Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/318021
43 maltatoday, Sunday, 25 May 2014 Events Vodafone employees join forces in hilarious games University students build 'Speranza', a humanitarian shelter sponsored by FIMBank Vodafone employees did not let the absurd tasks in hand stop them from battling it out at Inspire's an- nual charity event "It's a Knock- out". Five teams from Vodafone gave their all during the games and joined forces to have a whale of a time trying to complete the colour- ful and hilarious games while rais- ing funds for a worthy cause. "Overall it was a fun-packed event for a truly exceptional cause, and a big congratulations goes out to all the participants, some of whom are likely still sporting a few knocks and bruises after the festivities and to Inspire for organising this memorable event year after year," said Roberta Pace, Administrator of Vodafone Malta Foundation. The Malta Shipyard in Marsa was transformed into a large inflatable obstacle course were companies, groups of people, and organisations met in a relaxed, fun and stress free environment outside their normal work routine for an unforgettable team building event. Giant inflatable challenges, crazy costumes, wacky props, plenty of foam and water were the order of the day. Five teams from Vodafone battled it out between themselves in hilarious costumes of fully themed inflatables and with giant props. The games at hand were decep- tively simple but very hard to com- plete and this is what strengthened bonds and broke down barriers during this memorable experience. Vodafone Malta Foundation do- nated the sum of €3,375 to Inspire as part of the Charity Contribution Scheme, money which will help children and adults with learning and physical disabilities who de- pend on Inspire's services. Parallel Payments Ltd., an interna- tional payment services provider and technology company serving online and mobile merchants world- wide, has kicked off the outfitting of its new premises at SmartCity Malta. The company ex- pects to commence operations at its new world head- quarters in early June, 2014. Parallel Payments offers a range of payment solutions and services that are secure, robust, easy to use and highly efficient, benefitting its merchants and its merchants' customers. The Parallel Payments Gateway combines state-of-the-art technology, PCI DSS Level 1 se- curity, multi-currency capability and easy integration options for a seamless eCommerce experience. A range of extended payment services enhance the company's offering to provide a full compli- ment of end-to-end merchant so- lutions. Parallel Payments caters to many different needs, whether providing payment functionality to existing apps, accepting card payments through a mobile device or simply enhancing the payment processes of online shopping por- tals. Speaking about this new partner- ship with SmartCity Malta, Jason Butcher, CEO of Parallel Payments said, "We evaluated numerous lo- cations within Malta in our search for a new corporate headquarters. "We ultimately selected Smart- City Malta based on its ability to meet our needs for quality Class-A space in a terrific development perfectly suited to a technology company with our requirements for reliable and redundant data connectivity, power supply and top class ancillary services. "We look forward to accelerat- ing our company's growth at this location over the coming years as we provide quality, innovative and highly competitive technologies and solutions that improve the ef- ficiency and efficacy of a range of important payment processes." FIMBank unveiled the prototype of a humanitarian shelter designed and developed by a group of University of Malta third year students from the Faculty for the Built Environ- ment reading for the degree of BSc (Built Environment Studies), as part of their studies to become profes- sional architects. The shelter, nick- named 'Speranza', is currently on display outside the Fort as one of the satellite exhibits at the Malta Design Week. The number of displaced people worldwide continues to grow at an alarming rate, primarily due to wars, natural disasters or deterio- rating economic conditions. FIM- Bank President Margrith Lüstchg- Emmenegger stated, "Millions of people are affected by natural or man-made disasters every year and according to international relief organisations the displacement of people will continue to increase at a faster rate. "I believe this will lead to an un- precedented need for assistance that could overwhelm the world's cur- rent humanitarian capacity. This is without a doubt a great challenge and this is why the Bank decided to support this initiative and provide the financial support to build Sper- anza." Commenting on the project's de- velopment, Prof. Alex Torpiano, Dean of the Faculty for the Built En- vironment at the University of Malta explained, "A healthy human being can survive for weeks without food, and days without water, but in many cases only hours without proper shelter from the elements. Coming up with tangible and valuable im- provements to existing shelter solu- tions was the key objective. This was an opportunity to show that archi- tects FIMBank partnered with the Uni- versity