Council revamp cuts energy bills for 10,000 homes

A total of 9,186 social homes have been upgraded in a bid to reduce energy consumption, Dublin City Council has said. This has resulted in an estimated 677,184 MWh of energy savings, worth an estimated €73.6m saved in energy bills for tenants.

The retrofitting programme, which began in 2013, is being rolled out in two phases and is designed to reduce unnecessary energy consumption, greenhouse gasses and meet demands for non-renewable resources in the council’s housing stock.

Once complete, a stock of almost 12,000 Dublin City Council homes will be retrofitted with a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2. Phase one of the programme was completed in 2018 with more than 8,000 social homes upgraded and retrofitted.

This phase targeted insulating the cavity walls of Dublin City Council homes dating back to the 1970s, providing tenants with improved living conditions and significant savings in heating costs.

It also involved insulating attics, pipes and tanks, roof and wall ventilation, draught proofing and installing cylinder lagging jackets.

Phase two of the programme has been ongoing since 2018 and has seen 1,129 social houses upgraded to date, with a further 2,488 houses to be upgraded under this phase of the programme.

This phase of the programme targets Dublin City Council houses of solid wall construction dating back to the 1930s.

The external walls of the older houses will be insulated, as well as installing heat pumps where possible, which facilitates migrating the energy use away from fossil fuels and gas boilers.

Phase two also includes replacing doors and windows, roof and wall ventilation, draught proofing and installing hot water cylinders.

The upgrades have improved the Building Energy Rating (BER) rating from an F to a C2 rating to date. Phase two upgrades aim to achieve a minimum BER rating of a B2.

The upgrades are part of the local authority’s plan to achieve a 40pc reduction in green houses gas emissions by 2030.

Coilín O’Reilly, assistant chief executive in the housing department, said: “The significant energy efficiency improvements being undertaken across the council’s housing stock will contribute towards reducing CO2 emissions, improving the quality of housing for tenants and importantly, enabling them to minimise their heating bills.” Meanwhile, Dublin authorities have received a combined 148 notifications of intention to convert vacant commercial buildings into what could be a total of 382 homes. The figures were published by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien. Covering the period since 2018, they relate to regulations which provide those planning on converting commercial properties into homes with an exemption from requiring planning permission. The scheme’s aim is to increase housing supply and renewing towns and communities.