Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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120. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the BER rating of all Government department buildings in tabular form; the date each was last assessed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49100/22]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank you for your query relating to the BER ratings and the subsequent clarification provided:

"To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the Display Energy Certificate energy rating of all Government department buildings that have been assessed, in tabular form; the date each was last assessed; and if he will make a statement on the matter."

The table attached, shows the office buildings managed by the Office of Public Works (owned and leased) which are occupied by the various Government Departments and agencies, the Display Energy Certificate energy rating (where available) and the date each renewal was last completed.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has demonstrated significant success with regard to energy efficiency in its portfolio of buildings over many years. The bulk of the savings have been achieved through a large scale staff energy awareness campaign (Optimising Power @ Work). Launched in 2008 the campaign operates in over 275 large Central Government buildings (this covers approximately 80% of the energy usage in the OPW portfolio). Average energy savings of over 25% have been achieved through this initiative.

Since 2017, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication (DECC) through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) have provided significant funding for energy efficiency retrofit projects in central government buildings. The programme is a joint venture between DECC/SEAI and OPW. The energy retrofits carried out, mainly comprised lighting, heating and controls systems upgrades. To date the OPW have completed approximately 120 projects through this initiative.

The OPW is currently collaborating with SEAI to deliver a “Building Retrofit Pathfinder Programme” with overall funding of (€30M). The shared objectives of SEAI and OPW is to develop a scalable model for energy management and retrofit investment in OPW’s building stock in the achievement of national policy targets. The Parties are planning to implement an initiative in a selection of OPW managed buildings in 2022-2024 to build an evidence base and to grow scale for a larger national programme. The complete approach to energy retrofit will look at a wide range of measure including; insulation improvements, air tightness upgrades, window and door upgrades, the removal of fossil fuel heating systems (i.e. heat pumps etc.), photovoltaic panel installations, LED lighting upgrades and other M&E upgrades. The energy standard that will be required in these projects will be to achieve a minimum BER B after the energy retrofit works are complete.

Despite an ageing office portfolio, OPW will continuously upgrade and refurbish its buildings with a view to progressively achieving increased energy efficiency and sustainability.