Retrofit house to open to public
A HOUSE in Wexford town, that was one of the first local authority homes to benefit from the ‘Deep Retrofit’ programme, will be opened to the public this coming weekend.
The house, on College View, is one of 12 local authority houses in the area that were among the first to be treated under the initiative.
The public open day, which is being organised to encourage householders throughout the county to become more energy efficient, will take place on Friday, April 27, and will begin with an address at Wexford County Council’s offices, in Carricklawn, at 10 a.m. Admission to the event is free-of-charge, however, pre-registration is necessary through www.eventbrite.ie.
For the Deep Retrofit programme the County Council teamed up with the 3 Counties Energy Agency (3CEA) to carry out work including insulation and heating.
At the open day a short address will be given by John Carley, Director of Services, who will talk about current housing issues. Among the other guest speakers will be Fergal Cantwell, from 3CEA, who will talk about the work carried out at College View. Mr Cantwell will also be available to chat to those in attendance about their individual needs.
Paddy Phelan, also from 3CEA, will talk about heat pumps while Conor Hannify, from the SEAI (Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland), will talk in detail about the Deep Retrofit programme.
The open day will conclude with a bus trip from the Council offices to the house in College View where visitors will get to see the completed work for themselves.
The SEAI scheme is only open to householders, local authorities or agencies who group five or more homes together and make a joint application. However, they can be part of housing associations, local authority schemes or neighbours and family members who own their own homes. They also don’t have to live in the same county.
The closing date for applications is June 6 - for group works over €250,000 - and July 27, for group works under that threshold. Speaking about the scheme Mr Cantwell said the remediation work ‘needs to be deep’ and boost the energy rating from F or G to a minimum A3 reading.