Building in Sustainability
Our Edinburgh campus
Our Edinburgh campus building stock has grown in recent years, and with it our ability to feature modern, energy efficient design and renewable energy generation. Our award-winning Global Research Innovation and Discovery (GRID) building was designed with a passive approach to sustainability and energy efficiency, achieving a BREEAM Excellent status and commendation at the Scottish Design Awards. You can take a tour of the GRID building.
The National Robotarium building's innovative design maintains a focus on sustainability and energy efficiency. In winter the recycling of warm air will be maximised to limit heating demands, while an ecological zone will integrate sustainable urban drainage systems with surrounding natural water features. A substantial 100kW rooftop solar PV array helps with meeting the building's energy requirements, with any remaining electricity supplied by the National Grid purchased via a renewable energy tariff. This is the case for the whole campus. Read more about the National Robotarium's building construction.
Our Scottish Borders campus
Co-located with Borders College, our Scottish Borders campus benefits from a state of the art sewage heat recovery system, the first of its kind in the UK. This provides a low carbon heat source using residual heat in the town's sewerage system, which runs adjacent to the site. Low ambient heat from the sewer is converted into usable heat in our buildings via a heat pump system, enabling a higher efficiency than air source heat pumps could provide, particularly in an area with regular spells of cold, damp weather.
Our Orkney campus
ICIT sits on a 3.75 acre campus that has seen refurbishment, modernisation and extension of former school buildings to create an efficient, modern campus.
Our Dubai campus
Awarded Gold status by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the most widely used green building rating system in the world, our campus provides the ideal environment in which to thrive. A holistic approach has been taken in designing a campus that takes into account sustainability considerations and user experience, health and wellbeing. Our equipment and appliances are designed to optimise energy performance.
From kitchen appliances to industrial equipment, the vast majority (94%) of electrical equipment is ENERGY STAR rated. Almost all (98%) of campus lighting is connected to occupancy sensors and 63% connected to daylight sensors, resulting in a 34% reduction in lighting power consumption compared to ASHRAE/IESNA baseline consumption levels.
All of the campus lighting is provided by energy-efficient LED bulbs. HVAC Zoning with smart controls – we minimise energy consumption by using HVAC equipment with smart demand-controlled ventilation. By using demand-controlled ventilation initiated by CO2 sensors, ventilation needs automatically adjust to occupancy levels. This helps in avoiding unnecessary energy wastage from the HVAC system and ensures the system works only on demand, and turns off when no-one is present.
Our Malaysia campus
Our Malaysia campus was developed as a sustainability exemplar and holds certification under Malaysia's Green Building Index scheme, recognising sustainable design features including the campus' green roof and measures to benefit from solar shading and to use rainwater within the building. An energy transformation team based at the campus is leading the development and implementation of a range of high impact energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. In the 2021 Putrajaya Council Green Initiatives Recognition scheme, the Malaysia Campus won a first place award for water saving and a second place award for electricity saving.