Colaiste Choilm is overall winner at the Irish Green Awards

Coláiste Choilm, in Tullamore, ‘the lowest energy secondary school in Ireland’ was the overall winner at the Green Awards 2012 as well as winning the Green Building category.

This 5,531sq m secondary school was designed as a low energy research project to test and study methods of improving the environmental performance of school buildings. It is the first secondary school to achieve an “A2” energy rating and has achieved the lowest air leakage rate of any secondary school in Ireland. The buildings form, layout, structure, and façade were designed to minimise the buildings energy use passively, and the building contains several new technologies that have never been applied to secondary schools in Ireland before.

The building has been designed to achieve an 87% rainwater recovery with water consumption 65% lower than a typical school and has a carbon impact reduction of approximately 40% relative to current standards. The school also includes more extensive building monitoring features than any previous school.

Working with the Department of Education and Skills and Coady Partnership Architects, BDP’s role was to develop the sustainability strategies for the project in addition to designing the M&E systems for the project.

The judges said the entry offered “leadership, excellence and commitment to the sustainable design, build and operation of all new Irish schools.”