Too many offices: Smart City ditches office space for student campuses

Smart City has ditched plans for more office blocks as it responds to what it describes as “significant saturation” of office development in Malta. 
The changes being proposed to the area’s masterplan reflect the post pandemic working environment, a company spokesperson told MaltaToday. 

Remote working arrangements became a necessity during the two-year pandemic, with several companies retaining such arrangements afterwards. 

Industry sources have told MaltaToday there is less demand for office space at a time when several major developments that include offices are coming on board. 

The new Smart City masterplan allocates plots previously earmarked for information and communications technology (ICT) offices to other purposes like development related to education and residential institutions. 

The amendments to the 2008 Smart City masterplan also foresee the elimination of residential development on 38,000sq.m of agricultural land around St Peter’s battery. This large area is to be retained as a green open space. 

Development around St Peter’s battery was one of the major concerns flagged in the Environment Impact Assessment before the project was approved in 2008. 

The proposed amendments to the masterplan designate three plots of land set between the iconic fountain laguna and the landscaped area around Saint Peter’s battery for educational facilities. These had been previously identified for ICT and media offices. 

The PA has already approved a permit for the new Institute for Tourism Stduies campus on one of these plots. Parliament has also approved a resolution allocating land at Smart City to the American University of Malta after the government reclaimed land in Bormla and Marsaskala’s Zonqor Point that had been earmarked for AUM. 

Another sizeable plot of land at Smart City previously identified for the development of a private hospital in an application which has since been withdrawn is now being zoned for a “residential institution”. 

The new masterplan also confirms the residential zoning along the coastal area between Fort Saint Rocco and the Shoreline development; on two plots near the Smart City roundabout; and another plot facing Xghajra. 

Local and global market considerations 

According to a spokesperson for the company the changes reflect “local and global market considerations”, replacing the emphasis on the delivery of office space that was central to the 2008 masterplan with an increased focus “on education and training facilities”. 

This change reflects “the significant saturation of local office development” and “the post-pandemic changes to workplace outlook”, as well as an increased demand for space for “less speculative educational land uses” the spokesperson told MaltaToday. 

The educational campuses will cater for education across all levels of the educational system, “from early school to the tertiary level of education”. 

“This current application presents a mixed‐use scheme with a broad focus on quality of life, working, living and learning environments addressing a broad demographic providing a robust framework for an adaptable urban environment that can respond to future changes,” the spokesperson added. 

More landscaped areas 

One of the major changes to the masterplan approved in 2008 is the elimination of residential development around St Peter’s Battery. 

The revised masterplan envisages an increase in public space of circa 27% over the original allocation of 118,000sq.m to more than 150,000sq.m. 

This comes mainly as the result of the complete removal of any development on a site around St Peter’s battery identified in the original masterplan as Plot O, which will safeguard 38,000sq.m of green spaces which serve as a green belt between Smart City and Zabbar. 

While on balance the new masterplan includes more open spaces, some landscaped areas near the yet to be developed coastal villas are now earmarked for development. 

Buildings to rise to maximum of 13 floors 

Plans presented to the Planning Authority indicate a reduction of 12m in the maximum height allowed in Smart City from 72m above mean sea level to 60m. 

The new master plan also identifies a plot immediately next to the approved Shoreline development where buildings at 60m above sea level are being proposed. The area previously had a hight limitation of between 38m and 52m. 

Development of the same height (60m above sea level) is also being proposed on four other plots set between the laguna and the new landscaped area around St Peter’s Battery. 

So far, the plans presented to the Planning Authority do not set the height of the different components of the project according to the number of storeys but refers to the height above mean sea level. This makes it difficult to compare the approved plan and the new masterplan. 

The topography of the site varies from circa 35m above mean sea level (AMSL) at the entrance to the development to 12m AMSL on the promenade. 

According to a spokesperson for the company the storey heights above road level “will vary from two storeys in certain parts of the project to 13 storeys in others”.  

Asked specifically on the plot flanked on one side by the Shoreline development which is currently nearing completion and the future villa development along the promenade, the company spokesperson said that “in terms of building height and massing this building will serve a transitionary role between the taller Shoreline development to one side and the two storey villas on the other” which will also see “a significant reduction in height in the seaward area compared to the previous masterplan”. 

Residential development by the coast 

The new masterplan does not set building heights for zones on which planning applications have already been submitted. 

These include two 11-storey blocks hosting a hotel and residences overlooking the small seaside village of Xgħajra which are still being considered by the Planning Authority. 

The area is now zoned for tourism and residential purposes. The original masterplan did not foresee any residential development in this area. 

The PA is also still considering residential development on a 38,000sq.m plot of land between Fort St Rocco and the Xgħajra coastline. 

The villas will be set in rows, with the front row rising to 5m, then 10m for the second row, and stepped down again to 5m in an adjacent third row.  Original plans foresaw development rising to 14m on the entire Xgħajra coastline. A row of six plots directly facing the Kalanka tal-Patrijiet and Fort Ricasoli has also been removed. But the number of  villas is still set to increase from 50 in the original plans to 69 because of a reduction in landscaped areas. 

In the meantime, an application to replace the laguna fountain with a public park and two restaurants has been withdrawn.  

The agreement with Smart City on the relocation of the American University of Malta campus from Zonqor also includes an obligation on government to construct a new connection road linking Bieb is-Sultan in Zabbar, to the Cappuchin’s convent in Kalkara.