Archive for month: July, 2017

Former KTP president Perit Vincent Cassar has just been awarded the RIBA President’s Medal this evening. This tribute acknowledges the important role that Presidents of Architects’ Institutes across the world make to their professional and social communities, and to their outstanding contribution in driving excellence in architecture both domestically and internationally.

Perit Cassar is well known at both the national and international level. He is a past President of the Kamra tal-Periti, past Council Member, Treasurer and Co-ordinator of a Thematic Area of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), and representative of the KTP to the European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE).

His main achievement at an international level is his current role as President of the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA), which position he will hold until 2019.

Perit Cassar, a graduate in Architecture and Civil Engineering from the University of Malta, joined the Public Service in 1973 as a Junior Architect and Civil Engineer with the then Public Works Department and was assigned to the Schools and Hospital Section. Since then he has worked within other sections of the Public Works organisation and was responsible for various projects including those for housing, healthcare and hospitals, and other major projects of a civil engineering nature such as roads and marine works. Such large scale projects included the design and construction of the Karen Grech Paediatric Hospital and its adjoining Maternity complex, and the construction of Terminal I at the Malta Freeport Container Terminal and the Luqa Air Terminal.

Perit Cassar also currently serves as Chairman of the Planning Board in Malta.

In a statement to the Kamra tal-Periti, Perit Cassar said, “I dedicate this honour to all my colleagues on the KTP Council and indeed to all periti in Malta and also to all architects around the Commonwealth”.

The Kamra tal-Periti warmly congratulates Perit Cassar on this distinguished award and professional achievement.

The Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) has announced that it has been successfully selected to run a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme, called Connecting Architects in Europe (CONNECT ARCH). This four-year project will aim to reinforce the sector’s capacity and help the profession to face current and forthcoming challenges: cross-border and trans-national mobility, increased competition from outside the EU, adaptation to digital technologies, acquisition of new skills and competences, to name but a few.

In the autumn of 2016, ACE submitted a bid in response to a call for proposals from the Creative Europe Programme, the EU Commission’s financing instrument that supports Europe’s cultural and creative sectors. The European Networks sub-programme is designed to help the cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and to strengthen their competiveness, notably by providing professionals with specific skills and experience, to enable them to expand their careers in Europe and beyond.

The successful ACE project proposal, called Connecting Architects in Europe (CONNECT ARCH), will aim to reinforce the architectural sector’s capacity and help the profession to face current and forthcoming challenges. It is made up of 10 activities grouped under four inter-related over-arching objectives, namely:

1. Strengthening the ACE network and increasing collaboration among its members – notably by increasing knowledge-sharing and peer-to-peer learning among ACE members and enhancing their ability to engage in EU policy and law-making processes;
2. Improving the transnational mobility of European architects – to contribute to the realisation of the full potential of EU Internal Market legislation, notably by identifying and promoting opportunities and partnerships in the EU and beyond;
3. Enabling European Architects to build up their professional and business skills – notably by organising CPD modules to help architects and firms to maintain and acquire new skills to remain globally competitive and flourish in new markets;
4. Creating an Observatory for the architectural profession – to inform EU and national policy-makers of market conditions and trends, on various aspects of the profession, by providing comparative, quantitative and qualitative data on sector developments.

CONNECT-ARCH will enable ACE to run many varied activities to strengthen the capacities and visibility of the profession at EU level and beyond, for the benefit of its Member Organisations, and ultimately all European architects. With this project, ACE is tackling the challenges of today and invest in the future.

Visit the ACE website to remain informed of forthcoming activities.