Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/423164
10 Business Today maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 NOVEMBER 2014 Tigné Point Business Centre works contract awarded Mid Knight Holdings Ltd, a joint venture between MIDI plc and Benny Holdings, whose principal shareholder is Mark Weingard, recently awarded an €18 million construction contract for the new business centre at Tigné Point to Frame Structures JV, a con- sortium composed of Mekanika Ltd, General Precast Ltd, Halmann Vella Ltd and JS Dimech Ltd, together with iAS architects. Situated on the north front of Pjazza Tigné and enjoying views over the open car-free square and the sea, this new leading-edge business centre consists of two interconnected blocks joined via an atrium bridge overlooking the historic Garden Battery. Built over a multi-storey car park, the offices are to be spread over nine floors connected by two escalators and five lifts. The ground level on Pjazza Tigné will include a 6 metre high open atrium designed to retain the sea views currently enjoyed from the popular square. This double height space is planned to host two catering outlets with sprawling outdoor seating arrangements, whilst the eight floors of offices above will include modular open plan layouts measuring some 1,600 square meters per floor. Based on an original design by aoM partnership, the business centre is being built to the latest high-grade international office specifications and the company is aiming for LEED certification on completion. Works are expected to kick–off shortly and are set to be completed in tandem with those currently underway on MIDI's latest seafront residential block, Q2. More info on: www.tignepoint.com/ offices Arrivals, nights spent in collective accommodation up in September Total arrivals in collective accom- modation establishments during the month under review numbered 156,526, while total nights spent amounted to 927,418. All hotel cat- egories recorded increases in total nights spent, with the largest share reported in 4-star hotels, account- ing for 435,006 nights, or 46.9 per cent of the total. The average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments remained on par with last year, at 5.9 nights. The net use of bed-places stood at 75.6 per cent, up by 3.6 percentage points when compared to the corresponding month last year. On a national level, there were 166 active collective accommodation establishments during September, with a net capacity of 18,612 bedrooms and 40,916 bed-places. On average, each establishment had 2.2 beds per room. Total arrivals and nights spent during the third quarter rose by 6.1 and 3.5 per cent over the corresponding period last year reaching 497,312 and 3.1 million respectively. Nights spent by non- residents advanced by 3.3 per cent, whereas resident nights went up by 10.2 per cent. The occupancy rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 82.6 per cent, 3.6 percentage points more than last year. Total arrivals during the first nine months surpassed 1.2 million, an increase of 7.7 per cent over 2013. Total nights spent went up by 3.5 per cent, amounted to almost 7.0 million. The net use of bed-places advanced by 3.0 percentage points to stand at 65.6 per cent. Situated on the north front of Pjazza Tigne and enjoying views of the sea, this is a new leading-edge business centre of two interconnected blocks joined via an atrium bridge