County Wexford ‘world leader’ in NZEB housing
WEXFORD has become a world leader in the area of the provision of energy efficient housing, members were told at the January meeting of Wexford County Council.
While it could never be claimed that they are regular bedfellows, Enniscorthy took its place in a list alongside the likes of New York, Pittsburgh and Vancouver as a home for a UN Centre of Excellence on Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB).
In a presentation by Director of Services Tony Larkin, members were told that the council would bear the initial brunt of the financial outlay on the training centre, but funding would be forthcoming as officials were ‘assured that any application would be well received’ under the Climate Action Fund.
The current plan is for the council to move ahead and set up the centre, then UN designation would follow, followed by designation by the government making it the national centre for NZEB.
A collaboration between the council and the WWETB, the centre of excellence will initially be based on the Old Dublin Road in Enniscorthy before moving to the state of the art Enniscorthy Business and Technology Park when construction is complete in around 18 months time.
Mr Larkin pointed out that Wexford County Council was far ahead of its counterparts across the globe when it came to the provision of NZEB social housing.
With a total of 47 housing units completed and 246 planned or in progress, along with 54 turnkey projects completed with a further 77 in progress, Wexford’s numbers were said to dwarf the output of NZEB social housing anywhere else.
‘The work we’re doing in terms of targeting social housing is quite unique,’ Mr Larkin said.
‘It’s gratifying to see how seriously our work is being taken in Geneva (UN headquarters) and it’s great for Wexford to be to the fore on something like this. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us.’
Cllr Fionntán Ó’Súilleabháin pointed out how refreshing it was to hear Enniscorthy mentioned in the same breath as Geneva and New York, while Cllr George Lawlor pointed out the benefits of NZEB social housing.
‘Fuel poverty is an issue that many of us encounter on a regular basis,’ he said. ‘Also, I’ve been in touch with one family who got one of these NZEB houses, where a child in the house suffered with asthma.
‘Incidents of asthma attacks have greatly reduced since they moved in. The benefits are clearly huge.’
Cllr Jim Moore said that the officials were in danger of ‘under-selling’ the project and that it gave Co Wexford the opportunity to be the base for training for tradespeople from all over the world.
Mr Larkin replied that the work being done on the UN Centre of Excellence and in the area of NZEB housing was ‘ground-breaking’ and they were looking forward to seeing how it progresses. Chief Executive of Wexford County Council Tom Enright said that the work had ‘debunked the myth that NZEB houses are more expensive’.
He said that the project was a great collaboration between the WWETB and that Georgia Southern University, who have recently installed a campus in Wexford town, were also extremely interested in collaborating on it.