Before Paceville masterplan, Portomaso set to get another ‘tower’

The Planning Directorate is recommending the approval of a new 11-storey office block set on the existing Portomaso cafeteria.  

The Planning Board will be taking a final decision on the proposed development a few days before Christmas, on 15 December. 

The case officer is recommending the application for approval because Paceville is designated as a “business hub” in the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED). 

The decision will be taken before the approval of the controversial masterplan for the town, which also envisions tourist development of up to 15 storeys on reclaimed land next to the existing Portomaso resort. 

The high-rise development first proposed in July 2015 but validated in July this year will not be assessed according to the terms of the new masterplan. 

The only reference the case officer makes to the masterplan, which is still at public consultation stage, is that building heights of potential buildings in the area are “higher than the Hilton office tower.” 

Neither does the case officer make any reference to the Floor Area Ration (FAR) policy approved in 2014, which defines any building over 10 storeys as a tall building. The policy seeks to compensate height increases with the creation of new open spaces around them.

The 11 storey steel structure has been granted clearance by the PA’s Design Advisory committee. Project architect Ray DeMicoli, who also forms part of this committee, absented himself from any discussion on this application, leaving the decision in the hands of the two other DAC members, art historian Charlene Vella and architect David Mallia.

The new building, which will rise to 67 metres, will be terraced from the fifth floor onwards, with the higher floors occupying less floor space than the lower floors.  

In the case officer report the structure is considered to be “a landmark building which compliments the adjacent 22 storeys and 105 storey high Portomaso tower.  Apart from the tower the highest building at Portomaso is an office centre located next to the tower, which rises to 52 metres.

The architectural merits of the project “which plays with triangular shape of the site” and creates “a campanile effect that starts from the neighbouring building, ascends to the Hilton office tower and descends at the Hilton hotel” are highlighted in the case officer report.  So is the use of a light frame steel structure and glazing, which will also give a “light” appearance to the building.

The new parking requirements are set at between a minimum of 119 and a maximum of 333 parking spaces. This calculation is based on a parking formula according to which one car space is required for every 50 square metres of office space. According to the case officer the increased parking demand can be catered for by the existing Portomaso car park, which has 2,000 parking spaces, 797 of which are allocated for Portomaso residents and 1,130 for the public. The car park has a spare capacity of 313.

Is project in breach of local plan?

In a screening letter issued in July 2015 the Planning Authority itself had claimed that the development “exceeds” the building height stipulated in the local plan.  

In fact the existing local plan stipulates that the Planning Authority should “adopt a restrictive approach to building heights within this zone” and that heights should conform to the existing height limitations applicable in this area, which is designated as a “resort zone”. 

The Hilton Tower is described as an “exception” which should not be used to “determine future heights” of buildings in the area.

The developers replied that office use in the area had already been established by the Hilton tower itself and that design guidelines issued in 2007 already made exceptions with regard to the height of “landmark buildings”.

Moreover design guidelines approved by the PA in 2015 recommend “flexibility” in assessing the height of buildings in “corner sites” like this one.  

The building has been designed using a terracing effect, which minimises the massing of the building. The present cafeteria will be retained at the lower floor. While the first four floors will occupy the same area as the cafeteria, the office floors will occupy less space from the fifth floor onwards.

The growth of Portomaso

The original permit for the Portomaso development was issued in 1996. Various changes to the approved blocks were approved along the years. The Paceville masterplan proposes an additional 72,080 square metres of floor space in Portomaso.  The masterplan does not exclude another tower at Portomaso but expressed a preference for coastal development – including land reclamation – where development may still rise to a maximum of 15 floors. According to the same masterplan the site will have a built up footprint of 38,700 square metres, with photomontages in the Paceville masterplan showing the new tower on reclaimed land that would obscure the classic view of the Dragonaro Casino from Sliema. The development will take place next to a marine protected area rich in Posidonia meadows.   

The entire area on which the Portomaso complex is built was leased by the state to the developers for Lm191,000 (€444,910) a year, and eventually sold to the developers for Lm800,000 in 2006. In 2014 a permit was also issued for 46 new villas set on an artificial lagoon.

photomontage of new tower as seen from centre of paceville