Network Central
Issue 23 - Sep 06

The designers of the new Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in the heart of KL were told to move away from the ‘big shed’ look and instead create something that was both visually and technically exceptional.

A convention centre is a highly complex facility, where even relatively small decisions made during design or construction, will have large consequences during the fury of dayto- day operations. From the high security necessary for visiting heads of state, to the crowd control required during a major consumer fair, the building must be designed with its uses in mind. The new Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, located at the heart of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) development precinct, used intelligent design and state of the art technology to make sure operations ran smoothly from the outset.

The KLCC was designed as a city within a city and with two of the world’s tallest buildings, the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, at its centre, the 40 hectare site is a
centre of gravity in the Malaysian capital. Apart from the office buildings the KLCC houses:
• Suria KLCC shopping centre
• PETROSAINS interactive science discovery centre
• Galeri PETRONAS
• Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS
• Asy-Syakirin Mosque
• Commercial property and service plants

The world class conference and exhibition centre will help complete the offering and this was reflected in the design brief, which required the centre to be
“complementary to the KLCC Precinct concept”, says Geoff Haywood, Director of Facilities, Convex Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. KLCC wants its ‘city’ to be convenient and self-contained, so it specified direct
underground access to office, transport and shopping centres and it wanted international visitors to be able to easily and safely find entertainment and shopping in close proximity.



The brief also specified a “departure from the usual ‘big shed’ design” of many convention centres, such as to include “panoramic views to reflect medical advice that the eye needs a change of focus and natural light to keep alert”, explains Haywood, who has been involved with the project from the outset. Further down the track, the natural light has been appreciated by visitors, despite providing Haywoood with challenges from a cooling and cleaning perspective. Even with a protective film over the glass, the air-conditioning units struggle with
the effects of the bright Malaysian sun. And one only needs to look at the façade to understand the associated cleaning problems.

Much of the project’s complexity came from the numerous types of facilities in the vicinity. There is a 600 room hotel, a medical centre, offices for event organisers’
staff, space for convention centre staff, kitchens, flexible and demountable exhibition halls, audio visual production rooms and much more that all needed to be networked into one integrated facility.



hurdles during construction
For the success of the project many construction hurdles needed to be overcome, explains Haywood. First of all, the narrow, boomerang shaped site left limited space for lay-down for batching plants, site sheds and other construction related facilities. This was compounded by traffic congestion in the city centre’s; surrounding roads and the project team found it difficult to find appropriate
office space within close proximity to the site, he adds. Changes in the scheduling occurred after the main contractor changed design from concrete to steel, as steel
subsequently become difficult to procure due to world shortage and price hikes. In addition, “working only a day shift added to construction time,” says Haywood.

A shortage of architects experienced with convention centre design compounded a “reluctance on occasion by the architect to put function before form”. However,
Haywood says the lack of understanding of the building function by the main contractor and project management was somewhat mitigated by the operator,
Convex, overseeing functional design of the building and reviewing all phases of drawing development, from concept and preliminary design through to detailed design and construction drawings.

built in technology
The Centre is a “huge network”, says Haywood, with IT and AV (audio visual systems) existing on the same network. There are also many other technical features that make this space stand out. A total of 19 servers support many applications, the security system and gateways. The VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system and network switches for voice and data and internal
LAN were all supplied by Cisco, which were installed by Getronics, who called it “the dream project”. The building was constructed using a “4 G backbone with
inter-floor fibre link” and there are approximately 12,000 available network connections and 4,000 connections active, plus a two megabite lease line for internet connection.



connected security
The centre also boasts an integrated building and security system. Some 280 PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) and fixed cameras installed around the building have a movement detection function to alert security staff of any suspicious activity. Haywood says this is more effective and cheaper than employing someone to sit in front of banks of monitors. There is central status monitoring and smart card access on all
doors, with a secure VIP entrance and additional monitoring of administration areas.

In the staff areas, access is controlled through biometric iris scanning, which has a higher accuracy rate than finger or thumbprint access and has the advantage of being contactless. A biometric reader was deployed because Haywood wanted to avoid the practice where staff members did not show up for work but sent a friend or member of their family in their place. This put the centre, and the individual,
at some risk, if the unofficial replacements were attempting to do a job that they were not qualified for. With a good quality and reliable iris scanner, these risks can be avoided.

Other parts of the building that have been integrated include the evacuation system, the central vacuum system, the medical suite and the AV production suites. The large plenary conference hall that holds up to 3000 has some of the most advanced tech support in the business. Six simultaneous interpretation suites operating through an infra red system, allow the stage language to be translated and broadcast back to delegates in the language of choice. Around 800 of the front seats are equipped with digital conference voting and interactive microphone systems. The conference audiovisual, sound and lighting systems, built-in rear projection facilities and screen are supported by a system of temporary cabling hatches and ducts that link all areas of the centre to facilitate the safe installation of temporary cabling.

the outcome
While some choices made during the design stage make the delivery of services much easier, some were not so successful. For example, the HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) standard kitchens use a “cook chill system”, where food is prepared in bulk and then rapidly chilled. Individual meals are plated cold, then just prior to serving, proper temperatures are accomplished with a rethermalisation process. The decision to install this equipment allows up to 2000 people to be served in a very short space of time. Other decisions have made operation troublesome. “Short-sighted consultants make controlling lights more difficult than it should be,” says Haywood.

For the project, Convex instituted a rigorous procedure for selecting “high performance teams” – training was spaced over a year and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument used for psychonometric testing. Haywood says that it had to overcome the existing mindset for working conditions. It has also set up its own training courses for dangerous work, like rigging, the benefit of which can be seen in lowered insurance premiums.

The investment seems to have paid off. In the first six months of operation, the
Centre delivered RM322 million (USD86 million, EUR70 million, GBP48 million) to
the economy of the city of Kuala Lumpur. It is a business managed and operated by
Haywood’s employer Convex Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a joint venture company between KLCC (Holdings) Bhd. and Ogden International Facilities Corporation Pty. Ltd, Australia, in a relationship that is similar to how a hotel management company works with hotel owners. Both parties are very glad of its initial success and recognise the important role the buildings facilities have on economic outcomes for their business and the city of Kuala Lumpur. RFP

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