38 places coming to Malta Living: building sites, scaffolding and signposts

These are the new places coming to the game, and you can already see where every one of them will be. Malta Living's map just grew, and the new land isn't empty: 38 places we're building stand on it as coming-soon sites, each on the spot where it will open. You can't go in yet, but you can walk past, tap one, and read what it will be.

Three kinds of site

Malta is always building, so a crane on the skyline is nothing new. A crane on St John's Co-Cathedral would look wrong, though, so the sites come in three looks:

• Building sites (20) for the new businesses: an orange fence with a gate, a slab, the first floor going up, a tower crane, and a sign that says what it will be. Harbour Bank on Republic Street, the Eden's bowling lanes on St George's Bay, a dive centre at Ċirkewwa, the Meridiana wine estate at Ta' Qali, Farsons Brewhouse, a tattoo studio, a falconry centre near Siġġiewi and more.
• Restoration scaffolding (7) round real old buildings: St John's, the Mosta Rotunda, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, Mdina's walls by night, Palazzo Parisio's gardens, San Anton Gardens and Manoel Island.
• Signposts (11) where you'll stand rather than go inside: the Blue Grotto, Għar Lapsi, Pretty Bay, St Thomas Bay, St Peter's Pool, Għajn Tuffieħa, Dingli Cliffs, Buskett, the cart ruts at Clapham Junction, Laferla Cross and Żebbuġ's olive grove.

Every card says what the place will be and which drop opens it ("Opens with the first drops", "Opens with the sea drop"), never a date. Only the building sites mention backing a build, and none is open for backing yet.

Three new areas

The new land gets names of its own on the map:

• Siġġiewi · Żebbuġ · Qormi, from the Qormi bakery to the falconry centre and the clay range at Ta' Kandja.
• The South coast, from Għar Lapsi past the Blue Grotto to Pretty Bay.
• Marsaskala · Delimara, with the harbour, Casa Rosa, St Thomas Bay and St Peter's Pool.

Get around adds a tab for each area once a place there opens. Until then, the places are in Get around's Coming soon row, with the next drops first. Tap See all to see every site by area. On the map, the new 🚧 chip beside Ads and Homes does the same.

Sixteen new billboards

The new roads have 16 new boards. For now each one says "Opens soon". A board opens for booking when the first place in its area opens, so no board sits empty for months, and a board in Marsaskala means people will be driving past it.

Why show what isn't open yet?

Because it's how Malta feels: half the skyline is cranes, and everyone knows what's going up where. It also means a new drop never lands out of nowhere. The site is already on your map, and on opening day the fence comes down. The first two to open are Harbour Bank and the Eden.

The sites cost your phone almost nothing to draw: all 38 together are a dozen shapes, drawn in one go each. The cranes on the new sites stand still. More about the map itself is in Malta just got bigger.

Play Malta Living free and tap a 🚧 Soon pin. New here? Start with what Malta Living is, or read how the Il-Magħluq waterfront went from a building site to a place you can visit.

Questions people ask

Can I visit a coming-soon place in Malta Living?

Not yet. You can see it on the map, tap it and read its card, but there's no trip there until it opens. Get around lists it under Coming soon.

When will the new places open?

Each card says which drop opens it, not a date. Harbour Bank and the Eden come first, then the sea (the dive centre, Għar Lapsi, the Blue Grotto, Pretty Bay), then the others in turn.

Can I back a coming-soon place?

Only new businesses can be backed, and none is open for backing yet. A restoration or a nature spot never asks for backing.

Why do some new billboards say "Opens soon"?

They're on roads in areas that have nothing open yet. Each one opens for booking when its area's first place opens.