments under construction on the peninsula.

High rise buildings are currently being constructed at Townsquare, the Midi complex and on the site of the former Fortina hotel.

The proposed hotel is set to be developed above the Fort Cambridge officer mess, a British era building, which previously hosted AirMalta’s Crown Plaza hotel before it was sold to GAP Limited.

(From left to right) Townsquare, proposed hotel at Fort Cambridge and Fortina as viewed from the Valletta ring road

Originally proposed at a height of 40 storeys in the same period when Gasan’s Townsquare development was proposed at 38 storeys, the hotel had its height slashed to 31 storeys in plans submitted last year.

The latest plans submitted in December include a reception area and restaurant in the lower floors presently occupied by the barracks whose façade will be retained, as well as three recessed floors on top of the building accommodating a spa, a bar and a pool area.

As proposed, the development will reach a similar height as the already approved Townsquare development, whose height was slashed to 28 floors.

The height of the proposed hotel was reduced through the removal of the hotel’s conference facilities.

Despite the height reduction, the number of guest rooms will increase from 368 to 375 while the restaurant capacity will also increase from 236 to 444 covers.

(From left to right) MIDI complex tower (new block has orange line on top), proposed hotel at Fort Cambridge and Townsquare as viewed from Tower Road in Sliema

A visual impact assessment of the new plans by environmental consultants ADI concludes that although the current proposal is lower than the original one the impact on a number of views including that from Valletta and Gżira is still considered to be of ‘major significance’ and ‘adverse’.

But EIA coordinator Paul Gauci insisted that judgments regarding the visual impact of a new building “tend to be subjective, and difficult to assess” and that different receptors have different opinions, which at times can “be widely divergent”.

The daily average traffic created by the project has been reduced from 1,527 vehicles to 1,273.

The PA still has to decide on a request by the Sliema local council to schedule the officer mess. The building’s historical importance was recognised in studies included in the Environment Impact Assessment, which recommended Grade 2 scheduling for the buildings, a status which normally precludes substantial changes.  

A development brief approved in 2006 on the basis of which GAP was allowed to build a 20-storey high apartment block on an adjacent site states that no additional floors should be developed on the historical barracks.