Dublin City Council’s planned move to new home would produce twice as much carbon as retrofitting existing offices
Dublin City Council’s proposed move of its offices to Camden Yard would produce at least twice as much carbon as retrofitting its existing building, according to internal documents seen by the Irish Independent.
Slides provided to councillors in recent weeks, detailing the carbon footprint of both options, show that constructing the Kevin Street offices would produce roughly 28,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is compared with the 14,500 tonnes that would be emitted if the council was to retrofit its existing Wood Quay offices.
The calculation also excludes the environmental impact of demolishing the existing Wood Quay offices and building 530 new apartments.
The figures are at odds with the environmental messaging around the move, which has largely been the justification pushed by Richard Shakespeare, chief executive of Dublin City Council (DCC).
Mr Shakespeare says the move is environmentally sound because of the need to improve the energy efficiency of the council’s offices.
However, questions around the environmental impact of building a new premises, versus retrofitting the existing office, have been hanging over the project since it was first mooted several months ago.
DCC’s carbon analysis showed that on a per-square-metre basis, moving offices to Camden Yard would create roughly double the carbon footprint of retrofitting.
In a note accompanying the presentation, it said: “In total embodied carbon terms, the gap is driven by both the higher per-metre-square intensity and Camden Yard’s larger overall floor area.”
Mr Shakespeare has said the retrofitting of Wood Quay would cost between €487m and €504m, making it poor value for taxpayers.
However, the document detailing those costings has not been made public.
In recent days, the council signed off on the transaction to acquire the Camden Yard site, a €581m move. DCC’s relocation also frees up its existing Wood Quay site, with proposals floated to knock the civic offices and replace them with a 530-apartment housing scheme.
Sinn Féin’s Cllr Daithí Doolan said “the secrecy surrounding the report on Wood Quay is unacceptable” and should be made public.
Following the criticism, DCC arranged meetings this Friday to take councillors through the carbon assessment. DCC was contacted for comment.