New design plans reveal proposed luxury tower hotel at Malaga port will be more slender and stand taller

The project for Malaga port's new tower hotel is taking shape. The international studio of British architect David Chipperfield, winner of the Pritzker Prize (the Nobel Prize for architecture) in 2023, together with the technical experts from the Spanish hotel group Hoteles Hesperia, are currently firming up the final project. This includes not only the parts regarding the build, the concept, but, above all, the civil engineering and geotechnical studies needed to build in such a location, as well as the economic and financial aspects.

The entire dossier must be handed over to the city's port authority by 6 March at the latest, which means that there are less than three months left to complete plans. Once the review is complete with the port authority, it is this institution that will take the plans to Spain's Puertos del Estado nationwide port authority in Madrid. Only then can the project go before a meeting of top Spanish government ministers. This body will ultimately be the one to give the project the final green light, or not.

The group of investors that have come together under the name of Andalusian Hospitality II, (the aforementioned hotel group Hoteles Hesperia along with the Al Alfia fund from Qatar), is working with the expectation that the Spanish government will eventually support the construction of this luxury hotel in Malaga's Levante dock, known as 'Torre del Puerto' in Spanish. So, to this end, it is already undertaking the first phase of scoping the project with an investment of around 4.5 million euros, according to port sources with knowledge of the project.

Of this figure, 2.5 million euros corresponds to the preliminary studies of the geotechnical, civil engineering, financial and commercial operation aspects of this undertaking, among others. The commissioning of the design by David Chipperfield Architects (DCA) will cost a further two million euros.

The British studio is currently immersed in the development of a tower building designed to be 140 metres high (25 to 30 storeys). While the 'special port plan' - approved a year ago by the city's urban planning authority - allows for a rise to 150 metres, the studio decided to not take it to the maximum height permitted. The few details that have transpired so far are that the new tower will be more slender and stylised than the designs that have been proposed up to now.

The proposal that has been on the table until now, that of Malaga-based Estudio Seguí, is the one that has served as the basis for the long process over these part seven years, and the design has had two other tower heights proposed: the first for 135 metres and then the second was lowered to 116.

"We have technical meetings practically every week with the port authority and a lot of progress is being made," say sources from the development group, who point out that the geotechnical study and the excavations on the Levante breakwater are also going at a good pace. In fact, this is a key phase, both because the port authority's own engineers have demanded that the structure be very well justified at such a sensitive location, and because the foundations will determine the type of building that can be constructed.

The foundations will have to go to a great depth to settle on solid rock on the seabed. "Geotechnics will determine the height and shape, as well as the layout of the car parking and the first floor (initially intended for a large-capacity convention centre)," state these sources. With this in mind, work is being done on a taller but also lighter and less voluminous structure, always within the legal margins of the maximum buildable ceiling of 150 metres set out by the special port plan.

The aim of the developers is to unveil the new image of the Torre del Puerto, now under the signature of Chipperfield, at an event in Malaga which is expected to take place at the beginning of February. That is taking place just a few weeks before the definitive construction project is handed over to Malaga's port authority. This event will bring together representatives from the sponsoring groups (Hesperia and Al Alfia), DCA architects, the port authority, Malaga city council and other public dignitaries and interested parties.

The big question that still remains, and which is not expected to be revealed in the short term, is the brand that will fly its flag over the luxury hotel when it opens to the public. The sources consulted indicate that Hesperia intends to keep negotiations open with the world's leading hoteliers for a few more months yet.

"This project is a sweet deal for all brands and we have very solid proposals that have to be negotiated. They are also subject to confidentiality agreements that cannot be broken until the last moment," says a spokesperson for Hesperia.

Following the moments of uncertainty experienced after summer when the developers asked for a four-month extension (the initial deadline expired in November) without the port authority knowing the then state of play, the development of the project is now much more on track, as recognised by port management, which are now being informed punctually of the progress being made.

All in all, this is just one of the many requirements that remain to be met before the port tower hotel on the Levante dock can one day become a reality. Previously, the two planning objections lodged by the San Telmo Academy and the private citizens' protest group Defendamos Nuestro Horizonte ('let's defend our horizon') will have to be resolved. Both have already been admitted for processing and, at the pace of justice, a final verdict is not expected for several years.

If the judges validate all the long and complex administrative procedures that have been carried out up to now, it will be the turn of the council of ministers to give the final approval to the hotel as it would be located on state-owned land that is in the public domain as part of the port.