A sustainable and holistic approach to maintaining complex technologies

Advances in basic research and technological development are closely linked. With the help of state-of-the-art measurement and analysis technologies, science and engineering are forging ahead into ever smaller and faster subatomic domains. Their laboratories contain infrastructure with highly sensitive sensor systems, highly complex technologies and highly connected digital networks. This is clear to see in some of the larger Hönggerberg campus facilities, such as the FIRST cleanroom laboratory for micro- and nanoscience or the high-tech research platforms in the soon-to-be-built HPQ physics building (cf. ETH press release of 25 November 2020).

Laboratory technology and teaching and research infrastructures are placing high – and continuously growing – demands on building services, building automation and energy supply. For example, certain rooms used for experiments must be kept insulated from interfering external influences, while others have to be held at very specific extremely low or stable temperatures. To make best use all this research equipment, it is often no longer enough to consider the individual technical installations separately. Ventilation, heating, cooling, heat pumps, building automation and similar structures are forming ever more comprehensive, interrelated technical systems that are connected via digital information and control technologies, such as the BACnet Building Automation and Control Network and building information modelling (BIM). This trend is also encouraging infrastructure experts to plan, control and maintain the building services as an integral unit. Since not only the research infrastructure but also buildings themselves are becoming much more complex as a result of building automation and new energy systems, this option is gaining in importance throughout ETH.

Responsibility for the entire life cycle

“Top-class research needs first-class infrastructure. And this also applies to laboratory, building and energy technology,” explains Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President for Infrastructure. “On account of their complexity, however, the technical systems can no longer be controlled in isolation from a product or building point of view. Controlling them requires a holistic viewpoint and integral maintenance with an engineering and services perspective.”

To this end, Weidmann and the department heads in the Executive Board Domain for Infrastructure (VPIN) founded the Engineering and Systems department. On 1 January 2022, the new administrative department will launch as an ETH-wide service centre for all technical and engineering questions related to building service systems, energy supply and laboratory and workshop technology. Another part of its remit will be the technical aspects of campus sustainability and CO₂ reduction (keywords: net-zero campus, renewable energy).

As well as providing technical support to researchers and lecturers, Engineering and Systems will assume overall responsibility for the technical systems and infrastructures at ETH Zurich. This will extend over their entire life cycle, from the design and planning stages to procurement, implementation, maintenance and consulting, all the way through to extending, renovating and replacing. Another part of the new administrative department is the Workshop Platform, which is a central contact and coordination point for all issues relating to workshops (cf. Internal news, 19 August 2021). The platform provides specific services across academic departments in the fields of engineering and order placement, and it develops strategies, guidelines and standards for ETH workshops. In addition, it monitors technical trends, legislation and market developments, particularly in the domain of workshop digitalisation.

So that the technical systems can be looked after by a single entity, some 45 experts are being assembled from Building Management Information Systems (GMIS) (FM), Key and Lock Management, Building Services, Building Automation, Energy and Workshops. Spread today over the three administrative departments of Real Estate Management, Facility Management and Services, these areas are being consolidated into one structure. At the beginning, no jobs will be either created or cut.

In the medium term, additional know-how will probably be needed in the fields of laboratory technology and digitalisation. “We want to use more artificial intelligence in the future. An initial pilot was very promising. Intelligent control of energy consumption, for example, could enable us to take a big step forward in reducing our carbon emissions,” Weidmann says, looking to the future.

Developing a more distinctive identity and strengthening collaboration

Engineering and Systems is being created as part of the ongoing cross-departmental “VPIN 22” project: in response to technological developments, the roles and interfaces of the administrative departments in the Infrastructure domain (VPIN) are being reviewed, the departments are being given more clearly defined identities and the responsibility for technical systems is being reorganised.

The departments formerly called Facility Management and Services will be focusing even more strongly on campus services on site. From now on, “Campus Services” (formerly “Services”) will provide almost continuous on-demand services on site (e.g. mobility, campus info, events, etc.). The focus of Facility Services (formerly “Facility Management”) will be on building-related services (e.g. maintenance, supply of utilities, waste disposal, caretakers, cleaning, Info and Service Centres (ISCs), etc.). The vacancies at the helms of the two departments were filled on this basis. In the final phase of reorganisation, new processes will be defined for cross-organisational tasks with the goal of capturing cross-departmental synergies.