help educate the public about the importance of environmental conservation.

The firm, whose OBM Architecture & Interior Design division just opened a new office in Miami, Florida, is to be involved in an awareness campaign which will include design criteria for resort projects, as well as water and electrical power conservation, waste minimisation and beach clean up projects, led within the hotel industry.

OBM International chairman, B.W. "Jordy'' Walker, said OBM was one of the 12 founding members of the Caribbean Action for Sustainable Tourism (CAST), a not-for-profit, subsidiary company of the Caribbean Hotel Association.

CAST is dedicated to the implementation of Agenda 21, towards environmentally sustainable tourism in the Caribbean region. The 12 members have committed to providing $250,000 annually to the promotion of sustainable tourism practices.

The OBM International financial support will be provided from budget funds allocated annually by the firm for support of environmental analysis and studies.

OBM president, Bill Bissell of the Cayman Islands, recently joined a group of tourism industry leaders in the Dominican Republic to discuss future initiatives for CAST. Mr. Walker said, "Tourism, the world's fastest growing industry, has become the economic mainstay of the island states of the Caribbean.

"Because these islands, like Bermuda, are uniquely circumscribed bio-regions, especially sensitive to environmental changes, the challenge of the tourist industry in this region is to not minimise the adverse ecological effects of indiscriminate use, but to augment tourism benefits, expand tourism and investor returns, and encourage community involvement.'' CAST executive director, Kelly Robinson, said, "With this awareness campaign, we take our programme one step further. It is meant to bring community and industry together to work for conservation of our natural resources.'' Meanwhile, OBM Architecture & Interior Design's new Florida office is located near Miami International Airport in Coral Gables, strategically sited to provide clients with metropolitan US-based facilities and contacts for the firm's Bermuda and Caribbean network of offices.

Mr. Walker said, "OBM Miami Inc. will act as a gateway office for Caribbean and Latin American operations, and as such, will be especially convenient for American -- and Canadian-based clients who carry out business within the region.

"This strategic location will further enhance OBM's ability to better service its clients' interests in an allied manner with US engineers and other specialist consultancies that are not always available to their clients in the islands.'' OBM's offices are in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, St. Kitt's-Nevis, Antigua and Turks & Caicos. European gateway offices are located in London and Brussels.

The firm was founded in Bermuda in 1936.

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