Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/326223
Events 40 Banif Bank (Malta) plc has opened its 12th branch in the busy trade area of Paola. The new retail outlet will form part of a network optimisation pro- gramme that will enable the Bank to reach out to more clients in their locality, while attracting regional traffic and commercial activity. Offering better facilities and points of sales to customers is at the core of the Bank's operations, and having a wider map coverage will contribute further to the high standards of customer care the Bank already enjoys. The Paola retail outlet was offi- cially inaugurated by Minister for finance Edward Scicluna, in the presence of the Bank's Chairman Michael frendo, Chief Executive Officer Joaquim f. Silva Pinto, di- rectors, and heads of department, the branch team, and distinguished guests. The new branch in Pjazza de Paule will be led by experienced banker and area manager Martin Borg and will be offering the lo- cal community the whole gamut of products, from savings, to loans and cash management solutions. The branch team has already been busy getting to know the local peo- ple so that personalised advice can be given based on clients' unique needs. The Bank is strengthening its competitor potential, growing fast into a meaningful size. "The new Government looks to- wards the Maltese banking sector as a sound and solid sector which has managed to weather the fi- nancial storm which swept across the Euro zone. This was thanks to Malta's regulatory mechanism, the ethics of our operators, and the sector's professional human re- sources," Scicluna said. "The Government is commit- ted to continuing to strengthen the banking sector and introduc- ing those legislative mechanisms which help the sector expand, while providing peace of mind to depositors." He went on to add that the Gov- ernment is looking forward to working closely with local banks on various initiatives, such as the upcoming Third Pillar Pension Scheme, which will be unveiled in the coming weeks. "The opening of our new branch- es will help us improve our per- formance," said Banif Bank CEO Silva Pinto. "With a better understanding of our customers on the ground we can optimise our product portfolio and provide individuals, families, shops and businesses a custom- ised range of services. Paola is an important trade area and a great location for the Bank to pursue its market penetration plans." MiddlESEa insurance recently opened its doors to a number of Eko- skola students from 3 schools, who conducted an environmental audit of the company's premises. during an initial visit, the students went around the offices, meeting rooms and other areas of Middle Sea House in floriana, taking down notes and pointing out various environmen- tal issues. following the audit, the students for- mulated an action plan. a few weeks after the first visit, the students re- turned to Middle Sea House, this time with a number of suggestions and pro- posed actions for Middlesea. Some of these suggestions included the use of more alternative energy, a project which the company is cur- rently working on, the introduction of an environmental policy as well as increasing the use of energy saving light bulbs. following the presentation of these suggestions, Chris Meli, Chief Officer of Human Resources addressed the students. He thanked them for their valuable recommendations, which definitely helped to make Middlesea insurance employees more aware of environmental issues and the impor- tance of sustainable and eco-friendly living. a discussion on environmental matters amongst the staff members present at the meeting ensued. The students also commented that this was a very positive experience for them as well as for their teachers. The schools involved in this ini- tiative were San Gorg Preca floriana Primary School, St francis Secondary School Sliema and St albert the Great College, Valletta. Ms Cynthia Caruana coordinated the event for the EkoSko- la team. Eco-Skola is an international, environmental management, certifi- cation, and sustainable development education programme for schools. Middlesea insurance p.l.c. (C-5553) is authorised by the Malta financial Services authority to carry on both long Term and General Business un- der the insurance Business act, 1998. COM nO 050614 833 maltatoday, Sunday, 8 June 2014 New Banif Bank branch in Paola Young Ekoskola students conduct eco- audit at Middlesea Insurance offices FIMBank sponsors the Malta Arts Festival fiMBank will be supporting the forthcoming Malta arts festival. The ninth edition of this festival, which will run over two weeks, be- tween the 14 July and 2 august, will be packed with daily events present- ed by top quality artists from Malta, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Spain, the netherlands, the Czech Repub- lic, South africa and Russia. during the recent presentation of fiMBank's sponsorship Jason Zam- mit, the Bank's Head of Public & Media Relations, stated "fiMBank is delighted to be associated with the Malta arts festival. The Bank's sponsorship reflects the importance that we give to Mal- ta's cultural heritage, and specifi- cally our appreciation of the local performing arts scene. This year's line-up of performers is particularly impressive, and