Balluta seaside house earmarked for five-storey development

Plans to reconstruct a long-standing property on the edge of Balluta Bay and adjacent to the Barracuda restaurant will radically change seaside views if the Planning Authority approves the five-storey development.

The development will replace with an imposing modern, five-storey block, a staggered building that descends towards the sea behind a traditional townhouse.

The building, proposed by property developer and hotelier Michael Stivala, adds a modern twist to the traditional landscape and will be characterised by extended balconies connected by four diagonal beams.

The façade of the old townhouse next to the restaurant will be retained, but will have an extra storey added to it, making it higher than the adjacent buildings.

Only one storey will be added to the front of 197, Tower Road

The development will replace the existing two apartments in the townhouse with offices on the ground floor and the first floor and apartments on the second, third, fourth and fifth levels and penthouses together with overlying penthouses.

The Planning Authority’s newly formed Design Advisory Committee has asked the developers to present photomontages from different viewpoints “to show how the proposal will integrate within its context”.

Conservationist NGO Din l-Art Helwa has called on the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage to review the demolition of the building, of which only the façade will be retained. It also expressed concern about the height of the building, noting that the site’s location at the water’s edge makes it a “very sensitive one”. It called on the PA to ensure that the height of the building “should match the highest existing building along that stretch.”