Centre for Urbanization, Buildings and Environment Facility at IIT Madras Research Park inaugurated by Shri S. Krishnan, Principal Secretary, GoTN
Chennai: A new facility for the Centre for Urbanization, Buildings and Environment [CUBE] was inaugurated by Shri. S Krishnan, Principal Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, on 27th February 2019at IIT Madras Research Park [IITMRP]. The ceremony was conducted in the presence of Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, several dignitaries from Government of Tamil Nadu and prominent faculty members of IIT Madras.
Established in May 2017 as a Centre of Excellence of the Government of Tamil Nadu in collaboration with IIT Madras, CUBE has raised with a seeding fund of Rs 10 crore with contributions from CMDA, TNHB, TNPCB and MAWS.
CUBE is a unique organization which brings together the research and technological strengths of IIT Madras, facilitation and support from the Government, and practical experience and innovations of a dedicated set of experts in various domains. CUBE extends its services under four verticals, namely, Building and Construction, Environment and Sustainability, Smart Cities and Urban Planning and Transportation.
Within a short span of 20 months of establishment, the Centre has blossomed into a reputed ‘Applied Engineering, Technology and Consultancy Centre’, taking on challenging assignments and stamping its presence effectively in the ecosystem as an enabler in its domains.
On this occasion, Mr. S Krishnan. Principal Secretary to GoTN wished CUBE greater success in the years to come.
Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi said, “CUBE takes a holistic approach to solving the myriad challenges of the built environments and is fast emerging as the go-to place for sustainable and cost-effective technology-driven, solutions that address these challenges effectively.”
Major General L. Padmanaban (Retired), CEO of CUBE, reiterated that CUBE will continue to seek challenging assignments and establish itself as a provider of tailor-made, reliable and cutting-edge solutions and services in its domain to various stake-holders in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere across the country.
Some of the key projects that CUBE is currently working on include, ‘Developing Resilience Scenarios and Strategies through Participatory Simulations – Integrated Urban Governance in Chennai for TNSLURB,’ ‘Assessment of Residual life of Pavement for parts of NH 44 & NH 38 for NHAI,’ ‘Third Party Quality Assurance & Quality Control Services for Complete Building and Infrastructure Projects at Amravati Green Capital City for APCRDA,’ ‘Documentation of Heritage Buildings for CMDA”, “Study for Improving Road Linkage between ECR and OMR for CMDA,’ ‘Village Improvement Projects for CSR assignment of CPCL’ and pioneering projects such as ‘Development of modular, pre-engineered Plastic Roads [Recycled]’ and ‘Monitoring of Air Quality at Granular Levels at Chennai,’ which are first of their kind in the country.
CUBE has also established a state-of-art Environment Laboratory (CEL) which will commence operations from March 2019 providing testing and analytical services for Water, Waste Water and Solid Waste.
The Centre is working with GoTN departments including CMDA, TNIFMC, TNSCB, TNSLURB, SPC, DRDA, PWD, TNRIDC, TNHD, TNHR&CE, IWMA, TANSIDCO, TMC and others on several projects. Beyond Tamil Nadu, CUBE has established its national footprint and is working with NHAI, ISRO, APCRDA, Govt of Odisha, Administration of Daman & Diu and ILCE Mumbai. CUBE has signed MoUs with IWMA,CII and RATHINAM Tech Zone to implement beneficial and environment friendly technologies for member industries.
With many achievements and associations as well as several challenging assignments already under its belt, CUBE is slated to become a leading CoE for translating new technologies rapidly from the lab to the field, in the area of the built environment.