The\nnew campus of the University of Macau (UM), with more than 80 buildings, covers\napproximately one square kilometre, which is about one thirtieth the size of\nMacao. The tight construction schedule and the technical complexity of the\nconstruction works have presented an extraordinary challenge for the\nuniversity. What preparations and follow-up work does UM need to do to make\nsure the relocation can be completed in a smooth manner with minimum negative\nimpact on teaching and research activities? This issue of umagazine <\/i>has\nthe latest.<\/p>\n\n
1. Environmental Protection and Cooling Systems<\/b><\/p>\n\n
The water recycling system, natural gas system and\nsolar water heating system on the new campus will constitute the largest\nenvironmental protection system Macao has ever seen. In a complete departure\nfrom the traditional way of installing a separate air conditioning system in\neach building, the new campus uses a large underground district cooling system,\nwhich has added to the complexity of the new campus project.<\/p>\n\n
2. Three Connections and One Levelling<\/b><\/p>\n\n
The fact that the \u201cthree connections\u201d (water,\nelectricity and roads) follow Macao standards has added to the difficulty of\nconstruction. \u201cOne levelling\u201d refers to the land levelling works conducted\nduring the early stage of the new campus project. It took the better part of a\nyear to level a piece of 5-million-m2<\/sup> land and to build it up by\nthree metres to make sure the new campus has a solid foundation.<\/p>\n\n 3. Large Underground Structures<\/b><\/p>\n\n The combined building area of the underground parking\nand cooling system on the new campus is 110,000m2<\/sup> (approximately the\nsize of 11 standard football fields). The complex soil condition of the new\ncampus site has significantly added to the difficulty of the new campus\nproject.<\/p>\n\n 4. Astounding Numbers of Drawings and Piles<\/b><\/p>\n\n The new campus project involves more than 100,000\ndesign drawings, the review of which required a large number of architects and\nengineers. And because new campus buildings are mostly built on soft subsoil,\nmore than 24,500 reinforced concrete piles, with a combined length of over 1\nmillion metres and involving approximately 150,000 tons of reinforced concrete,\nwere used to strengthen the soft subsoil foundation.<\/p>\n\n 5. The Largest Campus Network<\/b><\/p>\n\n The two central data centres on the new campus will\nhave more than 500 network lines and 300 optical fibre cables, forming the\nlargest campus network in Macao. UM has successfully converted physical servers\ninto virtual machines for most IT systems, which means that systems and data\ncan be transmitted to the new campus through data replication, thus\nsignificantly reducing the time of service interruption as well as the risk of\ndata loss from moving physical hardware.<\/p>\n\n 6. Purchase of Over 100,000 Pieces of Furniture<\/b><\/p>\n\n Before the new campus can start operation, UM needs to\npurchase more than 100,000 pieces of furniture and sports facilities as well as\nto invite tenders for outsourcing services. In the meantime, 8 residential\ncolleges, 5 residential college dining halls, 5 restaurants and 10 shops need to\nbe established.<\/p>\n\n 7. Biggest Book Relocation Project in Macao\u2019s\nHistory<\/b><\/p>\n\n The current UM Library houses approximately 500,000\ncopies of catalogued books, 150,000 copies of non-catalogued books, and\ninnumerable journals and old newspapers, which would translate into\napproximately 40,000 boxes of items to move. It will be the biggest book\nrelocation project in Macao\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n 8. Relocation of Over 110 Labs<\/b><\/p>\n\n There are more than 110 laboratories on the current\ncampus, among which 60 or so high-tech and biomedical laboratories contain more\nthan 6,800 precision instruments. This and the fact that wet labs house large\namounts of chemicals and hazardous substance also add to the difficulty of the\nrelocation.<\/p>\n\n 9. Lots\nof Follow-up Work<\/b><\/p>\n\n A lot of follow-up work needs to be done after the\ncompletion of the construction, including outfitting laboratories, lobbies of\nthe various buildings, restaurants and kitchens; installation and testing of\ncampus computer networks and information equipment; installation of WiFi\nnetwork, telephone system, water, electricity and natural gas metres;\ninstallation of audio-video systems and 1,500 split-type air conditioners in\nclassrooms and meeting rooms; installation of kitchen cabinets and cookers in\nmore than 400 residential units; transportation, medical, security and cleaning\narrangements; as well as quality inspection for more than 80 buildings.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n\n Relocation to the new campus is a huge, unprecedented\nundertaking, not just for UM, but for Macao as well. In addition to the\nabove-mentioned items, UM also needs to move approximately 2,500 computers, 8\nmajor academic units, approximately 10,000 students and staff, more than 1,500\ndormitory students, approximately 15,000 boxes of belongings of the dormitory\nstudents, and 60 staff dormitories. UM is making meticulous planning and\npreparation for the relocation, and has established relevant contingency plans.\nNumerous Town Hall Meetings have also been held to involve staff and students\nin the preparation for the relocation. According to the latest relocation plan,\nUM will move to the new campus in stages in the 2013\/2014 academic year.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The new campus of the University of Macau (UM), wi…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n