It is not easy to carry out construction work with people living nearby, and in areas where access is limited.
These are the problems that the developers of the first five-star hotel to be built in Vittoriosa have had to face these last few months.
The 100-room hotel is being developed with an investment of €18 million by the owners of the Casino di Venezia on the site of three palaces on the same waterfront. The hotel will in a way complement the Cottonera regeneration project that is being carried out by the government.
The Casino di Venezia is today housed in the Palace of the Captain General of the Galleys (better known as Scamp’s Palace), one of several palaces that were built at the time of the Knights of Malta. They were later transformed into quarters that were used by the British military during their occupation of Malta.
Scamp Palace was reopened as the Casino di Venezia in 2001, and formed part of a 99-year lease of land deal that was signed with the government. Work is now taking place to convert two other palaces, the Palace of the Captain of the Galleys and the Palace of the Captain of the Galleys’ Squadrons into the luxurious hotel.
The Palace of the Arsenal’s Prud’homme– at the left side of Scamp Palace – was destroyed during World War II bombing. After the war, a characterless building which had none of the architectural features that distinguished the earlier palace was constructed, but this was pulled down in 1998 in preparation for the Cottonera Waterfront Development.
“It was impossible to use heavy machinery to cut rock with people living directly above the area,” developer Mario Grixti told The Malta Independent. “It was impossible to transport the heavy machinery on site, as access to the Vittoriosa Waterfront is quite restricted. Secondly, we had to keep in mind that there are residents living on an ‘upper level’ but quite close to the area that is being developed.”
Most of the excavation work had to be carried out using smaller machinery, or at times even manually, he explained.
Edwin Mintoff, architect and civil engineer responsible for the project, said that work is on schedule and should be completed by March 2013, if not before.
The hotel, which has so far been given the working name Porto di Cotonera, will have 100 rooms, most of which will be overlooking the magnificent Grand Harbour. There will also be three restaurants, five retail outlets and six residential duplex apartments.
Dr Mintoff said that what was once Prud’homme Palace is being re-built from scratch as part of the hotel but will “complement” the buildings on either side, both in terms of proportions as well as from the architectural point of view.
“With regard to the palaces, there are parts that are being restored stone by stone, as was done when the Scamp Palace was restored before it was reopened as Casino di Venezia. That time, stone was brought over from Gozo to be used for restoration purposes. One can imagine what kind of damage has been caused to stone, particularly on the façade, by the salty sea water over more than four centuries,” Dr Mintoff said.
“But work is very much on schedule. We started in October and, nine months down the line, we have found no hitches that stalled our work. The opening of the hotel is scheduled for March 2013 but there is a possibility that it could be finished earlier.”
The work is being monitored closed by the parliamentary secretariat responsible for lands. When he visited the site recently, Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi said that €4 million have already been spent on the project. “This is just another example of how public land can be used both for embellishment purposes as well as to create economic activity,” he said.