MCAST and iAS to collaborate
On Thursday 31 August 2017 MCAST and iAS signed a collaborative agreement which will strengthen the existing good relationship between the local Construction Industry and MCAST. The agreement was signed at MCAST, Paola.

iAS is a leading design, civil engineering and project management services firm with extensive industry experience in the construction sector in Malta and abroad.
This partnership will contribute significantly to address the labour supply and skill sets needs of the Construction Industry as well as address the skills gap within the workforce employed in this important sector.
The parties shall collaborate to identify the direction of the development of the Construction Industry in Malta, to strategize and address the developing skill set needs expected of this developing Construction Industry; to assist in the development of an updated training programme that addresses the skills gaps identified within the Construction Industry, to assist in offering MCAST students apprenticeship opportunities within the sector and to assist in developing guidance proposals to motivate students to consider a career in the Construction Industry.
The official signing of the MoU was signed by Dr Silvio De Bono, President MCAST Board of Governors and Perit Peter Zammit, iAS Managing Director.
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November 27, 2017/by Matthew BorgShear Wall Design
Shear Wall Design
In the design of no-sway frame structures, reinforced concrete shear walls are frequently used to resist horizontal loads and seismic activity. These elements usually have a functional purpose which can be in the form of shafts for service cores, facade elements, containment for vertical transportation and other uses.

At the initial stages of design, the architect should aim to keep the position of a shear wall or group of walls symmetrical along the building axes to avoid excessive torsional forces. From the overall building analysis, a combination of lateral, vertical and torsional forces is then transferred the shear walls or cores in order to start with the element design.
There are various methods to carry out the design of shear walls:
1. Hand Calculations – This is the most laborious procedure where an elastic analysis would require computation of the shear wall cross-sectional properties. Design iterations would require all the computations to start from scratch thus resulting in a lengthy value engineering process;
2. Spreadsheets – Spreadsheet packages such as Microsoft Excel can be programmed to carry out the design of shear walls. The following is a typical structure for such a spreadsheet:
- Sheet 1: Lateral Loads are computed;
- Sheet 2: Dimensions of all individual wall elements of a core and their centroid distance from a fixed point are stored here;
- Sheet 3: The cross sectional properties of the shear core such as: Cross-sectional area, Second moment of Inertia, Torsional Constant, etc are calculated;
- Sheet 4: Stresses are computed from first principles using standard design equations.
In a properly organised spreadsheet, changes in design will involve re-computation of loadings and changes in the dimensions of wall elements. All possible configurations can be analysed using this system.

Recent Entries
Pinto Business Centre
November 3, 2020/by Matthew BorgFocus on our staff members – Zach Rizzo
October 20, 2020/by Matthew BorgThe Mellieha Holiday Centre
October 8, 2020/by Matthew BorgThe importance of scheduling on construction projects
September 15, 2020/by Matthew BorgArchivisit Day 4 – 05 July 2019
July 11, 2019/by Matthew BorgArchivisit Day 3 – 04 July 2019
July 10, 2019/by Matthew BorgArchivisit Day 2 – 03 July 2019
July 9, 2019/by Matthew BorgArchivisit Day 1 – 02 July 2019
July 9, 2019/by Matthew BorgThe second edition of Archivist – a joint collaboration between iAS and SACES
July 8, 2019/by Matthew BorgArchivist to London
July 1, 2019/by Matthew BorgCommitment vs Contractual Obligations
December 5, 2017/by Matthew BorgPrecast column anchoring systems
November 27, 2017/by Matthew BorgWhere to find us
iAS Ltd
Level 4, Cobalt house, Notabile Road
Mriehel BKR3000 – MALTA
T (+356) 2149 9374
E info@ias.com.mt
Our Office Hours
Mon-Fri: 8:30-17:00