the event promises to be a memorable one". On his part, albert Marshall, Chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the arts, thanked fiMBank for their support: "We are grateful to corporate sponsors such as fiMBank, who through their fi- nancial support help us meet the substantial expenses involved in or- ganising this annual festival, which has become a fixture in Malta's cul- tural diary. "The Malta arts festival Summer 2014 will be offering the public an impressive range of performance arts in a variety of settings, includ- ing that two main open-air venues, fort St Elmo and Pjazza Teatru Rjal". The festival will open on a high note on the 14 July with a perform- ance by the 2 Cellos, who will be performing with Sir Elton John during his US tour dates. The two young Croatian cellists, luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, have achieved sensational success by taking the cello to a new level and breaking the boundaries between different gen- res of music, from classical to rock and pop. another event that is expected to be a hit with families is 'fecha de Caducidad' (Expiration date) a tragically funny circus from Spain, which combines elements of physi- cal theatre and dance, creating a visually stunning and emotionally charged show. The trademark closing concert will be held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra play- ing under the baton of Mro Brian Schembri, and with Russian cellist alexander Kniazev. for further information about the Malta arts festival 2014, please vis- it www.maltaartsfestival.org. Ticket prices vary from Eur5 to a maximum Eur20 depending on the perform- ance. Bookings can be done online through www.ticketline.com.mt 2 Cellos - Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser. Photo: Smallz & Raskind New research explores thermally efficient construction material GREEn buildings are energy efficient by using less energy to maintain a comfortable interior climate without the need for significant active heating and cooling systems. The EU advo- cates the importance of energy effi- cient buildings through energy poli- cies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. in fact the EU has issued and recast a number of directives to address en- ergy efficiency of buildings. The lat- est recast EU directive 2010/31/EU is bringing new and more stringent challenges to the building sector. foremost amongst them, moving to- wards new and retrofitted net zero- energy buildings (nZEB) by 2020. Malta as a full member of the EU is to abide by the provisions of these direc- tives, even though it seems that it is no easy task. The building fabric plays a funda- mental role to meet the aforemen- tioned since the major contribution to heat gain in a building is from the building walls. One way to achieve this goal is to get the building fabric as thermally efficient as possible and strive for the lowest U-value possible, since the lowest the U-value, the less energy is required to maintain the temperature in building at comfort- able levels. in this context, since the demand of load bearing hollow concrete blocks (HCBs) is by far increasing in popu- larity in Malta, it is thus necessarily to seek ways to improve the thermal cre- dentials of this construction material. Several new construction materials and modern building masonry tech- nologies lend themselves to achieving high levels of thermal performance simply because of the way they are made or because of their geometry and form. THERMHCB (a research project be- ing co-financed by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) 2012 R&i Programme, being coordi- nated by Galea Curmi Engineering Services ltd. in partnership with Ra & Sons Manufacturing ltd. and Uni- versity of Malta) are in the process of developing a thermally improved hol- low concrete block (ThermHCB) with same load-bearing characteristics of the standard HCB (i.e. 7.5n/mm2) to address the U-value factor of the building fabric. The ThermHCB shall be made up of readily available insulation materials mixed with water, cementious mate- rials and other local aggregates in a precise formulation that is compacted to optimum conditions. The Therm- HCB shall provide a unique combi- nation of high thermal performance and load-bearing capabilities in a cost competitive wall system. Because energy-efficiency concepts must dovetail with current building practices, one of the most important aspects in the development of the ThermHCB is to keep the same di- mensions of existing standard HCB in the market. By keeping the same di- mensions, no area is 'sacrificed' from the property that can be used as living space. This also means that the ThermH- CB will not require any new building methodologies as compared to exist- ing thermal construction products and technologies hence no additional training will be required for build- ers, architects and engineers. for the block producer, this is also good news since the idea is to keep the devia- tion of the manufacturing process of the ThermHCB to a minimum when compared to the standard process. This project, if successful, shall leave an impact on Malta's reputation in best practices for construction, while assisting the Maltese islands in reaching the 2020 targets set by EU to reduce energy demands.