The Festaval Hotel in Mellieha is a former aparthotel in Malta on Marfa Ridge beneath the Saint Agatha's Tower. It is sometimes wrongly referred to as Festival Hotel. The site also lies on the border of the Natura 2000 nature preserve which is located south of it.
Commissioned in the late 1970s, the aparthotel was designed by Richard England. It featured 31 self-catering apartments terraced into the hillside, with each rooftop serving as the terrace for the unit above. This was based on Richard England's 1985 philosophy, joint between building and site. He drew inspiration for the aparthotel from Malta's drystone wall. The triangular layout follows the land's natural contours, while a clubhouse and pool at the summit offered panoramic views of the Mellieha bay and Ghadira nature reserve.
Construction halted in the early 1980s when the hillside began subsiding, destabilizing the foundation before the hotel opened. Geological surveys at the time reportedly underestimated the slopes' instability, a miscalculation that rendered the structure unsafe. By 1993, AX Holdings submitted plans to refurbish the site, but these were withdrawn amid growing environmental awareness. The buildingâÂÂs rapid decline into a derelict state prompted the Planning Authority (PA) to issue enforcement notices against Mizzi Estates, the current owners, for âÂÂcausing injury to amenityâ through neglect.
The siteâÂÂs ecological significance gained formal recognition in 2006 when the Maltese government designated it a Level 1 Site of Scientific Interest and Level 2 Area of Ecological Importance under Government Notice GN 491/06. This classification placed the hotel within the buffer zone of the Natura 2000 network. The adjacent Foresta 2000 project, launched in 2003, further transformed the area into a rehabilitated Mediterranean woodland managed by BirdLife Malta and Din l-Art æelwa.
In August 2022, Mizzi Estates submitted application PA4933/22, seeking to demolish the existing structure and reconstruct a five-story hotel with 160 rooms, a spa, restaurants, and parking facilities. While the plans claimed to replicate EnglandâÂÂs original footprint âÂÂin line with todayâÂÂs standards,â critics noted the proposal exceeded the original scale and introduced new amenities incompatible with the protected status. The Mellieça Local Council, represented by architect Carmel Cacopardo, filed a decisive objection, arguing that GN 491/06 legally mandates full demolition and ecological restoration rather than reconstruction
Despite safety hazardsâÂÂcollapsing ceilings, exposed rebar, and unstable floorsâÂÂthe Festaval ruins have become a magnet for urban explorers and street artists.
Botanical surveys indicate that 63% of the siteâÂÂs surface area has been recolonized by native species, including Maltese spurge (Euphorbia melitensis) and Mediterranean thyme (Thymbra capitata). This spontaneous rewilding, accelerated by the Foresta 2000âÂÂs afforestation efforts, has effectively integrated the ruins into the surrounding habitatâÂÂa process architects term âÂÂnon-human design.âÂÂ