Abandoned Sa Maison elderly home to rise to nine floors and house 48 apartments

An imposing residential development consisting of 48 apartments is being proposed instead of the Sa Maison elderly home in Pieta.

The development set to rise to 26m above street level is being proposed by Heritage Holdings Ltd, a company owned by developer Dimitri Sturdza.

Plans show the new building will consist of an underground parking level, a partly above ground parking level, offices and retail shops on ground floors level, six overlying floors of apartments and a penthouse level.

Presently the elderly home consists of five floors and a receded top floor.

If approved the development will create a higher blank party wall on the adjacent two storey buildings along Sqaq Burton which enjoy Grade 2 protection.

The proposed development will also see the complete demolition of a warehouse along the same alley which is described as “dilapidated.” The warehouse built in a traditional style does not enjoy protection, but it lies immediately next to three townhouses scheduled for their architectural value in 2000.

The local plan indicates a height limitation of five floors for the site where the elderly home is located and of three floors on the adjacent warehouse.

Development control policies approved in 2015 translated this height limitation into a metric height of 22.9m for the part of the site where the old people’s home is located and 15.4m on the site of the adjacent warehouse.