10 minute read
The Briefing
Education Design
MIDDLE EAST Avinash Kumar of GAJ shares his thoughts on how education design requirements have changed to take into account changing local and global influences
Multisensory Learning
Several influences have had a significant impact on the education sector within the provision of an innovative and efficient learning space, which is healthy and contributes to the wellbeing of students. 2,600 region and globally in recent “Air quality and lighting plays a Total years. Everything from the outbreak of the pandemic to the advent of new technology, a desire for soft skills major role in the cognitive performance of students, so we must ensure that we create a healthy environment for number of students training, decreasing attention spans, a them to thrive in,” he elaborated. at the focus on sustainability and other factors have made their mark on the sector. Sharing some of the requirements he’s tracked from clients in recent recently Discussing the impact these times, he stated, “Clients have a desire opened The influences have had on client design requirements and, ultimately, design for an efficient floor plate to keep the overall flow of students to a minimum. Citizens thinking for education projects, Avinash Adequate space planning is always in School in Kumar, Associate Partner at Godwin Austen Johnson (GAJ) told Big Project demand and plays a key role in school design. We have been developing a Dubai ME that one main area of change is the number of ‘out of classroom’ spaces
such as extra-wide corridors and atrium spaces that encourage collaborative processes where students are not bound by conventional teaching spaces.”
GAJ is a well-established design entity within the UAE, and, over the years, it has established itself as a significant player when it comes to the design and delivery of education projects. Recently, it handed over The Citizens School in Dubai.
Asked whether the pandemic is still influencing design requirements today, he replied, “There were many COVID rules, such as social distancing, that were put in place during the pandemic – most of these were temporary. However, several of the design protocols including sensor-based sanitary provisions in highly populated spaces, such as washrooms and cafeterias, which were adopted during this period of time, have now become standard in the design of public spaces.”
“That makes sense, as does the continual implementation of highly efficient filters and UV lamps for airhandling units to prohibit microbial growth and airborne contamination for better indoor air quality,” he continued.
DISRUPTING EDUCATIONAL ENGAGEMENT Apart from disrupting how educational institutes engaged with their students, the pandemic also significantly
Healthy environment
Avinash Kumar says that creating a healthy environment in schools can help develop students' cognitive development and allow them to thrive.
Smart education
The Citzen School in Dubai comes with a number of innovations and smart educational tools to enable teachers to engage with students in a variety of ways. impacted global supply chains, and this continues to be a challenge today. Kumar noted that supply chain issues have been a concern for many months now, with major shipping delays affecting projects across sectors.
Commenting on how GAJ is dealing with this challenge when it comes to its education projects, Kumar said, “We rely heavily on locally produced materials, which enables us to avoid some of these problems. "But there are many others who have been, and continue to be, affected by product availability, labour shortages, and logistics disruptions.”
Another innovation that seems to have captured the attention of the built environment and its various stakeholders post pandemic is the Metaverse. Positioned as the next iteration of the internet – one which function as a single, universal and immersive virtual world that is engaged with via the use of virtual reality and augmented reality headsets – a number of built environment stakeholders, and reputed brands, have debated the technology’s potential to be either an add-on to existing offerings or an all-out replacement.
Asked about his views on whether the Metaverse could replace physical classrooms, Kumar commented, “In one of our recent school projects, we installed digital screens with four smart projectors on two of the walls to enable teachers to share multiple ideas on multiple screens. This was a new approach and has set a new precedent for classroom design, opening the door to a new level of multisensory learning where virtual reality and the Metaverse allows students to enter an environment they can see and feel. The Metaverse will certainly be an added feature within schools in the next few years, but it will not replace the classroom, as there really is no substitute for the physical interaction students experience in a traditional learning environment.” This article originally appeared on MEConstructionNews.com
Investing in Sustainable Partnerships
MIDDLE EAST
Paras Adhvaryu of Daikin Middle East and Africa speaks to Big Project ME about the HVAC manufacturer and supplier’s sustainability achievements and contribution to regional efforts to combat climate change
In the wake of COP27, which was held in Egypt from November 6 to November 20, 2022, global organisations and governments have announced a raft of sustainabilitylinked measures and initiatives. With the built environment responsible for generating 40% of annual global
CO2 emissions, the sector has been proactive in pushing for more effective, productive, and intelligent ways of operation and maintenance across the entire lifecycle of a building.
Given their consumption of electricity and the fluorocarbons used as refrigerants,
HVAC systems are a major contributor towards global warming, particularly in rapidly developing economies, where the growing demand for air conditioning is likely to have an increasingly severe effect on climate change.
Therefore, as a major player in the global HVAC space, Daikin has pledged to alleviate the effect its products have on climate change, and to provide energy-efficient solutions that will not only reduce emissions, but also help it to recover, recycle, and destroy fluorocarbons during all stages, from production through to final product disposal.
To find out more, Big Project ME spoke to Paras Adhvaryu, Applied Business general manager at Daikin Middle East and Africa.
