Campaigners in Malta are fighting to save a historic British barracks from development, demanding an emergency conservation order to protect it.

A coalition of heritage groups is outraged at plans to develop the 19th-century sandstone barracks into a luxury hotel and apartments.

The barracks are part of sprawling Fort Chambray, which overlooks the main harbour of Gozo, Malta’s sister island. The fort is a vestige of Britain’s colonial presence in the Mediterranean archipelago from 1814 until independence in 1964.

Developers want to demolish most of the two-storey building. Its sandstone façade would then be moved to a different position within the fort and converted into a hotel.

The development was approved by Malta’s planning authority in December, but protesters are determined to fight it.

They say the barracks are of immense historical and aesthetic value – they were among the first married quarters to be constructed for British soldiers anywhere in the Empire.