A new 112 guest room hotel will be developed at the site of the former Hunter's Tower Restaurant in Marsaxlokk after the Planning Board gave the green light for a planning permit to be granted.

The existing building, which has no architectural or historical value, will be demolished and rebuilt into a tourism accommodation with amenities and semi-basement parking. Due to the location of the site, the volume and massing of the new hotel have been sensitively designed to better blend in with the topography and characteristics of the area.

The Planning Board, in November 2018, had agreed in principle with this project when it had granted an outline development permit in line with the approved Marsaxlokk Inner Harbour Area Environment and Development Brief. The Brief had earmarked this site to be reserved for tourism-related uses. The eastern confines of the site was designated as an open space to create a buffer zone between the site and the Natura 2000 marshland of ‘Il-Maghluq’.

The Planning Board imposed a Planning Gain of €202,000. This money will be used to rehabilitate the ecological site of Il-Maghluq and develop a visitor and interpretation centre detailing the important aspects of the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and increase the public’s appreciation of the site.

The Planning Board also granted planning permission for the development of a board room with a floor space of 40 sqm over an approved five-storey office corner block in Valletta.  The existing office building is located in a corner with a frontage on Triq tat-Teatru l-Antik and Triq l-Ifran, Valletta.  The area is characterised with similar commercial buildings, with a height that varies between three and six floors.

The Board overturned the Development Management Directorate’s recommendation after photomontages that were presented, clearly showed that the  Boardroom can only minimally be seen from the top end of Triq l-Ifran. The Board cited that the boardroom which has a setback on both roads will have a negligible impact on the Valletta skyline. This given that in the vicinity there are other imposing structures which do not carry any architectural or heritage value.