The recently completed Unisa Florida Campus is one of the most advanced learning facilities on the African continent and will make a meaningful contribution to the educational development of thousands of tertiary students both local and international.
These days however, maintaining the status of an internationally recognised education provider depends on state of the art support systems. This presented consulting engineers Royal HaskoningDHV with some interesting design challenges, not only for the BMS (building management system) but for all the professional services required of this facility. The company was appointed for the design, documentation, tender and contract administration for all the electrical and electronic components, mechanical services as well as the civil and structural aspects of this R467-million project.
Electronic installation and BMS
Driven by increasing student numbers and extensions to the facilities, Unisa embarked on a country-wide roll out of access control and people management systems, including video surveillance. There was a need to tailor these, the access control system in particular, to specific Unisa requirements including future functionality and technology upgrades. The integration of access control and video to provide an effective security system was also a requirement. These security measures all had to be further integrated with a central control room facility on the Unisa Mackleneuk campus outside Pretoria.
With the assistance of Unisa Protection Services and Unisa ICT, Royal HaskoningDHV’s electronic engineers realised that this wide area network dictated the migration of the access control and video systems to an IP platform. The deployment of a complete campus security network also required the construction of a new main campus control room, which had to be constructed with minimal disruption to the existing facility.
The scope of the automation and electronic engineering involved the following sub systems:
* Electronic fire detection system.
* Voice evacuation system.
* Access control.
* IP video surveillance.
* Complete campus ICT network, including switching equipment and structured cabling.
* Audio and visual systems for lecture theatres, laboratories and meeting rooms.
The value the consulting engineers added
Quality of engineering design
Royal HaskoningDHV is ISO 9001 certified and all design and supervisory functions comply with this certification. All design work was executed on AutoCAD and in some cases utilising Revit 3D software.
Ingenuity, originality and innovation
The control room is a completely new design researched to provide the latest technology features whilst complying with all client requirements.
Management of planning and technical design
A detail project plan and resource allocation was compiled and managed on a monthly basis. Designs were executed by several members of the team, which were then checked and coordinated by a senior engineer. Many hours were spent in internal coordination with other engineering disciplines such as electrical and mechanical.
Aesthetics of engineering elements
All cabling was built-in or cast into the concrete to ensure no visible cable routes; coordination with the electrical engineering team ensured a complementary reticulation design. Numerous meetings were held with the architects to ensure that colour and equipment was suitable for the environment. Colours for turnstiles were changed to suit the aesthetics of the building and the audiovisual systems were fitted into custom made furniture to make these look part of the overall facility design.
Budgetary compliance
At the end of the project, the total electronic engineering scope was 5% under budget. There were a number of variation orders and changes requested by the client, for instance the ICT network points increased by 30% due to changing requirements, but this was absorbed as part of the contingency allowance in the contract.
Influence on conceptual design
Campus security zoning was a requirement that had to be incorporated as part of the overall concept. Meetings with Unisa Protection Services and the architects were held to ensure that the security needs were addressed early in the design cycle.
Complexity and sophistication
The access control system is one of the biggest of its kind in the country with more than 250 000 students and staff on the database. The integration of this campus with the rest of the country needed to be planed carefully and included all the relevant departments such as ICT, Unisa Protection Services and the contracted suppliers of the systems.
The architecture is such that the enrolment of a new student in Cape Town, for example, will give them immediate access to the Florida Campus. The upgrade of the campus ICT network was done in two stages, one managed by the client directly and the other by Royal HaskoningDHV. Close working relations with the Unisa ICT department was essential to ensure these two projects were coordinated. The detailed interfacing between the fire detection system and associated equipment such as the gas detection, fresh air supply and fume cabinets also had to be specified and then designed.
Responsibility (risk) carried by the consults
Working on the ICT network while it remained live for the entire campus was a substantial project risk as a mistake could have crashed the entire campus. For this reason there was a network freeze during the registration period where no work on the network was allowed, this had to be catered for in the construction and implementation schedules while still meeting all the agreed deadlines for handover.
Logistics
Much of the equipment had to be imported and the ICT switches could only be manufactured once the order was received. Since this order was linked to the exchange rate, it presented another risk that had to be carefully managed to ensure that it did not affect the work and overall contract budget.
Meeting the client’s deadlines for readiness
On a project of this magnitude there are always a few snags, in this case the electronic engineering commissioning could only be done when all other work was complete as this was the part where the computers were installed and configured. Despite the logistical challenges, the team succeeded in delivering a world class facility that incorporates the latest security technology and management systems designed to meet current demands and future needs.
For more information contact Hillary Erasmus, Royal HaskoningDHV, +27 (0)11 798 6511, [email protected], www.rhdhv.co.za
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version