Gzira tower to rise to 24 storeys

ADMG Estates Limited have applied to add eight new storeys to an already approved 16-storey tower on a triangular-shaped plot of land fronting Triq il-Gżira, Triq il-Rebħa and Triq Tas-Sliema and which housed the former United Garage building, 150 metres away from the Gzira church. 

The additional storeys will make the Gzira tower as high as the Portomaso tower in St Julian’s, but the project remains 10 floors shorter than the largest of the three proposed Metropolis towers in Testaferrata Street.

The additions will consist of 10 additional residential units and a panoramic lift along the facade on Triq il-Gzira.  

ADMG is owned by various shareholders, including Sonnet Investments, JPK Investments, Marius Cordina and Paul Darmanin. The directors of the company are Ian De Cesare and Marius Cordina.

The 16-storey building, which consists of a mix of offices and apartments, was approved in a record four months in August 2015. A Project Development Statement for this project had warned of impacts on long distance views of Valletta was never published and no full Environment Planning Statement was ever conducted.  Photomontages showed that the project as approved will be moderately visible from Hastings Garden, Valletta. The visual impact is expected to increase with the addition of eight floors.

Other studies – such as those for the Townsquare Project in Sliema – contained detailed environmental studies including studies on traffic impact, pollution, wind conditions and landscape impact.

No wind studies which are obligatory in EIAs for high-rise buildings were requested by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority before the approval of a new 16-metre tower in Gzira.

A Project Development Statement noted that the significant increase in the height of the development could potentially have implications for wind circulation around the development and the wind microclimate of the surrounding streets. Shading studies show that shading will be limited to roofs of surrounding buildings.

But it emerges that no such studies were ever carried out. 

“Studies on the possible changes to the wind microclimate in the area of the development were not requested by either the Planning Directorate or any of the agencies/departments consulted during the processing of the application,” a spokesperson for MEPA told MaltaToday after the project was approved.

As for shadowing, a sun path study was carried out to show the shadowing of the proposed development. The study showed that the surrounding streets are already shaded and the project will mostly impact surrounding roofs, depending on the time of the day.

As approved, the 16-storey building will include three basement parking levels accommodating 125 car parking spaces, 695 square metres of landscaped public open space, a cafeteria, overlying office space and 10 residential units. The board imposed a planning gain of nearly €30,000 for the Gzira Local Council to use in environmental and urban improvement projects, traffic management, green transport and similar projects. The project will include a public plaza which occupies 62% of the site at ground level.

But a part of this open space is roofed over by the tower. In fact the non-roofed open space is slightly less than the 50% of the site dictated by the policy. A four storey development was already approved in 2012. The project includes 125 parking spaces which is 28 more than required by project. The building will include a green wall.