What are the challenges and opportunities in the regional HVAC market? Across the UAE, GCC and broader Middle East, traditionally the HVAC growth has been driven by the harsh climatic conditions coupled with increasing no of high rise, glass façade buildings are driving growing demand for cooling solutions.
At the same time, regional governments have set ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions and reach net zero in the coming decades. To achieve these challenging targets, it is vital that buildings, which are the source of 27% of all carbon emissions, become increasingly energy efficient. At Daikin,
our sustainability target is to reach net zero by 2050, in line with the UAE’s target as well. So, our energy-efficient HVAC systems are designed to ensure energy efficient building with excellent IAQ.
With high-level government strategies supporting the development of greener, more sustainable buildings, we now need government policies to promote the spread of energy-efficient air conditioners. We have been meeting with government officials in both UAE and Saudi Arabia to support these policy developments in support of more sustainable cities.
What is Daikin’s roadmap for the next five years in the region? Daikin Middle East & Africa has already been developing and promoting a solution approach instead of just a product sales approach in the region. This is evident in all our solution offerings across different verticals: Modular Chiller plants, Pump Skids, Turnkey Refrigeration projects, Factory Mounted controls in AHUs, Various IAQ solutions, Cloud Services and other IoT solutions to better serve our customer needs.
At the same time, we had already embarked on an aggressive localisation drive for past three years. Besides expanding our offices in UAE and Saudi Arabia, we have established Daikin’s direct presence in Egypt, Qatar, Nigeria, and Morocco.
The localisation has not only been limited to Sales and Service presence, but we have also increased our manufacturing footprint by establishing a 10,000 square metre factory in Saudi Arabia, in addition to our existing Dubai factory. This localisation drive will continue across other regions of Middle East and Africa ensuring that best solution and service reaches our customers and end users.
What are some of the sustainable practices adopted by Daikin in the Middle East and Africa? We strive to reduce the environmental footprint of our products. In fact, we are working to reduce the environmental footprint of our products and activities across the entire value chain as we work toward achieving net zero by 2050.
Our core sustainability practice is to aggressively promote energy efficient HVAC technology utilising inverters in chillers, DX and VRV, as well as EC fans for AHUs and FCUs. Our CSR department is also actively working with various government environment and energy regulatory bodies in order to support them in formulating standards and labelling programs.
As an extension of our Global initiative to reduce GHG and minimise our carbon footprint, we have established local manufacturing facilities in UAE and Saudi Arabia. The supply chain has also been designed to maximise the utilisation of our local vendor network and reduce imports from outside the country.
We have introduced products with low GWP refrigerants like R32 & R1234ze. We are also working towards promoting heat pump heating solutions to replace traditional fossil fuel or electric heating to contribute towards decarbonisation.
In fact, our sustainability practice has started from our own headquarters and AHU factory building in Jebel Ali. Daikin and Yellow Door Energy together commissioned a 515 kilowatt-peak (kWp) solar plant this year which is expected to generate 826,000 kilowatthours of clean electricity in the first year of operation. Close to 1,000 solar panels have been installed on the roof of Daikin’s facility, meeting more than 80% of the energy consumption needs.
Value Partnerships
Daikin works in partnership with universities, researchers and other stakeholders to develop new solutions, says Adhvaryu.
Sustainable practice
Daikin has partnered with Yellow Door Energy to power its regional HQ with solar energy.
2050
This is in line with our Environmental Vision 2050 and supports the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative and Clean Energy Strategy.
What are some of the CSR activities carried out in this region by Daikin? We have a dedicated department for CSR, and we are committed to creating value for people, cities, and the earth. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact in support of the urgent climate action needed to mitigate the effects of climate change. We are working to deliver energy-efficient solutions that support sustainable cities. And we support a healthy lifestyle in support of economic productivity and advancement.
In line with these efforts, we pursue partnerships that can help create value for societies. We work with universities, researchers, and other stakeholders to develop new solutions to improve the quality of life. In partnership with ETIWA TECH LTD/GTE, we have established our first training centre in Nigeria with the aim of expanding our expertise and know-how to further build the skills and knowledge in the growing African market. We consider that building a generation of well-equipped technicians and installers in Nigeria is an essential step towards transforming our environment into a cleaner and more sustainable space for our customers.
How is Daikin contributing towards the UAE’s smart city ambitions and its overall sustainability vision? We plan to achieve a 30% reduction in net greenhouse gases by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2050. As of 2021, we achieved a 10% reduction rate of net greenhouse gases, demonstrating that we are on track to achieve our targets.
In support of the UAE’s decarbonisation efforts, we have just launched a new solar plant to power our regional Dubai-based headquarters, additionally, we have opened a new Smart Excellent Centre at our Dubai headquarters.
This is a Remote Monitoring Centre for our smart HVAC equipment across the country. Our AHU factories also offer Smart AHUs with factory programmed and installed control systems.
