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Ministers Foley and Ryan welcome progress on Schools Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD and Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan TD have welcomed the progress on the jointly funded Schools Energy Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme as evident from the feedback on Maryfield College, Dublin which is one of the pathfinder schools.

 

Maryfield College in Drumcondra was one of the projects included in the Pathfinder Programme and the completed project has resulted in the Building Energy Rating (BER) improving from a D to a B Energy Rating. This is improving the school’s energy performance with an expected building carbon emission reduction of up to 90% with the new biomass heating system.

 

Minister Foley said: “The learnings from this complex pathfinder school and the positive feedback is demonstrating the importance of the schools pathfinder. This project which was phased over 2 summers and others in the programme indicate that there is no one size fits all decarbonisation solution for the school sector and the pathfinder is providing valuable development information for a delivery strategy which will be founded on a solid evidence base that has proven the robustness and scalability of solutions within the schools’ sector.” 

 

Minister Ryan said: “The Schools Pathfinder programme continues to be highly successful in building expertise and testing retrofit and decarbonisation approaches in schools so that these approaches can be rolled out on a much larger scale to more schools across the country. The energy upgrades carried out to Maryfield College will deliver a reduction in energy use and deliver significant emission reductions along with making savings on energy costs for the school.”

 

The school building is a two storey, part single storey building with a floor area of 4880m², constructed in 1945 with four extensions added in 1962, 1982, 2004 & 2010, including a brick façade of the 1945 and 2004 blocks all constructed around the existing school building and based on the building techniques and approaches in use at the time of construction.

To address the complexity and scale of the works required, the need to maintain the school operationally and avoiding the need for decanting, the project was completed on a phased basis over two extended summer periods. Phase one included the replacement of the external windows and doors and was completed in September 2021 with phase 2 which included the complex fabric and mechanical and electrical energy services upgrades along with the installation of a biomass heating system completed this year.

 

The biomass system will be maintained and operated by an Energy Supply Company who will operate, maintain and fuel the system and sell heat to the schools under the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH). This is a government funded initiative designed to increase the energy generated from renewable sources in the heat sector.

 

School Principal Dr Maree O Rourke said: “Maryfield school community is grateful for our involvement in the Pathways project, which enabled us to contribute to climate change positively. As an environmentally conscious school with a green and blue flag, we now have an energy-efficient building which is aesthetically pleasing, warm and comfortable for staff and students.”

 

The Pathfinder is jointly funded by the Department of Education and Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Planning and Building Unit in the Department of Education with support from Limerick Clare ETB. To date 48 schools across Ireland retrofitted, an additional 15 schools currently at various stages of progress undergoing decarbonisation upgrades to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B with renewable heating systems.

 

Each school undergoes a comprehensive assessment to ensure that the measures are suitable for that school and will deliver value to both the school and learnings for the national retrofit programme

 

ENDS

 

Notes to Editors

Maryfield College is a post-primary school with students, located in Sion Hill Rd, Grace Park, Dublin.

It was one of the projects included in the Pathfinder Programme and the completed project has resulted in the building BER value improving from a D to a B Energy Rating. This will greatly improve the school’s energy performance with an expected building carbon emission reduction of approximately 90% with the new biomass heating system.

The school has a floor area of 4880m², phase one which included the replacement of the external windows and doors was completed in September 2021 and phase 2 which included the fabric upgrades and M&E upgrades with the installation of a biomass heating system recently completed.

The school building is a two storey, part single storey building constructed in 1945 with four extensions added in 1962, 1982, 2004 & 2010, all constructed around the existing school building.

Upon appointment the design team commenced a process of surveying the existing school building and investigating the building fabric and the M&E installation.

An air permeability pre-works test was carried out and a test result of 5.46 (m3/hr) /m2 was achieved for the main school block.

The design team lead by A.L Architects, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal developed a 3D model of the existing school building and updated this with proposed improvements from the base (existing school) with iterations of proposed energy improvements.

It was clear by all involved that the front brick façade of the 1945 and 2004 blocks needed to be retained. AL Architects subsequently applied for Planning Permission for the works including external wall insulation, solar panels and a new biomass heating centre.

The original 1945 school block has a solid concrete block wall with no cavity and a red facing brick. The first extension built in 1962 is constructed with an exposed concrete frame running horizontally and vertically around the window openings. The concrete structure passes from the external side to the internal face and was a cold bridge. The structure is infilled with a concrete block wall and red brick façade. No cavity existed.

The 1982 a single storey flat roof extension was built onto the northwest corner of the school measuring 661sq.m. It was constructed with an exposed 900mm deep structural ring beam running horizontally above the windows and supported by concrete columns. The concrete structure passes from the external side to the internal face and is a cold bridge. The structure is infilled with an internal concrete fair faced block wall and red brick façade. No cavity existed.

