Gus Healy Pool IGDR

Cork City Council appointed Lumina 360 to deliver an Investment Grade Decarbonisation Report for Gus Healy Swimming Pool, a 1,242 m² public leisure facility in Douglas operating year-round for schools, swimming clubs, and community groups. The building had no sub-metering in place, the AHU heat recovery system was non-functional, and the pool circulation pumps were running inefficiently 24 hours a day: together accounting for around 80% of the site's base electrical load.

Lumina carried out a full site survey, utility data analysis, and financial modelling across eight measures covering electricity, gas, and carbon. The analysis revealed 1,092,286 kWh in annual consumption and 229 tonnes of CO2, with both electricity and gas consumption above CIBSE good practice benchmarks. Each measure was assessed on full life cycle cost, payback, IRR, NPV, and available grant support.

The Stage 1 programme centres on three priority measures: reprogramming the existing pool pump VSDs to run all three pumps in parallel at reduced speed (0.7-year payback, 123% IRR), upgrading the AHU with functional plate heat recovery and high-efficiency EC fans (the single largest carbon reduction measure on the site), and installing a 50 kWp rooftop solar PV array. Together with LED upgrades and a Lumina+ energy metering system, Stage 1 delivers a 64% energy reduction and 62% CO2 reduction at a 4.1-year adjusted payback with substantial SEAI grant support.

A 60 kW heat pump is identified as a Stage 2 measure, pending confirmation of low-temperature flow feasibility from Stage 1 metering data. Lumina's recommendation is to implement the demand-reduction measures first, collect a full year of sub-metered data, and then size and commission the heat pump on real load profiles rather than estimates.