Heatworks Energy Centre, Tallaght

TODD Architects were commissioned, in conjunction with SWECO, to design and supervise the construction of the ‘Heat Works Energy Centre’ on behalf of South Dublin County Council and their project partners Fortum. ‘Heat Works’ was set up in 2020 as Ireland’s first not-for-profit energy utility. This project involved extensive BIM co-ordination with our fellow consultants, the client body, and relevant contractors to deliver a complex internal infrastructure.

A first building of its kind in Ireland, this 490 square metre facility will use excess heat from a neighbouring Data Centre to provide low-carbon heat to a district heating system. This system will, for its first phase, connect to existing and new local authority buildings and the TU Dublin (Tallaght University) campus. It is predicted to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 1,500 tonnes per year. Future phases will, in turn, be connected to neighbouring residential developments – with the intention of supplying heat to up to 3,000 people.

Given the nature of the building as significant public facility, the design delivered a feature building on a prominent junction, with Zinc Shingles offset against a datum of fibre cement. This interplay of materials, along with the complex intersection of butterfly roofs, created a distinctive form and architectural set-piece.