New Donegal town garda station design scoops top Net Zero energy award

Donegal Town’s new garda station and its design team have just scooped a national award for its efforts in driving towards a net zero energy and carbon emission level.

Rhatigan Architects from Sligo are the innovators behind the ambitious project which saw the Donegal Town project winning the public buildings Category at the inaugural Towards NetZero Ireland awards.

The awards were devised to help drive the net zero concept and to acknowledge and support those who are showing leadership in the net zero arena during this transitory stage towards that ultimate goal. 

Towards NetZero aims to recognise industry leaders as the construction industry works collaboratively towards Net Zero energy and carbon. 

Rhatigan Architects gathered with over 100 other industry leaders and net zero champions to celebrate the achievements of the various award winners in the RDS recently.

The recently renovated and extended garda station was commended for its ambitious sustainability objectives. 

Rhatigans said that the architect's design approach to this civic building involved retention and reconditioning of the original Garda station and the provision of a rear contemporary extension. 

The form and character of the original street facing front façade has re­mained intact, whilst the new four-storey rear extension is largely glazed with a bespoke steel mesh cladding providing solar shade and visual screening. 

A glazed link articulates the connection between existing and new.

At the recent awards ceremony

Great natural light and passive solar heat are provided for the internal working environment, whilst natural ventilation provides good indoor air quality and reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with mechanical ventilation and air conditioning. 

The projects sustainability objectives involved the use of materials in imaginative, non-traditional manners such as that employed with the bespoke brisolei system, which is the adaption of a common agricultural material that is often used locally. 

There is zero reliance on fossil fuels within the building, with heating via heat pumps, a key intervention in the move towards a decarbonised society and achieving 2030 sustainability targets.

The project has been acknowledged as a sensitive solution which has a very positive impact on its setting within the thriving historic town of Donegal. 

A man of the countryside, nature and love of family - the late Philip J Timoney, Ballintra

Adjudicators said that Rhatigan Architects have achieved a blend of tradition and modernity both internally and externally, signalling an embrace of 21st century developments in technology whilst championing Sustainability Goals and moving towards Net Zero energy and carbon.