One of the largest construction projects undertaken of late by the University of Malta, jointly funded by the Government of Malta and the European Union, is the new building for the Faculty of ICT.

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, 15% national funds.

The new building was inaugurated by Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Education and Employment, in the presence of Stefan Buontempo, Parliamentary Secretary for Research, Innovation, Youth & Sport, rector Dr Joe Cassar, Shadow Minister for Education, Prof. Juanito Camilleri and the Dean of the Faculty, Dr Ernest Cachia, on 15 November as part of the events held during Discover University Open Week. The opening included short speeches followed by a tour of the new faculty building.

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 open-able windows but 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 extracted 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 after a predefined period of time, if these are left on when 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 to minimise the environmental impact that the addition of another building on campus will have. In general, the air-conditioning units are of VRF type using inverter driven compressors in order to optimise running efficiency 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 powerful Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system, a standby generator for emergency power provision suitable to run all 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 shall be used to provide second-class water for toilet use, provide water for irrigation purposes, as well as for fire-fighting systems.

The types of light fittings vary depending on the application and location, but in general they 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 shall serve the dual purposes of providing shading to the roof, thereby decreasing the fabric heat gain and also generating 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 four-floor edifice offering approximately 6,700 sq. m. of floor space in total, configured as two blocks connected via a central multi-storey entrance, lobby, stairwell and lift area, with a ramp-accessed underground level 70+ 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, post-graduate rooms and research labs.