Naas Community College

Ethos Engineering is delighted to announce the completion of the Naas Community College project. In collaboration with KWETB and the Department of Education — Ireland, COADY Architects, Tobin & Hanson, S.C., MMP, Ganson Building and Civil Engineering Ltd, Dominic O'Connor Ltd. and Burke & Eastwood Electrical Ltd the Urbanism team delivered a Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) compliant building.

Naas Community School is a new post-primary school that will accommodate 1,000 pupils in Naas, Co. Kildare. The accommodation includes general teaching accommodation, specialist classrooms and workshops, a PE Hall, a Special Needs Unit (SNU), hard play courts and playing pitches.

The school is a BER A3 energy rated building and will make use of all the latest technologies for efficient design and energy reduction. The facility is capable of monitoring and isolating all non-essential power supplies from distribution boards thus eliminating ‘vampire loads’ on circuits outside of school hours. A rainwater harvesting facility is also provided onsite to provide free, recycled water to the toilets within the building. Photovoltaic panels at roof level harvest free energy from the sun which helps reduce the primary energy required from the national grid.

Well done to the primarily female Ethos team, Róisín O’Doherty and Swetha T, who were supported at director level by Susan Cormican & Peter Farrell. The Energy Team was led by Abdulhamid Alrehaili.

Ethos is taking this opportunity to celebrate women’s success in engineering!

With Ethos’ expertise in the education sector, we are thrilled with the final results of the project. The services this team provided will impact so many students providing them with a top-class facility. The Department of Education's high standards set the bar in terms of passive design and the school will need minimal energy and maintenance intervention over its lifetime.

The mechanical design included heating, ventilation, water, gas, soils and wastes, and fire protection services. The electrical design included electrical supply, electricity centre and main distribution, power distribution services, lighting services, communication services, transport services and protective services.

In completion of this project, Naas Community College will be welcoming students through the door very soon and we can’t wait to see their achievements. A special thanks to all those involved in making this incredible project possible.