The Planning Authority received over 380 objections calling for the refusal of the 31-storey hotel proposed over the Fort Cambridge ex-Military Barracks in Tigné Sliema. If approved, this heritage property will be reduced to a stub at the foot of an overbearing 100m tall tower, as its entire internal structure, including its central courtyard, will be demolished and essentially only fragments of its outer façade retained.
This exorbitant request is being applied for through the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels, issued in June 2014.
Under the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels, hotel developments can apply for a building height relaxation of only two additional floors over and above that permitted in the Local Plans. However, in some particular cases, if the proposal qualifies under a set of (extremely lax) criteria, a developer could also apply for an unlimited number of floors. In either case, whether applying for two additional floors or twenty, the hotelier is not expected to give up any of the site as public open space.
In this way, the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels differs greatly from the FAR policy, the other policy governing high-rise proposals. Under the latter, a developer could attain a high-rise development by applying the ‘floor to area ratio’ (hence its name). Through this mechanism tall buildings are achieved by firstly retaining half the site proposed for development as open space. The potential floor space that could have been built over what is now being retained as open space, is combined with the portion of the site that is being developed. This results in a building that is double the maximum height set in the Local Plans, however built over only half the site. In this way, through correct application of the FAR mechanism, building density would not increase.
The same cannot be said of the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels. Through this policy hoteliers were practically given a free hand. If the site proposed for development either has an area of 5,000sqm, is surrounded by existing or planned streets, or could result in a stand-alone building, a hotelier could apply for an unlimited number of floors. This policy has created a situation where there are barely any restrictions or planning constraints controlling the maximum potential height and built density of hotels.
In the case of the Fort Cambridge ex-Military Barracks, the applicant is claiming that the site can be considered under the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels since the proposal will result in a stand-alone building.
In 2015 the Sliema Local Council submitted a request for the scheduling of the ex-Military Barracks building to ensure that this iconic property - one of the most visually distinct British-military buildings on the Tigné peninsula - gets the protection it deserves. Five years later the Planning Authority has failed to act on this request.
The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has recently acknowledged the property’s ‘very high architectural and historical value’ and also called for the site’s scheduling. The scheduling of the ex-Military Barracks would mean that the plans for the 31-storey hotel would have to be scrapped, since the building height relaxation achieved through the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels, cannot be applied on scheduled sites.
Aside from the major impact on heritage, another serious issue with the proposed 31-storey tower is that is goes completely against the (still applicable) Fort Cambridge Development Brief (2006), which is the planning document that should dictate what can and cannot be built within the Fort Cambridge complex. The brief designates the ex-Military Barracks as a ‘landmark building’ in its own right and considers it to be a ‘heritage asset’. The brief specifies that the heritage building is to be restored and sensibly reutilized through a use that respects its heritage and architectural integrity as part of the underlying strategy for the regeneration of the area. To ensure this is achieved, the brief in fact caps any proposal for this site at four floors.
The proposed 31-storey hotel, rising 85m over and above the ex-Military Barracks, that requires its complete gutting out, cannot be considered this landmark building’s sensible restoration or reutilization, no matter how the applicant may try to spin it.
The proposal could not be more unfitting for such a distinct iconic building nor more contradictory to the applicable Fort Cambridge Development Brief. In truth, this development is simply a brazen attempt to exploit weaknesses in existing policies to their maximum potential and profit off this site at the expense of the community.
Tara Cassar is an architect focusing on planning policies and environmental issues related to land-use, active with a number of local eNGOs.
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