Busy and Productive Summer for Allen NS Board of Management with focus on improving energy efficiency and decarbonisation building retrofit.
It has been a very busy summer at Allen National School. The Board of Management has made application to the Department of Education for funding for a number of projects. The first to be awarded is the complete replacement of the school’s heating system. The Department of Education has made approximately €192,000 available to the Board for the upgrade works. Following a tendering process, the Board has appointed consultants who are now working to appoint a contractor. It is hoped the work will commence over the coming weeks and be completed well in advance of the winter months.
The Board also received confirmation that its application to improve the energy efficiency of the school has been successful. Allen NS is one of 40 primary schools across the country to have been selected to participate in the Department of Education’s Pathfinder Partnership Programme. Work has already commenced on assessing the school. The objective of the Programme is is to implement a range of deeper energy retrofit and renewable heating solutions in schools and to test approaches, build best practice and capacity to develop a replicable scalable energy retrofit model for the building stock to help deliver on the sectors energy and decarbonisation targets.
The project represents a significant opportunity for building energy retrofit and the Board anticipates that it will act as a best practice, practical model, for the education of the pupils. The children will see first-hand the practical application of many of the sustainable development methods they have been learning about.
The work will also help to raise local awareness of the benefits of applying for and availing of the retrofit grants currently available from SEAI. For further information: www.seai.ie.
Ms McDonagh (Principal) and Jason Mooney and Sandra Kearns (Parent Nominees BOM) with members of the team from ATBEC Ltd who were undertaking an air tightness test on the building:
