Students from the Faculty of the Built Environment visited London for the first international SACES Archivisit, which included architectural and engineering presentations, construction site visits and a green infrastructure tour.
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The visit was co-ordinated by Mark Borg, an architect and senior project manager with a local leading design and project management firm, iAS, and visiting lecturer at the Faculty for the Built Environment. The Archivisit brought together Maltese professionals working in London with international firms Buro Happold, Morrisroe and Arup. The Malta Business Network also contributed to this visit by hosting the students to a green infrastructure trail with the participation of Landscape Architects practising in the UK.
Local structural engineer Giancarlo Torpiano, together with his colleagues at Arup, stressed the importance of striving for quality in the design process up to project execution. He challenged the students not to resort to software before attempting to understand the basic design and structural processes. A site visit at Brunel Building in Paddington followed.
The site visit at Battersea Power Station regeneration project was another inspiring experience for the students, with a special focus on the project management set-up and site logistics. The importance of communication and design management was highlighted during a presentation by Buro Happold’s engineering director.
Architect Maria Vella from Morrisroe design consulting firm exposed the students to the various structural methodologies which may still not be popular locally. Finally, architect Charles Saliba from the Malta Business Network hosted the students to a green infrastructure tour. Leading Landscape Architects from Cityscapes, Biotecture, Team London Bridge and Arup were brought in to introduce the concept of green infrastructure to the students, with live case studies exposed along the tour.
SACES president Alannah Xuereb and Mr Borg said: “The iAS-SACES collaboration will continue to develop as part of the iAS corporate social responsibility towards the educational development of students.”