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Irish Daily Mirror
19-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
New Lidl store in Maynooth to be Ireland's first net-zero supermarket
Lidl has announced the building of Ireland's first net-zero energy supermarket in Maynooth, as the retail giant seeks to wipe out its emissions completely by 2050. Construction has already begun on the state-of-the-art store, which will use concrete made from 50% recycled materials, as well as glulam timber roof beams and sustainable carbon roof panels. Additionally, stone from Lidl's original Maynooth location will be reused in parts of the new construction. 'When we joined the Irish retail market 25 years ago, we transformed shopping behaviour," said Lidl Ireland CEO Robert Ryan. "With this investment, we are once again leading the way—bringing to life our commitment to achieving Net Zero for our customers and enhancing the sustainable credentials of the Irish retail industry." With the new build, Lidl is hoping to secure the coveted Outstanding rating from the Irish Green Building Council. The retail giant has already committed to cutting its operational emissions by 46% in the next five years, with the ultimate goal of achieving net-zero by 2050 in mind. According to Irish Green Building Council CEO Pat Barry, the store marks "a new era for sustainable retail, combining innovation in store design, renewable energy, and carbon reduction for both operational and embodied carbon." It is an excellent case study that will help guide sustainable construction in Ireland in light of upcoming changes to European legislation for Zero emissions buildings measured across their full life," he continued. 'The development of our Net Zero Energy store is the next step in our sustainability journey," said Ryan. "More than just a supermarket, this store will serve as a test bed for sustainable innovations—helping us identify scalable improvements that can be rolled out across our entire network to deliver greater energy and carbon savings.' When opened, the new store will provide six electric vehicle charging points for shoppers, each of which will run off renewable energy. In addition, 12 e-bike and scooter chargers will be installed on the premises, as well as enhanced on-site cycle parking. The project also bolsters Lidl's reputation as owners of the largest rooftop solar panel array in the country, with two 575 kwp panels to be installed on the location's roof and in its car park. The store will also differ from other Lidl locations visually, with plant boxes installed on the roof and a 'living wall' feature inside. Some of the location's fixtures will also raise awareness of biodiversity, such as its planned 'Ecological Community Garden', complete with bird boxes, native plants and log piles to attract insects. Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O'Brien praised the build as "innovative". I commend the entire team at Lidl for their vision," he said whilst visiting the construction site, "demonstrating that economic growth and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand.' Waste was kept to a minimum during the dismantling of the previous store - with local primary schools receiving bird boxes and insect hotels crafted from the old location's roof. Community association ACRE were also involved, repurposing soil from the previous site and using old fencing to build chicken coops. Overall, the energy saved by the project is equivalent to the energy consumed by 40 average Irish households. The carbon saved by the construction is also equivalent to 1,500 annual flights from Ireland to Spain.
RTÉ News
19-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Lidl to spend €10m on Ireland's first zero energy supermarket
Lidl Ireland is to spend more than €10 million constructing Ireland's first net zero energy supermarket. This means the store in Maynooth Co Kildare will produce all its operational energy from onsite renewable sources. It will also fully offset the embodied carbon associated with its construction through renewable energy generation. The store will feature a 575 kWp solar panel system installed on both the roof and within the car park. It will also incorporate concrete made from 50% recycled materials, sustainable glulam timber roof beams and lower embodied carbon roof panels. Construction of the store is currently underway, supporting 150 construction jobs. The new store which is scheduled to open to Lidl customers this November aims to become the first BREEAM-accredited net zero energy supermarket in Ireland, as recognised by the Irish Green Building Council. "The development of our Net Zero Energy store is the next step in our sustainability journey," said Robert Ryan, CEO of Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland. "More than just a supermarket, this store will serve as a test bed for sustainable innovations - helping us identify scalable improvements that can be rolled out across our entire network to deliver greater energy and carbon savings," he added.
