A proposal has been filed to redevelop the Mellieha Bay Hotel, increasing the number of guest rooms by over 150, from the existing 313 guestrooms to 472.
Documents detailing the description of the project were filed with the Environment and Resources Authority. The actual Planning Application does not yet seem to be available to the public. “The new hotel will take the form of a 472-guestroom hotel with amenities, including food and beverage outlets, conference facilities, outdoor swimming pools, and recreational facilities (a tennis court, futsal pitch and children’s play areas),” the documents read.
The site is located at L-Għadira, on the northern shore of Mellieħa Bay. The site lies within the Mellieħa Local Council administrative area. “The Scheme site lies in the Rural Area (Outside Development Zone). The nearest settlement is Mellieħa; the closest point of the Mellieħa Development Zone (at Tas-Sellum).
In October 2019, The Mellieha Bay Hotel announced that it was closing in preparation for a project that proposes to transform the 50-year-old hotel into a 5-star resort Company chairman Brian Mizzi had, at the time, said: "Today is a bitter-sweet moment as we end a 50-year chapter that has forged relationships between our staff and many repeat guests, and we set out to deliver a new resort that will take Mellieħa Bay Hotel to a new level.
The documents filed with the ERA show that the internal accommodation will be spread across six interconnected blocks of varying heights, between four to eight storey equivalent as viewed from the seaward side. “The construction involves deeper excavation beneath the footprint of the existing Mellieħa Bay Hotel complex (to accommodate three basement levels), as well as excavation outside of the existing footprint.”
The project description statement reads that “the existing Mellieħa Bay Hotel complex occupies an area of approximately 39,465 m2 (approximately 30,745 m2 lying within the Area for Restrained Redevelopment as per the local plan, and approximately 8,720 m2 lying outside of this). The Scheme will occupy an area of approximately 49,482 m2 (approximately 18,737 m2 lying outside of Area for Restrained Redevelopment). The Scheme will increase the extent of the Mellieha Bay Hotel complex by approximately 25% and more than double the extent of the area lying outside of the Area for Restrained Development.”
“The footprint of the existing buildings on site is 7,044 m2; the Scheme will have a building footprint of approximately 19,170 m2, representing an approximately threefold increase in the building footprint. The Scheme will result in just over a two-fold increase in the Gross Floor Area (GFA). The GFA of the existing Mellieha Bay Hotel complex is approximately 26,705 m2; the Scheme will have a GFA of approximately 61,008 m2.”
It is proposed to provide a total of 195 car parking spaces, 130 underground (in three locations) and 65 at surface level (in three locations). There is currently a total of approximately 160 car parking spaces available within the existing Mellieħa Bay Hotel complex (all at surface level).
The project, if approved, will see the demolition required take 5 months, the excavation take 4 months and construction (including finishing) take 23 months.
The documents show before it ceased operations in October 2019, the existing Mellieħa Bay Hotel complex had a staff compliment of approximately 164 full-time staff. It is envisaged that the full-time staff complement of the Scheme when it comes into operation will be approximately 300, the documents read.