Press release
Ministers Foley and Ryan highlight energy retrofit improvements made at Donegal school under Pathfinder Programme
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The Minister for Education Norma Foley and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan have welcomed the latest feedback from a Donegal school included in the School Energy Retrofit Pathfinder Programme in 2021.
St. Columba's Comprehensive School in Donegal was one of the projects included in the Pathfinder programme and the completed project has resulted in the building BER value improving from a C3 to a B1 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.
Minister Foley said:
“This is another positive School Energy Pathfinder project demonstrating a decarbonisation delivery approach using biomass heating combined with energy improvement works that maximised the existing embodied carbon in the school. Solutions developed at St Columba’s will play a vital role in facilitating the department achieving the 2030 and 2050 climate action energy targets.”
Minister Ryan said:
“The success of the Schools Pathfinder Programme is evident from the positive feedback from St. Columba's Comprehensive School. The schools selected for this initiative are benefiting in numerous ways by improving the energy efficiency of their buildings. The upgrades to these older and inefficient buildings are reducing schools’ energy use and greenhouse gas emissions and are contributing to our national energy and climate targets, and that’s not even mentioning the vastly improved learning environment and comfort levels for our students and teachers.”
Principal of St Columba’s Frances Boner said:
“The day I knew the project was definitely a success was the winter's day I heard one boy going up the corridor complaining to his friend that the school is wild warm now. Our school now looks like a new school and the community is delighted.
“The Pathfinder Project is almost effortless for schools as all the work is managed by the Department of Education, SEAI and their partner organisations. We are delighted to have been given the opportunity and look forward to the energy savings as we move to biomass heating.”
The Department of Education and Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland jointly funded the deep retrofit refurbishment at St. Columba’s Comprehensive under the Schools Energy Pathfinder Programme 2021-2022.
The pathfinder programme has retrofitted 41 schools across Ireland to date with work on an additional 9 schools added in 2021 underway. 2022 sees six additional schools undergoing deep retrofit 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.
The 2022 pathfinder is jointly funded with a €28 million budget from 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.
St Columba's Comprehensive is a post primary school with 386 students, located in Glenties, County Donegal.
The school has a floor area of 4588m², phase one which included the building fabric works was completed between July 2021 and November 2021with phase 2 which is the installation of a biomass heating system underway this summer.
The original flat roofed school building is a two storey, part single storey building constructed in 1966 with four extensions added in 1974, 1980, 1992, 1997, all constructed around the existing school building. An additional two storey pitched roof extension was completed in 2007.
Upon appointment the design team started 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 5.05 (m3/hr) /m2 was achieved for the main school block.
The design team lead by A.L Architects 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.
Preliminary discussions were held with Donegal County Council in relation to Part 5 Planning Exemption for the proposed external wall insulation and 4KWp solar panels.
The original 1966 school and the 1974, 80, 92 and 97 blocks are built in traditional cavity wall construction with a 50mm cavity with no insulation. The external walls were finished in a grey concrete outer brick. An exposed concrete framing was formed around the windows and reveals and crossed the cavity.
The 2006 extension was a cavity wall construction finished with a fairfaced forticrete block with a 60mm Polystyrene cavity insulation board.
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 overclad 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 flat roofs were built on an existing concrete slab that had been overclad in 2011 with 100mm of PIR board and PVC membrane, with a good u-value and in excellent condition no upgrade works were proposed.
The 2006 pitched roof is a prefinished metal panelled roof with 110mm thick insulation in excellent condition with no upgrade works proposed.
The existing windows are double glazed aluminium fitted in 2007 with a good U-value and in good condition.
All existing window cills were cut back to the existing wall line. The existing windows were removed and moved outwards past the concrete window framing by 50mm and re-strapped against the existing concrete reveal. The new external wall insulation was proprietary fitted against the window frame. An airtightness tape was fitted on the exposed face of the extended 50mm window frame and the face of the structural frame. Additionally, a secondary airtightness tape was fitted against the internal frame and structural frame. This was plastered over during the remedial works after the window had been refitted. The Thermal bridge to the reveal was reduced by the positioning of the insulation against the thermally broken window frame. The inclusion of the air tightness tape and a moisture resistant board to the internal reveals and window head has all helped improve the airtightness requirements.
The re-use of the windows saved €350,000.00 ex Vat.
The existing doors and external screens were replaced because their general condition and the air tightness report noted substantial air loss through all entrances and exits.
Following completion of the fabric upgrade works an airtightness test was carried out with a test result of 3.66 (m3/hr) /m2 achieved for the main school block. This was an improvement of 28%.
To meet the objectives of the Energy retrofit pathfinder programme for “deep retrofitting” of the school building and reduce carbon emissions, the existing 2 No. oil fired boilers and associated oil storage tanks were removed and have been replaced with a prefabricated containerised biomass wood pellet boiler solution. The wood pellet boiler acts as primary lead boiler providing over 90% of the annual heating demand. A new highly efficient gas fired boilers had been installed to assist and act as a backup in the event of downtime of the wood pellet boilers. The new installation 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 schools existing lighting scheme was reviewed but retained as this is a LED lamped scheme and already offers a very efficient installation.
The pathfinder programme targets a carbon dioxide emission reduction by 51%. It is estimated that this installation will achieve a reduction in the region of 90% versus the previous oil-fired system - a saving of 75 tonnes of CO2 per annum expelled into the atmosphere for this school. The wood pellet installation qualifies for the SEAI’s Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) tariff, consequently leading to significant savings on operating costs.
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 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 energy efficient retrofits of schools across Ireland. A deep energy retrofit programme for schools built prior to 2008 is due to 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 Summer Works and refurbishment projects.
The schools for the 2022 programme are:
Design teams are being appointed to each school, with deep energy efficiency works to commence from summer 2022. The upgrades target a Building Energy Rating of B, 50% energy efficiency improvement and 51% emissions reduction. The works typically involve 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 invitation 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 https://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 https://www.seai.ie/