The sustainable factors, which has made Cork Institute of Technology as the winner includes the use of pioneering solutions, such as very good air tightness levels, air source heat pumps, high efficient lighting strategies and other initiatives like exposed thermal mass.
Occupying 24,000 square metres of space, the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) is a two-storied, 1974-built precast concrete structure spread over four main blocks. The Zero2020Energy Retrofit project has involved only 290 square metres of the original building but it is a test-bed for the redevelopment of the original site with a view to achieving net zero energy by 2020.
Designed in a modular fashion, the project aims at providing ‘plug and play’ capability for research in sustainable energy and in building energy systems. A net zero energy building produces as much energy as it uses in a year. The methodology is based on minimising consumption and supplementing the balance with renewable energy.
The finished space houses both the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Management Systems (CAMMS) and the Medical Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (MEDIC), both of them with significant external interactions.
The project was the overall winner in the Design Sustainability category in the IDI Awards, which was held on 8 November 2012. The IDI Awards recognise and reward the work of Ireland’s most talented designers, and showcase the leading projects from different disciplines in Ireland. The project has also delivered energy and resource usage rates anticipated in the 2020 regulations.
Zero 2020 Energy is a Net Zero Energy Retrofit project at the Cork Institute of Technology. Started on site in mid December 2011, the project targets extremely low primary energy consumption supplemented by on site renewable sources.
