-       Presentation by Mr. Conor Fallon, A/Senior Executive Engineer, Housing Unit.

Mr. Conor Fallon, A/Senior Executive Engineer in the Housing Unit gave a presentation to the elected members on the Midlands Energy Retrofit Pilot Programme:

·         €20m allocated from the Just Transition fund to the House Retrofitting Initiative

·         Potential for private home owners to avail of the project by achieving better value for money via economies of scale while contractors are in the area

·         The SEAI grant is available to private householders who have deep retrofit works carried out. This grant aid would be in addition to the reduced cost offered by these contractors who will be in the area.

·         Identification of local authority housing stock with poor energy efficiency conditions

·         Aim to achieve Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 or higher

·         Result in warmer homes and lower energy bills for local authority tenants, health benefits through improved air quality, provision of local employment and improve the economic benefit of the County, environmental benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions

·         Funding secured for upgrade works to 50 units

·         Retrofitting of a number of properties in an area so that economies of scale are achieved

·         Works predominately include upgrades to heating systems by the replacement of the expensive to run and poor environmentally performing electric storage heating systems with heat pump technology.

·         Expected ‘all in’ costs – circa €20-€25k per unit and potentially requires part funding in the order of 5% from RCC own financial resources

·         Schedule of applicable works include 300mm attic insulation including hot press and pipe insulation; flat roof insulation and necessary ventilation; external wall insulation; dry lining; pumped cavities; windows and doors replacement and airtightness taping, sealing to windows, heat pump and upgrade replace boilers, LED lighting.

·         Following items are to be omitted/removed in order to achieve required BER - Open fires, back boilers to stoves/ranges; sealed ‘room heating’ stoves allowable but not grant funded;

·         Requires shift in attitude All new-builds have no fossil fuel heating systems

·         Very significant maintenance costs associated with fossil fuel heating systems such as chimney repairs/reconstruction, range/stove repairs/replacement.

·         96% of RCC dwellings have a BER of C or less and works on completion will double the % of A or B rated dwellings.

·         Potential savings between €1,000 - €2,500 for the occupant

·         Timetable and next steps include:

o   Initial Tenant Communications, Appointment of Architectural and Energy Consultants and Surveying & property inspection reports – June/ July 2020

o   BER assessments and completion detailed assessments – August 2020

o   Procurement of contractors – September 2020

o   Works – Q4 2020 to Q2 2021

The members discussed the scheme and raised the following points:

·         The scheme was previously presented to the members of the S.P.C.

·         The importance of removing storage heaters from our housing stock.

·         The scheme is Department funded, however matched funding is required from the Council but our resources are limited and we cannot be burdened with any extra costs as a result of regulations

·         Welcome the employment the scheme will provide.

·         Important that some rural homes are included.

·         Can the Community Housing Scheme that is 35% funded be also availed of in conjunction with this scheme?

·         When houses are assessed, all energy savings must be taken into account. Applicants that availed of earlier SEAI schemes for attic insulation remain ineligible for future schemes.

·         Concerns that the estimated costs of €20k-€30k is too low for deep retrofit. There can be unintended consequences unless a full job is done.

Mr. Fallon replied that surveys will be completed, the various expertise in the area will be involved in the project and further information on costs will become available as the surveys and assessments are complete.