St George’s Bay project should be redesigned, says heritage watchdog

Superintendence for Cultural Heritage says Garnet’s St George’s Bay project should be redesigned to protect Villa Rosa views

Existing view of St George’s Bay (left) and a photo montage of the proposed development (right)
Existing view of St George’s Bay (left) and a photo montage of the proposed development (right)

The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage is calling for a redesign of the Villa Rosa project at St George’s Bay, to minimise the visual impact of the proposed 34 and 27-storey towers on the setting of the historical, art nouveau Villa Rosa designed by architect Andrea Vassallo in the 1920s.

The Superintendence endorsed recommendations made in one of the environmental impact studies that called for a “redesign” and “reduction of floors” of the Villa Rosa project, to minimise the visual impact on the villa that will be dwarfed by the proposed 34 and 27 storey towers.

The visual impact assessment shows Garnet Investment’s project will alter and in some cases completely obscure and redefine views of the historical villa. But the planning consultants ERSLI said in their conclusions in the EIA did not include any measures to mitigate this impact noting that the visual impact – an inevitable consequence of designating the area as a business hub which must also be considered along other developments taking place in the area.

In its reaction to the EIA, the Superintendence described the lack of mitigation measures to address the visual impact of the project “a major omission”, and recommended an update to the EIA “to fully investigate measures that reduce the impact on significant cultural heritage assets”.

The SCH also endorsed a recommendation to consider lowering the height of the project, made in a technical report assessing cultural heritage impact, by Archaeology Services Cooperative. ASC recommended “a redesign of the project, that may include the reduction of floors and footprint, to minimise the visual impact on the general cultural landscape of St George’s Bay and particularly Villa Rosa and its gardens.”

The report was part of the EIA process but its recommendation for a redesign of the project was not included in the final EIA report. “It is very clear that with the proposed development, the present skyline, with Villa Rosa perched on a hill and dominating the bay, will be lost forever,” the EIA emphatically concludes.

The Superintendence also noted that although the demolition of the Moynihan and Dolphin houses, two British era buildings fronting St George’s Bay, was approved in a previous application by Garnet Investments, it still insisted that “these structures are undeniably of cultural heritage significance.”

The SCH endorsed mitigation measures included in the EIA, including that made in a geological report assessing the impact of excavations 15m from the upper chamber of underground cave Għar Ħarq Ġammien.

The Superintendence therefore agreed with the recommendation that a chainsaw cut should be made at the closest excavation line to introduce an air gap between the site to be excavated and the cave. It also endorsed the recommendation in the cultural heritage report that the cave is continuously monitored to avoid impacting its structural integrity.