Stivala seeks PA permit for two new storeys on 15-storey Ta’ Xbiex tower

Developer Michael Stivala is seeking a permit for two new storeys to the 15-storey ST Tower in Ta' Xbiex, which is already under construction.

The office tower was approved by the Planning Authority in April 2020.

In the new application, Stivala is envisaging a new 85sq.m ‘open space’ on a site fronting Triq Emmanuel Galizia, which is separate from the original tower development.

The extension of the open space in this case would facilitate the approval of the additional storeys, as the height of tall buildings is based on the floor-area ratio, which balances increased heights with the open spaces created.

The project’s open spaces will be increased from the 478sq.m approved around the tower in 2020, to 563sq.m.

In its reaction to the application, Transport Malta asked for more details on how the open space which is “separate from the site and somehow linked across the public road to the development site” will impact on the road network.

The Civil Aviation Directorate, which assesses the impact of tall buildings on airplane movements, found no objection to the proposed development, but recommended the installation of an obstruction light at the highest point of the building.

Stivala, who is also president of the Malta Developers Association, is following in the footsteps of the 14 East developers in Gżira, who also applied for extra storeys immediately after being granted a permit for a lower, high-rise development. In 2017, the Planning Authority approved five extra floors to the 16-floor high rise on the United Garage site two years earlier.

How Stivala got tower permit

The development of Stivala’s 15-storey tower was approved in April 2020 when the PA board overruled the case officer’s negative recommendation.

The project was recommended for refusal because the height of four basement garages was 0.4 metres less than that required by law. In this case the height of four of the basement garages are set at 2.1m, less than the 2.4 m stipulated by law, while the top basement level will be 3.1m.

Architect Joseph Bondin pointed out that going deeper underground would create structural problems due to the fact that the excavations will already go 6m below sea level. All board members, except NGO representative Annick Bonello, had voted in favour of the project.

PA executive chairman Martin Saliba specified that the law foresaw the possibility of exemptions to the law, even if the law does not specifically mention basement garages among the cases where an exemption can be granted. Saliba also said that reducing the height of basement storeys helps in reducing construction waste.

Despite recommending refusal of Stivala’s tower, the case officer also recognised that the new project will act as “the starting push for the upgrading of the area”.

The height of the proposal was also deemed to “complement with the potential landscape of other approved developments in the vicinity” and would replace the “existing run-down buildings in an area which is in dire need of regeneration projects of this type”.

A social impact assessment among residents had revealed great construction fatigue inside the harbour town and neighbouring villages.

Nearly two-thirds of residents in Gżira, Msida and Ta’ Xbiex disagreed with the proposed tower on Testaferrata Street, which would stand beside the as yet to be built Metropolis development, and reported a “degree of mistrust, bordering on resentment, towards the construction and building industry.”

The study was conducted by sociologists Marvin Formosa and Maria Brown, and included a survey carried out in August 2019 among 301 residents from Msida, Gzira and Ta’ Xbiex.