# Lower Military Barracks at Ghajn Tuffieha, Malta



## Paulytwotanks (Apr 21, 2013)

On a very recent trip to Malta I visited a beach called Golden Bay on the west coast. After swimming and sunbathing amongst the bikini clad beauties for an hour or two I decided it was time to go and investigate the strange tower sitting high above the bay. Well that tower and it's asscociated buildings formed part of Ghajn Tuffieha Military Barracks and gun emplacement I have since discovered. (No thanks to the Maltese icecream seller who told me it was just an old hotel). On the way up there I found another, bigger abandoned group of buildings. And these are the subject of this thread (the others I will create a new thread for later,) 

So located behind a stone wall running along the road were extensive abandoned buildings, which I couldn't resist jumping over the wall to investigate. Once inside I was away from the throng of tourists and as I decended into the site my breath was taken away by the sheer scale and solitude of the place. It was like 28 Days Later, Malta style. The most haunting place was the reception complex. Once inside I kept hearing occasional loud bangs like there was someone else in there. It was scary, I'm sure most Urbexer's understand where I'm coming from. But my head said 'Ignore and proceed' Which I did. Well this complex was called the HAL FERH holiday resort. It was built in the late 1970's utilising the military accomodation of the previous lower barracks of Ghajn Tuffieha. The following information on the redevelopment plans for this site I have taken from MaltaToday.com:

Military barracks to be demolished to make way for Hal Ferh resort
The lower military barracks at Ghajn Tuffieha which were refurbished to accommodate tourist accommodation in the 1980s are "not worthy of conservation" as suggested by a development brief approved by government in 2008, a report by Heritage NGO Wirt Artna says.

The Wirt Artna report is quoted by the developers of the Hal Ferh project to justfy the removal of the existing structures to make way for low density and landscaped development in the area.

The project is being proposed by Winston J. Zahra on behalf of The Heavenly Collection Co. Ltd which is a joint venture between Island Hotels Group Holdings plc and Mayfair Overseas Holdings. The land was handed over to the group after a public tender was issued.

A development brief setting guidelines for the development in 2008 states that even though the former military buildings are currently not scheduled, they are deemed to have historical merit and their retention and rehabilitation is strongly encouraged.

“The military structures were used for tourism accommodation when the Hal-Ferh Complex was still operational and therefore these types of buildings could imaginatively be successfully integrated with the rest of the project,” the brief states.

But in a project development statement (PDS) the developers cite a Heritage Value report prepared by Heritage NGO Wirt Artna which favours the demolition of the barracks.

According to the report the retention of rows of redundant military buildings which, through the years have been readapted with rather poor results, is not merited. 

The report recommends that upon demolition the materials are “salvaged to restore other buildings of historic and architectural interest of the same period elsewhere on the island”.

On the other hand the chapel at Hal Ferh and the upper barracks which are described as the “best examples of military architecture in the area” fall outside the development footprint.

The developers are also committed to rehabilitate, the former military chapel.

According to the PDS the use of the place as a tourist accommodation was always hampered by the need to use the military barracks which were never suited to the purpose for which it was used.

“The refurbishing of the ex-military barracks presented a constraint rather than an opportunity. The removal of these existing structures would result in an invaluable opportunity to design holistically and to allow un-constrained and architectural innovation with a pronounced regard to environmental sustainability”.

The existing military barracks are arranged in regular, narrowly spaced rows.

These were deemed ill-suited for tourist accommodation, in which light and privacy are of paramount importance.

The Ghajn Tuffieha Military Camp dates back to the late 19th century. By 1910, a formal military camp was in place consisting of timber ’Crimea Huts’ which were later replaced with more permanent masonry replacements, including as the camp chapel which was completed in 1916.

Throughout the immediate post-war years up to the late 1960s, the Ghajn Tuffieha Camp represented one of the busiest spots on the island for military training for both British and NATO forces.

In the late 1970s the lower camp was converted into the Hal Ferh tourism

accommodation complex. In order to convert the functional, pragmatic and starkly military appearance of the buildings into something more suitable for touristic purposes, additional arches and redecoration took place. Internally, the barracks were fully redecorated and refitted. Notwithstanding, these alternations the overall result was still fairly stark in appearance and remains so.........

So...... it seems the layout of the old military accom did not go well with the holiday makers, hence the failing of the site as a holiday complex. As sometimes happens, what I had stumbled on was far more steeped in history than I had first imagined... And so for the photos. I was armed with only my smart phone (I was on holiday you know!) So no fancy closeups etc. But here goes...


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## UE-OMJ (Apr 22, 2013)

Flippin' 'eck, that puts loads of our sites to shame.


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## TeeJF (Apr 22, 2013)

What an intriguing place. I've driven past that time and time again and didn't know it was there.


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## flyboys90 (Apr 22, 2013)

Great photos and a very informative report thanks for sharing


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## John_D (Apr 23, 2013)

Great report & pics, been to Golden Bay, saw the tower up on the hill, never thought to explore.


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## night crawler (Apr 23, 2013)

Good to know that the holding groups lost out in demolishing the history of the island. Nice find.


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## Paulytwotanks (Apr 23, 2013)

John_D said:


> Great report & pics, been to Golden Bay, saw the tower up on the hill, never thought to explore.



A great little beach isn't it? Yes you only see the tower from down there, but when you get up the top, you also see the upper barracks not far from the tower, and of course the derelict holiday resort/ former lower barracks along the roadway that this report relates to. I'm gonna post another report on the upper barracks/ tower soon to complete the set. Was nice to bring some photo's back from my trip for fellow enthusiasts!


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