Eight Kildare schools set for multi-million euro retrofit
Colaiste Lorcain Castledermot
Eight national schools in County Kildare are to share an EU windfall of €81m after they were included among a pool of 40 schools across five counties for a deep retrofit, as part of the RePowerEU Programme.
They are: Kilberry NS, Scoil Brighde Milltown, Almaine NS Kilmeague, Scoil Ide Kilmead, Robertstown NS, Kilashee NS Naas, Colaiste Lorcain Castledermot and Scoil Bhride Clane.
Each school could receive a grant north of €2m.
The schools selected will be given a deep retrofit to achieve a Building Energy Rating (BER) of at least ‘B ‘by installing heatpumps, LED lighting and mechanical heat recovery ventilation.
The fabric and airtightness of the schools will also be upgraded and electric car chargers will be installed.
“I welcome that eight schools in County Kildare have been shortlisted for inclusion in this programme, and each of the schools approved will enjoy significantly better energy performance and a more comfortable teaching and learning environment,” said Education Minister Norma Foley at the announcement on Thursday (27 June).
This €81m represents the largest of the five investments included in Ireland’s funding allocation for its ‘National Recovery and Resilience Plan’, and will facilitate completion of the energy survey of all schools in the 21 remaining counties.
The schools included are still in the initial assessment phase though, and neither individual allocations, nor start dates have been announced at this stage.
It will add to the number of schools being given deep retrofits under the existing school pathfinder decarbonisation and retrofit programme.
The schools which will benefit from the retrofitting funding were part of a pilot phase of the Schools Energy Inventory project which covered schools in Kildare, Meath, Offaly, Wicklow and Wexford, and was completed with support from the European Investment Bank.
In developing this inventory, each school is surveyed by an experienced construction professional using a survey tool developed by the Department of Education.
