Prime Minister shown around nearly complete building of the Faculty of ICT
Following the inauguration of the IT Services Building, the Prime Minister was also shown around a section of the building of the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is now nearing completion.
This ERDF 017 Project which costs €17m is part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007-2013, with a Co-financing rate of 85% EU Funds and 15% national funds.
The building consists of a concrete substructure with a steel framed upper structure. The exterior envelope predominantly consists of a special engineered façade, which is filled with an inert gas and treated to minimise solar heat gains while not compromising the light transmission into the rooms.
The building has no openable windows but it is climate controlled through an advanced Building Management System. The internal climatic conditions, such as temperature, introduction of fresh air and extraction will all be managed by an automated system. Heat recovery units have also been installed in key areas such that the fresh air being introduced inside the building is pre conditioned by the extract air resulting in increased overall efficiency.
The rooms will be furnished with presence detectors in order to switch off lights and air-conditioning systems automatically if the room is vacated. The underground parking will be monitored and automatically ventilated.
It is envisaged that this centralised climate control system, together with the use of the most advanced outer façade materials, will significantly reduce the energy demands of this building thus helping minimise the environmental impact that the addition of another building on campus will have.
In general, the air-conditioning units are of the VRF type with inverter driven compressors in order to optimise running efficien- cy under partial load conditions.
Although the building houses its own dedicated electricity sub-station to ensure a stable supply of power, it is also equipped with a standby generator for emergency power provision and shall be suitable to run the essential loads.
Another feature of the building is its own rain water harvesting. Even in case of water supply interruption, the building can rely on its own voluminous subterranean water reservoir. This water reservoir will be used to provide second-class water in flushings, provide water for irrigation purposes as well as for fire fighting systems.
The type of light fittings will vary depending on the application and location, but in general they will all provide a high lumen output per watt and are therefore energy efficient.
The building is furnished with a PV array on the roof which will serve the dual purposes of providing shading to the roof, there- by decreasing the fabric heat gain and also generate power for direct use by the building.
The building is also furnished with security and safety systems including a fire detection system, fire-fighting system (with inert gas suppression in the server rooms), CCTV and access control.
The structure itself is a fourfloor edifice offering approximately 6,700 sq.m. of floor space in total, configured as two blocks connected via a central multistorey entrance, lobby, stairwell and lift area, with a rampaccessed underground level 80+ car park.
Attention was given to the overall skyline of the University’s Msida Campus. The sloped landscape surrounding the building minimised the visual impact on the surrounding university buildings. The various areas in the new building will include teaching labs, research rooms, tutorial rooms, undergraduate study areas, postgraduate rooms and research labs.