The British University in Dubai (BUiD) officially opened its 40,000-square-foot campus recently under the patronage of Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, and BUiD's chairman, last week. The campus is among the country's "green" campuses, which boast energy-efficient lighting, cooling, partitioning and flooring.
The new facility can hold classes for around 350 students simultaneously, said Professor Bassam Abdul Karim Abu Hijleh, head of sustainable design at BUiD.
Situated in block 11 at Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), BUiD has always enjoyed greener surroundings, Abu Hijleh notes. "The distinction about DIAC's phase three is that [it] is LEED silver — which means it is acknowledged as having sustainable features," he added.
DIAC's phase-3 is made up of blocks 9, 10, 11 and 12 and incorporates environment-friendly and energy-saving features.
"Our new campus only allowed us to make the necessary green changes to the interior of the building, so we worked with what we had. But well-thought changes go a long way, not just from an environmentally-conscious perspective, but also from a social and cost perspective," Abu Hijleh said.
BUiD has maximised the penetration of natural lighting within the building and used energy-efficient lighting throughout the building, improving the lighting quality, and reducing the cooling-load and electricity in comparison with the standard practice in artificial lighting generally used throughout the UAE.
To further reduce the cooling load, individual thermostats have been installed in all rooms within the BUiD campus, allowing staff to set the temperature control to their liking and to switch off the air conditioning when not in use.
Thermal and sound insulation was applied to improve comfort, reduce energy use and reduce noise levels between offices and classrooms.
BUiD used environmentally friendly flooring material throughout the building, which improves air quality and reduces bad odours, dirt accumulation, and germ build-up besides volatile organic compounds.
"With the right knowledge, minimal effort can do a lot towards providing a sustainable and green home or office environment that brings added benefits, such as lowered electricity and cooling charges," said Abu Hijleh.
In addition to the environmentally friendly implementations, BUiD also used a lot of glass in the building design to give a greater feeling of space and inclusion, and created a dedicated student area to facilitate academic life for its students.
Expanding course offerings
With new programmes in the pipeline, including the recent announcement of a doctoral programme and a master's degree in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution, BUiD's relocation will allow for more room for growth said Vice-Chancellor Professor Abdullah Al Shamsi.
"An increased number of professionals based in the UAE and surrounding countries are looking at higher education to meet their career goals," he said.
At the new campus, BUiD also plans to extend its library, increase classroom capacity, and add more open-access space and staff offices.
DIAC hosts over 23 per cent of foreign higher education institutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and 50 per cent of higher education providers in the UAE.
These figures are according to the Unesco figures guide to universities in Arab countries, Dr Ayoub Kazim, executive director of DIAC, said during the inaugural ceremony.
