Centre of Excellence to be built in Enniscorthy
IT’S not too often that Enniscorthy is mentioned in the same breath as New York and Vancouver, but it has been announced that the Cathedral town will hold its own with the big boys having been chosen as one of three locations in the world to house a Centre of Excellence to combat carbon emissions.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) designated that County Wexford will join with the Canadian and American cities to take on the global challenging of cutting carbon emissions.
Scott Foster, UNECE Director of Sustainable Energy, will visit Wexford in the coming weeks to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, regarding the centre which will be built on a council site near St Senan’s.
The design of the proposed 33,000sq foot Wexford Centre of Excellence is already at an advanced stage and an application for planning permission is expected to be submitted to the council within the next month.
Enniscorthy was chosen as a location for the centre as a result of the massive strides made by Wexford County Council in the area of passive housing with developments such as Madeira Oaks garnering international attention and
further similar developments in the pipeline.
The town also attracted major attention after hosting the first nZEB conference at The Riverside Park Hotel last year. The Centre will focus on international training in nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) compliance with students arriving to the town from all over Europe in what is sure to provide a major boost to the local economy.
It is hoped that the new centre will be constructed and fully operational by the end of 2018 when nZEB regulations will be rolled out across the whole of Europe.
While in Wexford, Mr Foster will attend Ireland’s Inaugural World Forum on nZEB buildings which takes place at Clayton Whites Hotel on November 16, at which he will give the keynote address.