Team

Lead Perit/i: Perit Alex Torpiano

Architectural Design: Perit Alex Torpiano

Planning Consulting: Perit Alex Torpiano

Geotechnical Engineering: Perit Adrian Mifsud

Structural Engineering: Andrew Pillow, Kyle Vella, Luke Farrugia, Adam Micallef, Perit Nathan Vella, Perit Ramon Fenech, Perit Anton Muscat Xerri, Perit Jean Paul Vella

Drafting: Daniel Borg, Fernando Dingli, Roland Sultana

The Sustainable Living Complex (SLC) in Msida represents a bold reimagining of how engineering innovation can shape Malta’s future built environment.

Conceived as a landmark for interdisciplinary collaboration, SLC integrates advanced structural systems, sustainable strategies, and cutting-edge research facilities into a cohesive whole, setting a national benchmark for resource-efficient, high-performance buildings.

Strategically positioned along the University Ring Road, SLC is more than an academic facility: it is a living demonstration of how engineering can advance resilience, sustainability, and civic benefit. The project delivers state-of-the-art research laboratories, workshops, and teaching spaces while serving as a testbed for innovative technologies in resource efficiency, aviation, aerospace, and maritime studies. By embedding engineering innovation into its very fabric, SLC becomes both an infrastructure for knowledge creation and a civic asset that enhances the quality of life on campus and beyond.

The project confronted significant technical challenges posed by its location and architectural ambition. Solutions included:

• A hybrid foundation system that navigated existing service tunnels and stabilised adjacent infrastructure through contiguous piled retaining walls.
• A steel transfer structure with inclined columns, engineered to distribute complex loads and accommodate the building’s unique geometry & layouts.
• Diagrid nodes and monumental staircases, requiring bespoke three-dimensional modelling and finite element analysis to ensure precision, safety, and resilience under seismic and wind loads.
• Complex steel-to-concrete interfaces, where innovative reinforcement strategies and advanced anchoring systems were developed to mitigate high stress concentrations and failure risks.

These interventions required not only technical mastery but also ingenuity, with each connection designed as a custom solution, pushing the limits of fabrication and construction techniques in Malta.

Beyond its technical achievements, SLC is a model of sustainability. The building integrates resource-monitoring systems, enabling live data collection to inform future policy-making on energy efficiency and sustainable development. Its design minimises material waste, optimises structural performance, and showcases best-practice approaches to sustainable construction. More importantly, it creates a high-quality, interdisciplinary research ecosystem, fostering collaboration that drives indigenous innovation across sectors critical to Malta’s future resilience.

SLC is not only a building but a national statement on the power of engineering to solve complex problems with civic purpose. By transforming a challenging site into a cutting-edge facility, it exemplifies technical rigour, contextual sensitivity, and long-term relevance. It enhances daily life for students, academics, and researchers, while setting a new benchmark for engineering-led projects in Malta.

Through its ingenuity, precision, and vision, the Sustainable Living Complex stands as a testament to engineering excellence, an innovation that redefines how Malta builds for resilience, sustainability and quality of life.

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Team

Lead Perit/i: Perit Dr Pierre Farrugia/EBD Solutions

Architectural Design: Perit Dr Pierre Farrugia/EBD Solutions

Structural Engineering: Perit Dr Pierre Farrugia/EBD Solutions

Building Systems Engineering: Ing Victor Bonello/Beenel Engineering Solutions

Peer Review: Buro Happold

3D Modelling: Perit Roderick Bugeja

3D Visualisation: Perit Zheni Kostova

Detailing & Drafting: Kyle Gatt

Contractor Site Management: Nigel Borg/GP Group

Project Management: Sapienza & Sullivan, Perit Andrew Sapienza

Site Coordination: Perit Roderick Bugeja

The Voco Bridge demonstrates how engineering ingenuity can transform urban circulation, delivering maximum impact with remarkable efficiency.

Commissioned as part of the Eden Leisure Group’s redevelopment of the Voco Hotel in St Julian’s, the bridge connects three distinct destinations: the Intercontinental Hotel pool deck, the Voco Hotel’s Level 4 public piazza and restaurant, and the public lift stop at Level 6. By resolving these complex multi-level connections in one seamless gesture, the bridge has become both a structural innovation and an urban landmark.

The structural form is a circular tubular steel truss, chosen for its ability to distribute forces efficiently while maintaining an elegant, lightweight appearance. The geometry allows the bridge to achieve both strength and slenderness, with tubular members that balance stiffness and transparency. The result is a structure that hovers gracefully within a dense urban setting, avoiding visual heaviness while delivering robust performance.

Innovation extended into construction. The entire steel superstructure was installed in just one day, a feat enabled by precision off-site fabrication and meticulous logistical planning in one of Malta’s busiest entertainment districts. The deck and stairs, executed in precast concrete, further accelerated assembly, ensuring high quality with minimal disruption to hotel and public operations.

Durability was integral to the design. The steelwork was hot-dip galvanised and coated to resist the harsh coastal environment. Glass balustrades with integrated LED lighting give the bridge a dual identity: rigorous structure by day, civic landmark by night.

Crucially, this innovation was achieved with extraordinary economy. The entire bridge was delivered for under €400,000, proving that advanced engineering can be both ambitious and cost-effective. In terms of value-for-money, the project represents a balance between structural and functional performance and budget discipline.

Functionally, the bridge has transformed circulation within the Voco and Intercontinental complexes, providing safe, universally accessible connections while enhancing the public realm. Guests, staff, and visitors move fluidly between different levels; the once-disjointed site is now reconciled in a single movement. This has strengthened not just the hotel operations but the wider urban fabric of St Julian’s.

The Voco Bridge embodies engineering innovation on multiple fronts:

• Form: a circular tubular truss, rarely applied in Malta.

• Method: one-day installation with precast integration.

• Durability: galvanised steel and robust finishes.

• Identity: a structure that is both functional and symbolic.

• Economy: delivered at a relatively low cost for its scale and complexity.

In combining structural elegance, sustainable construction, rapid delivery and civic contribution, the Voco Bridge sets a new benchmark for pedestrian infrastructure in Malta. It demonstrates that innovation is not measured by cost or scale, but by the intelligence of design and the value it creates for people and place.

Images © EBD Solutions

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