Last week, during World Green Building Week, we hosted several events and special tours for our members, and we want to thank our members for making the week a great success.
We kicked off the week with a tour of 25 North Wall Quay, a 1990s building transformed into a net zero-carbon office. Members had the opportunity to explore this impressive project with insights from Paul Cleary and Ellen McKinney of IPUT Real Estate Dublin, and Neal Patterson of Henry J Lyons Architects. They discussed their key strategies such as retaining 75% of the existing reinforced concrete structure, using lighter materials for additional stories, maximizing modular assembly, and implementing all-electric mechanical and electrical systems. The building is currently creating approximately 300 kg CO2e/m² below the target of 500 kg CO2e/m² and only 55kWh/m² – in line with their net-zero journey.
On Tuesday, we travelled south to explore the Cobh Urban Design Plan. Giulia Vallone, former Senior Architect and Urban Designer, showcased Cork County Council’s efforts to integrate nature into urban spaces, including the national pilot scheme of the rain garden demonstrator. Alan Costello, Senior Scientist at Cork County Council, presented findings from a year of water quality monitoring, demonstrating the rain gardens effectiveness in removing contaminants. We also heard from Hendrick Verwey and Ruth Ring of award-winning Cobh Tidy Towns, who emphasised the importance of citizen engagement in promoting biodiversity in the built environment.
Wednesday’s ESG Community of Practice gathering featured a panel discussing the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Panellists Che McGann (Goodbody Clearstream), Krystyna Rawicz (KRA Renewables), Rachael McGinley (CBRE), and Lorraine FitzGerald (Glenveagh Properties), moderated by Paul Kelly (AIB), shared valuable insights. Key advice included: start now and collaborate; identify gaps and collect data; form a cross-disciplinary team; and view the workload as an opportunity to improve practices.
On Thursday morning, the IGBC convened a special Cross-Disciplinary Discussion at the Engineers Ireland headquarters, on how to improve collaboration between the different disciplines to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment. This was attended by architects, engineers, surveyors, planners, developers and contractors, and held in conjunction with the various professional institutes such as ACEI, CIF, Engineers Ireland, IPI, RIAI and SCSI. Lack of early collaboration can result in key opportunities to cut carbon emissions being missed on projects – this discussion aimed to kick-start a process of getting all the different disciplines in the built environment working together to reduce our carbon footprint.
Later on Thursday evening, the IGBC’s platinum, gold, and silver members gathered at Indeed headquarters in the Dublin Docklands for an exclusive event. Attendees networked, enjoyed food and drinks, and learned about Indeed’s sustainability strategy, and their LEED-Gold headquarters. A panel discussion with industry leaders Chris Croly (BDP), Banbha McCann (Henry J Lyons), Susan McGarry (Ecocem), and Stephen O’Shea (Cairn Homes) offered thought-provoking ideas on how to decarbonise Ireland’s built environment, with the audience chipping in too via an interactive Mentimeter discussion.
Finally, on Friday, we toured the Treasury Building renovation project, which has saved 1,905 tonnes of CO2 emissions—equivalent to driving from Dublin to Hong Kong 515 times. Originally built in 1946 as Boland’s Bakery and converted to office space in the 1980s, the building is now being extended and renovated by Google. John Casey from CORA Consulting noted that 85 tonnes of structural steel were reused and materials like cladding were uploaded to the CMEx pilot platform for reuse in other projects. The project is currently achieving an impressive 207 kg CO2e/m², significantly below the target of 500 kg CO2e/m².
On Tuesday 17th, we also teamed up with Cundall, where our Circularity Lead Giovanni Impoco joined other speakers to discuss advancing circular construction and decarbonisation in Ireland’s built environment. Key takeaways of this industry events: understand building typology and energy use, collect and track data to set decarbonisation targets, engage technical advisors early, and design for both construction and deconstruction to maximise material use.
We are deeply grateful to all our members who organized events and tours to support World Green Building Week and advance awareness of sustainability practices.
