Tipperary County Council to get ball rolling on energy saving retrofit of three of its buildings 

Tipperary County Council is to get the ball rolling this year on projects to upgrade its Clonmel and Nenagh civic offices and The Source Arts Centre and Library in Thurles to improve their energy efficiency and cut their carbon emissions.

That’s according to the first annual progress report on the roll out of the local authority’s 2024-2029 Climate Action Plan.

The report outlines that a schedule of the local authority’s buildings and facilities has been drawn up for retrofitting and upgrade over the next five years to meet the target of a 51% reduction in the Council’s carbon emissions and 50% improvement in energy efficiency.

It states that a new property management unit within the Council’s Corporate Affairs Directorate was established last autumn to deliver these improvements and Clonmel Civic Offices, Nenagh Civic Offices and The Source in Thurles have been selected for “project initiation” in 2025.

The property management unit is being supported by Tipperary Energy Agency, which is providing an emissions and energy use monitoring service to the Council.

Civic offices, arts centres and leisure centres have been identified by energy officers as the “most significant energy users” in the Council’s property stock and carrying out retrofit upgrades on them will have the highest impact in terms of achieving the Council’s 2030 energy efficiency and decarbonisation targets.

The plans to upgrade council buildings are among an array of climate action measures the Council has been working on since it approved its five-year Climate Action Plan a year ago.

The progress report details how the Council is managing its own energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets, how it is helping other sectors, businesses and communities to achieve their climate action ambitions and how the businesses, communities and bio-economy sector in the Tipperary Decarbonising Zone at Lisheen, Thurles are being supported to help deliver on climate action.

Actions range from measures and staff training aimed at reducing energy waste and waste from single use plastics in council offices to continuing the county’s Active Travel Programme by securing almost €4m funding from the National Transport Authority for projects ranging from footpaths and cycleways to greenways.

Other actions outlined in the progress report are a list of measures to reduce carbon emissions from its fleet of vehicles and assisting 25 community groups to secure €750,000 grant aid from the Community Climate Action Fund for environmental projects.

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The progress report was presented to councillors at their February monthly meeting in Clonmel.

The Council’s Director of Environment & Climate Action Services Eamon Lonergan told the meeting the Council has commenced, is working on or has completed 90 of the 100 actions set out for it to achieve in the Climate Action Plan. He paid tribute to the work of council staff in implementing the Climate Action Plan so far.

Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Declan Burgess welcomed the report and said the Climate Action Plan was a huge body of work the Council has to take seriously