In July 2024, Beechwood Parish and Pastoral Centre was approved for grants totalling €44,064.00 by Dublin City Council Community Climate Action Programme for projects at the Centre.

Solar PV system and visual display unit  

This 30 panel system with 10kw battery was installed in November 2024 by Resolute Engineering.  It has been working without a hitch ever since.   To date we have supplied 1,616 kWh back to the grid, and have received a total credit of €295.64 (as of end June) from Bord Gais towards our electricity costs.   Our installer projects that we will be exporting approx 3,700 kWh back to the grid annually.   As a result of the installation, we have set up a monitoring system to better understand and manage our energy usage.  We have been asked to share details with other parishes so that they can also make informed decisions around their own energy issues. We have received full reimbursement from DCC for this project.

 LED lighting  

Lighting in the centre was entirely upgraded with LED bulbs and fittings.   This was carried out in December 2024 by Energy Management Ltd and reimbursement has been received from DCC.  Users of the centre are delighted with the improvement, especially through the winter months when lights are needed for nearly every event.  Our older users are particularly happy and we have had comments like “we can see what we are doing now”!

 Bike shelter and bike repair facility  

The bike shelter and repair station were installed by Castit. We are delighted with the take up from adults who have been using the facility since the beginning.  More recently, we’ve noticed parents bringing their children to the centre by bike. We had very young visitors to the children’s drama summer camp who were making full use of the new bike park to cycle to camp.   After a slow start, we were delighted to see the repair station in use over the summer holidays.  We have received full reimbursement from DCC for this project.

 Our final action will be to install planters with pollinator friendly planting in the grounds of the centre. This is one of the key projects for us in line with our previous biodiversity actions—our native flowering hedge, no-mow initiatives and our membership of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. 

 We would like to thank all our parishioners and neighbours for your support and encouragement with our work in the church grounds and the parish centre over the last few years.