Ministers Foley and Ryan welcome progress on Schools Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme

Minister for Education Norma Foley and Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, 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 have been retrofitted, and an additional 15 schools are 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.