Reported by Mr. Chong Chien Jin and Ms. Leong Lai
Ying
A group of
approximately 20 engineers from various companies were given the
opportunity to visit Securities Commission (SC) on 27th
September 2003. For those who entered the SC Headquarter Building
for the first time, many were caught by surprise of the Sodium
Vapour lamps that were used at the basement car park, which gave
better illuminance per wattage. Generally, this means that the
car park uses less power.
From the lobby, we
were taken to the dialogue room by En Zainal Fithri, the officer
in-charge. Primetech Engineers Sdn Bhd design engineer, Mr T.L.
Chen gave a slide presentation before the group was taken on a
tour to admire the energy efficient system inside the building.
This building won multiple awards namely PAM 2000 Award in
Commercial Building Category, ACEM Engineering Award 2000 in
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Category and ASEAN Energy
Award 2001 in New and Existing Building.
For
those who still wonder about the function of SC after the visit,
we managed to obtain a brief history about SC. The SC was
established on 1 March 1993. SC is a statutory body entrusted
with the responsibility of regulating and systematically
developing the Malaysia's capital markets. It is also responsible
to supervise and monitor activities of market institutions and
regulating all persons licensed under the Securities Industry Act
(SIA) 1983 and the Futures Industry Act (FIA) 1993.
Since the group was
divided into 4 smaller groups and each group was lead to different
locations. Our first stop was the AHU system and the catwalk at
the atrium. One unique feature of the AHU system in SC is that at
the primary area, most of the air supply diffusers are on the
ground. As explained by Mr. Chen earlier, this method of
installation is actually more effective as the cooling area is
necessary only at the nominal human height and not the whole
height of the floor. We were also told that cooled air from the
primary area is circulated to the secondary area first before
being exhaust out as an additional effort to conserve energy. At
the top of the atrium, smoke control system and thermostat
controlled fans are used to disperse the hot air collected.
Another interesting item is the auto-roll filter for the AHU air
intake whereby a light source is used to penetrate the filter.
Once the light penetration is low, the filter rolls to the cleaner
section automatically.
From the atrium, we
walked to the ground floor of VVIP room. Here, we were briefed by
Mr Sri Kanda Rajah of Nexaldes Sdn Bhd on the centralize shredder
and vacuum system in SC. There are a total of approximately 400
vacuum points in the whole building. These vacuum points were
connected to three pumps that are located at the basement of the
building. This does not only minimize the noise when the cleaners
are doing their job, it is also cleaner as all the dust and
particles are all directly sucked to the basement. Mr. Rajah also
demonstrated to us how the shredder machine works. It was eye
opening to us as the shredded papers were sucked from the point of
shredding to the central collection point in the basement via a
mere 50mm diameter uPVC duct. After that, we were brought down to
the building basement where all the vacuum pumps and also shredder
central collection are located. SC played their part of an
environmentalist as well. All the shredded paper were
automatically collected and packed into a plastic bag for
recycling.
Our next stop is the
heart of the building - Building Control Management Room. As the
BMS system was set up in 1999, the technology used here is
definitely not the most sophisticated in the market today.
Nevertheless, it serves its purpose of bringing the controls of
all the services in the building to one monitoring system. The BMS
monitors and controls the core of the SC services like the
computer servers, securities to trivial matters like the automatic
roller blinds at the windows. To demonstrate the efficiency and
the reach of the system, the operators of the BMS switched on and
off the lights in the service room via telephone using the
integrated Building Control Management System.
Last but not least,
we were introduced to the raised floor panels that consist of
fully flexible A/C diffuser, underfloor trunking system for IT and
power points, shredder and vacuum system. SC has set up a display
of the raised floor panel in the library. 6 pieces of the panels
were replaced by see through glass for easy viewing.
The tour was
beneficial and enlightening. As it was noted during this tour,
energy saving buildings does not fully rely on the engineering
side only. The whole designing team, especially the architect,
play an important role in making it a success. Hopefully more
building will be built with this in mind.
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