Għaxaq’s ODZ elderly home may grow again

An extension is proposed for the Ghigo Community Residence in Għaxaq, first approved in 2007 and expanded through years of piecemeal additions.

Just last year, the retirement home owners were allowed to add another floor, on top of one already approved in 2018.

The latest application foresees an extension on adjacent agricultural land along Triq Ħal Għaxaq. The proposed extension includes a basement garage with 31 parking spaces, and an overlying 44 rooms spread over four floors, one of which is below street level.

The home already has 74 rooms, with an additional 11 rooms approved but not yet constructed. 

The home is located outside development zones (ODZ), in a rural hamlet where only limited residential development is allowed.  

Planning saga

The first application – for an outline permit – dates back to 2006. Although unanimously refused by the planning commission, the developers succeeded in their request for reconsideration, and the outline permit was granted in 2007.

A full development permit for a two-storey building was issued a few months later despite objections from Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.

In 2016, the developers sought an additional floor, receiving the permit in 2018. A subsequent application for two more floors was filed while the project was still under construction, but following ERA’s objections, this was downsized to an additional floor approved in 2024.

The care home was officially inaugurated in April 2021 by Prime Minister Robert Abela and then-minister Michael Farrugia, with Abela describing it as offering residents “beautiful views.”