of Malta and the NGO 808 Foundation where architects Chris Briffa and Sandro Valentino took on the role of lead project managers and design tutors to the group of stu- dents. Briffa is a design tutor at the University of Malta, and renowned locally for promoting the awareness of architectural design. The brief for this project was to design a simple, sustainable and well-insulated unit by introducing low-cost improvements to existing technology effectively creating an enhanced shelter-solution. Periti Briffa and Valentino led a team of fifteen university students to work on this project with the aim of com- bining the elements of research and design with this core humanitarian objective. During the course of their research the team discovered the existence of pre-fabricated units that are built- for-purpose and are easy to trans- port and assemble. Fortunately, a local company, HMK International, is involved in the production of similar units. Its director, Karl Mif- sud Cremona, was instrumental in providing the technical know-how and human resources necessary to perform the modifications and en- hancements to the Pagin s.p.a. M1 model structure. Prof. Torpiano said, "Working within such a confined space was a daunting task for our students, and they faced the reality that their de- sign decisions would have direct consequences on these vulnerable people's day-to-day life when occu- pying such accommodation." The student team consisted of Justin Mizzi, Julian Vassallo, Kat- rina Gauci, Samuel Bonello, Andrea Zerafa, Jonathan Avellino, Ryan Sal- iba, Bobby Pace, Paula Grech, Sacha Cutajar, Rene Fava, Martha Borg, Neal Vella, Stacy Rapa, and Matthew Muscat. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week launched Valletta, Malta's capital city, a ma- jor historical attraction in itself, is to be the common denominator in this years' Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Malta, according to Adrian J. Mizzi, Executive Producer, at the launch on Wednesday at the Bay Street Complex, St Julian's. "The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is using Malta as a platform to show a different image of the is- land to that expected," he said. "All weekday events in public places are free to the public to attend, although many of them are by now sold out." The events-packed calendar opens to the public on Saturday, 24 May, with two solo designer shows at 11 a.m. in Republic Street, Ritienne Zammit and Creative Factory 7, and a New Designers Fashion Show at 8.30 p.m. at the Casino Maltese fea- turing 12 designers. Gozitan designer Caroline Hili is launching her collection in Malta on Sunday at 8.30 p.m. on the Ren- zo Piano Steps in Republic Street. Charles and Ron have their fashion show on Monday at 8.30 p.m. at St Elmo Square. Malta's Maritime Heritage is combining with the Tiffany Pisani swimwear collection on Tuesday at St George's Square, with a unique combination of heritage and culture. Bridalwear from Spain (Pronovias), France (Wedding Bells) and Italy (Loredana Roccasalva) will be shown on Wednesday at 8.30 p.m. at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. Local fashion brand Gagliardi is displaying its collection, as part of Bortex's 50th anniversary on Thurs- day at 8.30 p.m. at the National Li- brary. Mr Mizzi commented that this is possibly the first fashion show to be held there. International designers from Ser- bia, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and France are taking part in the International Designers Show on Fri- day at 8.30 p.m. at Pjazza Regina. The Malta Fashion Awards, now in its 16th edition, are being held for the first time at SmartCity Malta. Mr Mizzi explained that there will be a selection of the week's fashion shows, apart from presentation of awards in the fashion sector. For the first time there is also going to be a Fashion Blogger Award. Hair stylist Patrick Cameron is a special guest at the event and will also be holding hair seminars be- tween Sunday and Wednesday, to be attended by both local and interna- tional hair stylists. Philip Galea, Marketing Executive at Bay Street, said the complex is de- lighted to be supporting the event since this type of collaboration helps to showcase the diverse retail stores, as well as the dining and entertain- ment offered seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Media Director Pierre Mizzi said the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Malta was a big event not just locally in the media but also internationally. "There are 43 bloggers and 51 pho- tographers accredited to the event, not only publishing to their websites but also on www.fashionweek.com. mt," Mr Mizzi said. Fashion TV will be showing parts of the event in 200 million house- holds on seven continents and the great support of the local media en- sured that this would also be well known in Malta and Gozo. Parallel Payments outfits new premises at SmartCity Malta From left to right: Pierre Mizzi, Media Director and Ivan Grech, on behalf of Auto Sales Ltd, local concessionaires of Mercedes-Benz, Adrian J. Mizzi, Executive Producer of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Malta and Philip Galea, Marketing Executive at Bay Street