The 2004 extension was a cavity wall construction finished with red brick with a 50mm Polystyrene cavity insulation board.

 

External Fabric Upgrade

The existing 50mm empty cavities were pumped with bead insulation and 120mm EPS Insulation fitted to the external wall and finished with an adhesive and basecoat and Silikon top layer to a selected colour.  The existing pressed metal surround around selected windows was removed from the concrete framing and over clad with EPS insulation and finish to match the new render. Horizontal and Vertical Lamela Fire Stops 200mm wide by 120mm deep located at pre-determined locations.

The red brick façade to the original 1945 block which was identified as being retained resulted in the brick façade being coated with a brick sealer and an internal drylining solution was agreed following a WUFI analysis following an assessment of a number of proposals.

 

Windows and Doors

The existing windows were a mix of double glazed PVC, wooden frame single glazed and single glazed metal.

All existing windows and doors to the 1945, 1962 & 1892 blocks were replaced with a triple glazed aluminium frame system. We also propose installing an additional 30mm frame to allow for the return of the external insulation at the reveal of all new windows. Additional works included air tightness measures to improve the air permeability of the school.

 

Mechanical and Electrical Services

The two existing oil fired boilers and associated oil storage tanks were removed and have been replaced with a factory built containerised biomass wood pellet boiler solution. The wood pellet boiler acts as primary lead boiler providing over 90% of the annual heating demand supported by a highly efficient gas fired system to assist and act as a backup in the event of downtime of the wood pellet boilers. The new installation has been enhanced with a new heating network of high efficient radiators and  is controlled with a fully functioning building management system (BMS) with independent metering of the wood pellet system and LPG backup solution for energy usage monitoring & verification purposes. The entire system is demand driven meaning that when the desired set point is achieved in each area of the building, the BMS will ensure that the main boilers and pumps ramp down reducing energy usage.

The biomass system will be maintained and operated by an Energy Supply Company who will operate, maintain and fuel the system and sell heat to the schools under the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH). This is a government funded initiative designed to increase the energy generated from renewable sources in the heat sector.

The schools existing lighting scheme was reviewed but retained as this is a LED lamped scheme and already offers a very efficient installation.

 

The Department of Education is at the forefront of design with respect to sustainable energy in school buildings and this performance has been recognised at both national and international level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in design and specification.

Schools that are designed and built, in accordance with the Department’s schools’ technical guidance documents must achieve an A3 Building Energy Rating A3 and have typically up to 20% higher energy performance and 25% carbon performance than required by the current Building Regulations, along with 10% of primary energy provided via photovoltaics and infrastructure provision for electric vehicle charging.

All new technologies and approaches are tested to ensure compatibility with school design and operational requirements. Successful and repeatable results are then incorporated into all new school designs and refurbishments.

The Department’s technical guidance documents set the benchmark for sustainable design in school buildings with a clear focus on energy efficiency and they are based on solid energy research projects. The Department’s policy is supported by a strong research programme, with 53 research projects at various stages.

The Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland are involved in an energy efficient retrofit pathfinder scheme for schools since 2017. The longer-term outcome of the pathfinder will be to create an accurate and scalable model for decarbonisation of schools across Ireland for schools built prior to 2008 which will be rolled out as included in the National Development Plan.

The pathfinder programme builds on significant investment by the Department of Education in energy efficiency through the 2009/10 Cavity and Attic Insulation/Water Conservation Scheme and ongoing

The works typically involves the application of different design solutions and upgrades to the building fabric including wall and roof insulation, doors and windows, air tightness improvements, LED lighting and heating upgrades as well as renewable technologies.

The general principles and approach to school selection include schools meeting Energy Monitoring and Reporting requirements and demonstrating a strong and holistic commitment to energy management practices through participation in the Energy in Education Programme. The programme selection also seeks to enable various cross sections of school types and sizes, energy consumption profiles and different elements of construction type and heritage/ conservation requirements where specific learnings are being targeted. The pathfinder programme is thus delivered on broad assessment in line with the above considerations and not on an application basis.

SEAI and the Department of Education have also partnered for a number of years on a range of initiatives, collectively called ‘Energy in Education’, to support the improvement of energy efficiency in schools. There is a strong focus on the provision of practical guidance and direction to schools via the Energy in Education project.

The website www.energyineducation.ie provides a one stop shop designed to help school boards of management, principals, teachers, administrators, caretaking staff, pupils, parents, architects, engineers and contractors to improve energy use practice and reduce school operating costs along with helping to protect the environment for future generations. The project also provides energy management training for schools along with an energy assessment from a professional.

In addition, the SEAI schools’ programme works with schools, both students and teachers, to provide curriculum material around the energy retrofit, unlocking the educational benefit to these works. More information is available about the SEAI schools’ programme at www.seai.ie.