ECIT Research Institute, QUB

This flagship research building for Queen’s University is situated in the Titanic Quarter. The Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), is a world class centre with a focus on strategic and industrial research projects. The building also provides hot housing and incubation facilities to encourage and support the establishment and development of new companies.

The building is three-storey steel-framed on piled foundations incorporating composite floor construction using permanent metal decking on the upper floors which lent itself to diaphragm ‘plate’ action, whilst precast hollow-core floor units were used in the ground floor construction being supported off tassel walls on a grid of ground beams. The roof was generally lightweight except for a concrete composite slab area where the client requested extra space for M&E services, in addition to the plant room. A sloping facade on one of the blocks is glazed to allow maximum light into the conference facilities, and the internal columns were also sloped to give a modern twist on the overall presentation.

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