Deep Retrofit of Tom Johnson House

The Office of Public Works (OPW) is pleased to announce the upcoming deep retrofit of Tom Johnson House, Beggar’s Bush, Dublin 4. This project has been selected as a Public Sector Retrofit Pathfinder Project. The completed project will be an exemplar, energy efficient, State office for occupation as a Headquarters Building by the lead Irish Government Department on the environment - the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

The original building constructed in c. 1975, would have had a ‘G’ BER rating. The refurbishment of Tom Johnson House will result in an ‘A2’ BER, representing a c. 75% reduction in primary energy use and will greatly extend the building’s useful life. A major facet of the project is that the existing State owned building will not be demolished and replaced, instead the design encompasses re-use of the existing concrete structural frame, concrete floors, circulation cores/stairs and external walls/external brickwork facades. The embodied carbon in those existing structures will considerably mitigate the climate change impact of the investment when compared with any new build option. Use of heat pump technology and the application of the OPW’s Green Procurement Policy will also mitigate the climate change impact of the project. All EU Regulatory requirements in relation to building material inputs, waste management and the re-use and recycling of waste materials have been incorporated into the project Works Requirements.

The deep retrofit is funded by the EU Commission through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). On completion of this deep retrofit project, Tom Johnson House will act as an exemplar in the transformation of existing buildings for future use.