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Vacancy, dereliction and demolition of existing buildings should be reduced, building group says
Vacancy, dereliction and demolition of existing buildings must be radically reduced if Ireland is to meet its climate targets, the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) has said. Tackling dereliction must be made a Government priority and a target of a 50-75 per cent reduction in the vacancy and underuse of buildings should be achieved by 2040, according to the IGBC Building a Circular Ireland roadmap 2025-2040. The IGBC is a non-profit organisation which represents professionals involved in sustainable construction. In its roadmap, published on Thursday, it said ' preserving and making the best use of the existing building stock can contribute significantly to climate change mitigation and address other environmental challenges, such as resource overconsumption and associated impacts on nature'. Achieving carbon neutrality requires 'both building more efficiently and valuing existing buildings' it said, as significant amounts of resources were needed to construct these buildings. 'The greenest building is often the one that already exists'. READ MORE The construction sector was responsible for 37 per cent of Ireland's national emissions and construction and demolition generated 8.3 million tonnes of waste annually. Demolition 'significantly contributes to embodied carbon emissions due to material extraction, transport, and processing'. Building a 'circular Ireland' meant maximising the value of existing buildings through 'reuse, upgrade, and intensification of use rather than demolishing and building new,' it said. 'These sustainable practices can mitigate resource depletion and environmental pollution while boosting overall asset worth.' [ The Irish Times view on dereliction in Dublin: a blight on the city landscape Opens in new window ] This approach presented a 'valuable opportunity to rejuvenate urban and rural areas and improve living conditions, and can play a crucial role in addressing the housing crisis,' it said. Investing in and 'intensifying' the use of existing buildings 'can be the most cost- and carbon-efficient method to deliver the homes and infrastructure we need'. When it came to the construction of new homes , ' greenfield' sites , which have not been previously built on, required 32 per cent more embodied carbon than 'brownfield' sites – ie previously developed sites such as industrial estates 'due to the additional infrastructure of roads, car parking, landscaping, water infrastructure, lighting and attenuation tanks'. Dense housing such as duplexes and apartments used less embodied carbon than standard houses, largely due to landscaping and infrastructure per unit, 'which presents a big difference between semidetached houses and apartment buildings' it said. 'The mix of home sizes needs to be re-evaluated, with a sufficiency of three- and four-bedroom homes likely already within the existing stock,' it said. However, many of these homes were 'underoccupied' it said '67 per cent of people in Ireland and 88 per cent of those over 65 live in under-occupied homes, double the European average and the third highest in Europe'. The Government should develop a national policy on 'right sizing' and 'explore options to support and incentivise right sizing on a voluntary basis', it said. [ Land hoarders 'laughing' at local authorities as €20.5m owed in unpaid derelict site levies Opens in new window ] 'Integration of one- and two-bedroom homes into neighbourhoods could enable downsizing, freeing up family homes for those who need them. The transition to more compact forms of development, such as apartments and terraced homes, would allow more homes to be built for less cost in manpower, materials, operational energy and carbon emissions.' The Government should also reconsider the ban on co-living, where smaller apartments share communal spaces such as livingrooms and laundry facilities, it said. 'Co-living was effectively banned in Ireland in 2020 because profitability was seen as driving up the cost of sites and, hence, having a negative impact on the affordability of other housing types,' it said. 'The development of Government guidance could enable it as a quality affordable housing option rather than a vehicle for profit maximisation, particularly if built by local authorities and approved housing bodies on a cost-rental basis, within high-quality design guidelines.'
RTÉ News
15-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Vacant property could address housing and climate issues
Bringing vacant property back into use as homes could address the twin crises of housing and climate in Ireland, a conference has heard. The Irish Green Building Council held its annual conference in the Mansion House in Dublin where Minister for Housing James Browne launched a new report aimed at charting Ireland's path to a circular built environment by 2040. Construction and demolition generate 8.3 million tonnes of waste in Ireland each year and more than 87% of materials in the sector are made new, rather than reused or recycled. The government has a target to deliver 303,000 new homes across Ireland between 2025 and 2030 with an average of over 50,000 homes per year targeted to be built here in Ireland between now and the end of the decade. At the same time, the Government has also committed to a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. According to the 2022 census, there are 163,433 vacant residential units in Ireland. Pat Barry, chief executive of the Irish Green Building Council, told RTÉ Morning Ireland that building sustainable housing could help to relieved some of the pressure on the country's constrained utility infrastructure. "For example, if we can build homes that use 40% less water, then potentially we can build 40% more homes," Mr Barry said. "So that's one way that we can increase capacity." Mr Barry also said labour shortages could be addressed by increased use of modular builds where parts of a house are built on the one site and then delivered to the construction site. This allows those workers consistency in their work in terms of location. "The skills required aren't as much because we're able to mechanise and use technology to achieve very high levels of quality," he said. "We can also then start to use locally grown materials such as Irish timber, agricrops such as hemp, straw, straw byproducts," he added. Banbhna McCann, architect at Henry J Lyons, said homes are being designed for adaptability so that when people's requirements change into the future, the houses are easy to change. "We're trying to find a way to address the quite radical shift in how we build," Ms McCann said. In terms of ways to reduce construction waste, Ms McCann said constructing parts of homes in modular ways such as bathrooms and garages and then moving the finished room on site can reduce manufacturing waste. Standard sizes also reduce waste. "Specifying recycled materials where we can or reused materials, that can be quite challenging when you're building at scale with current standards and regulations and finding products that have the correct warranties," Ms McCann added. Waterford City and County Council began looking at reintroducing vacant properties around ten years ago. Paul Johnston, senior resident engineer at Waterford City Council, said the local authority has more than 1,400 united either delivered in or in progress of being delivered so far. "The biggest project we've done would have been a 70-unit conversion of a former convent into an age friendly development," Mr Johnston said. The council has successful used the Repair and Leasing Scheme to bring many buildings out of dereliction, by spreading the risk between the local authority, the Department of Housing and private owners. "There's a lot of unknowns in these old buildings and by sharing the risk appropriately, you can de-risk the projects and it makes them more cost effective," Mr Johnston explained. Alison Gilliland, member of Vacant to Vibrant building alliance and former chairperson of Dublin City Councils Strategic Policy Committee on Housing, said the council set up an adaptive reuse unit more than two years ago specifically to look at vacant properties. So far, 30 buildings have been identified and just one has gotten to the design procurement stage. "Dublin City Council, unfortunately at the moment have rowed back a little bit on what they're doing," Ms Gilliand said. She said this is "very unfortunate because there's a potential there to deliver more housing, but also to address vacancy that the city centre really needs addressing and to bring a greater vibrancy to the centre ... and to address that urban decay." "You don't need additional infrastructure if you're bringing back into use property that's in the middle of a town," she added. "If you're living in the city centre, the likelihood is you're going to walk, you're going to cycle, you're going to use public transport, so you're not going to use that private car and those emissions.
