KSA on track for second LEED-rated campus

[More Images]

RELATED ARTICLES: ABB to supply smart BCS for Princess Noura Uni | Largest LEED Platinum project in the world | The Heart of Europe beats green on The World

The world’s largest women-only university is undergoing a transformation to become the second green campus in Saudi Arabia.

The Riyadh-based Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University, which covers eight million square metres, will soon implement a new intelligent building control system and is also aiming to slash its energy usage.

If successful, PNU will be the second LEED-rated campus in Saudi Arabia after the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which gained a LEED platinum ranking earlier this year.

Story continues below

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

The leading power and automation technology group, ABB, have won a commission from from Saudi Oger to implement its KNX system in all buildings at the campus, which is located near King Khaled International Airport.

ABB’s technology will allow university facility managers to automatically and remotely control lighting and shading through one single interface, enabling significant reductions in energy usage.

In Pictures: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

“ABB is proud to be a part of the new campus for the Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University project, which will be one of the largest universities in the Middle East,” Ali Nazzal, a senior sales and operations manager for ABB told Arab News, adding that buildings that have implemented the ABB system have reported energy savings of up to 40 percent.

“We believe that Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University will further the drive for significant cost savings and a lower carbon footprint in the Kingdom’s construction sector and become a benchmark for other universities looking to establish green campuses of their own,” Nazzal added.

Once completed, the university campus will have approximately three million square metres of built-up area, including an administration building, a central library, conference centers, 15 academic faculty buildings, several laboratories, as well as a state-of-the-art 700-bed hospital.

Saudi Oger is one of the main contractors for the university, which aims to be one of the leading women educational institutions in the region.