Over €20 million worth of contracts for energy upgrades to local authority buildings across the eight local authorities in the Dublin and Mid-East region has been provided by Dublin’s Energy Agency Codema under its DeliveREE project.
On making the announcement at the DeliveREE project final conference, Codema presented DeliveREE as a proven, practical model for accelerating building decarbonisation through a new delivery approach that embeds guaranteed energy performance into contracts.
Developed and tested by Codema, the DeliveREE model responds to one of the biggest barriers to climate action in the built environment – not a lack of ambition or funding but the challenge of delivering projects quickly, clearly and at scale.
Working with all eight local authorities in the Dublin and Mid-East region, DeliveREE shows that when projects are structured properly, risks are allocated appropriately and performance is built into the contractual model, decarbonisation can move faster and with greater confidence.
The project has already led to €21 million in contracts awarded for local authority energy upgrades, reducing CO2 emissions by an estimated 2,797 tonnes per year. These contracts have been awarded to Alternative Heat, Lawler Sustainability, Ohk energy and Lennon Solar for the upgrading of almost 30 buildings, including leisure centres, offices, civic theatres and depots.
Works on the awarded contracts, which are due to commence this autumn, will include measures such as high-efficiency lighting, solar photovoltaic panels, upgraded bivalent heating systems with heat pumps and upgrades to the building management system.
A further €25 million in projects is expected in the next wave of delivery, with an additional 3,964 tonnes of projected annual emissions reductions anticipated in the next phase. These projects are supported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s Pathfinder programme, which provides grant funding to public bodies that are taking measures to improve their energy performance and meet their climate action targets.
Unlike more traditional approaches to building retrofits, which are often fragmented, slow to procure and leave performance risk with the building owner, DeliveREE offers a more structured model that can be replicated.
By aligning incentives through guaranteed energy performance, aggregating projects and simplifying delivery pathways, it provides a clearer route from project identification to implementation and long-term results.
Supported through the EU Horizon 2020 Programme, its standardised and structured approach to aggregating building upgrades and guaranteeing performance provides a practical template for scaling decarbonisation across Ireland and helping to meet public sector targets.
