Ocean Village Hotel

The existing site is a private car park, used both by the local supermarket store and businesses. It is also used as a loading bay and features the former BMW Car showroom.

The proposed development will demolish the former BMW Showroom and re-provide car parking at ground level. It will also comprise the development of a high-quality, 4-star hotel with associated restaurant, bar and resort style amenities, located on a podium deck above the re-provisioned car park.

An extensive landscaping plan is being delivered with these proposals which will feature an improved street scape between Marina Bay and Bayside Road, as well as a more active frontage along both routes.

But to be clear – the car parking at ground level will be re-provided and in fact, we are proposing to make the spaces slightly larger so that it’s more comfortable for users of the car park.

If the global pandemic reinforced one thing in Gibraltar, it was that it is desperately short of hotel beds (657 in total, across Gibraltar) and with millions of visitors every year, additional hotel rooms provides the opportunity to increase visitors’ dwell time and spend per capita. Therefore, instead of visitors comprising day trippers spending £20 per head, with more hotel provision in Gibraltar, this can significantly increase, with that spend filtering into local businesses and attributing to the leisure-led environment of Marina Bay and the surrounding areas.

It is also evident that businesses receiving guests and executives for short stays and indeed for medium term stays on specific time sensitive projects require high-quality and affordable hotel accommodation – so it is envisaged that this provision will contribute to meeting these needs of some of Gibraltar’s key employers.

Finally, Gibraltar’s Minister for Business, Tourism & the Port recently made it clear that tourism is always a partnership with the private sector and if tourism is to be a success, the private sector must also invest. Despite residential use being a safer, less capital intensive investment for a developer, Gibraltar is the home of our business too and as such we are committed to a higher risk investment such as a hotel in order to underpin Gibraltar’s economic growth and resilience.

Despite residential use being a safer, less capital-intensive investment for a developer, Gibraltar is the home of our business too and as such we are committed to a higher risk investment such as a hotel in order to underpin Gibraltar’s economic growth and resilience.

The development is proposed to comprise 12 storeys, which includes an entrance lobby, restaurant, bar, cafe, sun terrace, swimming pool, roof top bar, gym, office suites and of course a hotel.

The reason for the specific height proposed is to meet the minimum room number requirements of the hotel brand operator and to also respect the requirements of the nearby airport facilities and the surrounding buildings. It is worth noting that following the acquisition of the Bayside & St Annes sites by TNG Global, a significant development is to take place on this site, which sits immediately next to this one.

As such, the visual amenity of the area will change markedly irrespective of these proposals.

We intend to utilise off-site manufacture for many different components of this project, which will mean that the construction phase will be minimised in comparison to typical projects.

This drastically reduces the construction timeline but also reduces construction waste, noise and disruption.

The proposals are for a 4-star high-quality hotel and a car park. The car park will remain useable to the requirements it currently services and of course, the hotel is available to the general public. Naturally, with the hotel several amenities are provided, all of which are also to be available to use should people wish to frequent them. Such amenities are to include a restaurant, bar, cafe, swimming pool and offices suites .

As part of the planning process, a full set of plans for the proposed development and a selection of CGIs and concept images will be prepared in close consultation with the Department of Town Planning. These will include various vistas of the proposed development to help stakeholders to perceive what the project will look like in it’s completed form.

Being a ‘good neighbour’ to adjacent developments has been the primary influence on the form, shape and material finishes.

The proposed development is to feature a comprehensive landscaping strategy which includes living or green walls, new landscaped planters to the walkway between Bayside Road and Marina Bay, terrace planting to the hotel and office floors and landscaped planters to the resort deck and roof top bar.

The proposals also take into account the use of Solar PV and the harnessing of rainwater, including the smart recycling of water for the hotel swimming pool.

As a project that will feature off-site manufacture and modern methods of construction, it is commonly to see a reduction in construction material waste as well as a reduction in embodied carbon.

Ahead of these proposals going to the Development and Planning Commission for determination, an extensive consultation process with all stakeholders has been, and continues to take place. This involves exploring such concerns with individuals and businesses at an early stage, so that the proposals can, reflect the observations made where it is feasible to do so.

If you miss this opportunity and the proposals are already submitted, the planning process also provides the opportunity for people to either support or object to the proposals, with reasons as to why. Within this process, we spent a lot of time liaising with these stakeholders, through the Department of Town Planning to ensure that we are doing all that we can to accommodate these concerns or suggestions.

If you miss this opportunity, the Development and Planning Commission (DPC) itself will scrutinise the proposals in detail, with questions to the town planner from the DPC Members, that consider feedback sought by those DPC Members as well as views from their respective fields of expertise or areas of concern. The Town Planner will then chair a discussion on the proposals amongst DPC members, before making a recommendation to either approve or refuse the application; or in some cases, to defer it if additional and unforeseen follow up is required and not possible to undertake at that DPC meeting.

Finally, the Department of Town Planning is made up of qualified and experienced Town Planners, that closely scrutinise and negotiate the proposals with us, taking advice from statutory consultees, to ensure that major and fundamental points are taken into account, as well as all of the above.