House energy work to start in Kildare next April
Over €3.3 million available to improve up to a 100 council social houses
Kildare County Council plans to retrofit or upgrade up to a hundred of its social housing units next April.
Following a motion from councillors Aoife Breslin, Kevin Duffy, Pádraig McEvoy, Mark Stafford and Paul Ward at its November 30 meeting that the council identifies a strategy to prepare for local, national and EU opportunities emerging from the work of the Midlands Regional Transition Team and Climate Action innovation, members heard that between 80 and 100 units could be upgraded.
They were told that in January 2020, the council became involved in the Midlands Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme, a pilot programme for deep retrofitting of the social housing stock.
The programme involves the allocation of €20 million in funding across eight local authorities with Kildare County Council receiving an initial allocation of €3.3m. It is estimated that this allocation will allow it to deep retrofit between 80 and 100 housing units in Kildare, implying an average cost of between €33,000 and €41,000.
Work has commenced in identifying units suitable for this programme.
It is planned to start work in April 2021.
The meeting heard that participation in this pilot programme is seen as positioning Kildare County Council to avail of significant future funding for retrofitting works.