ESMIS Water Sustainability Webinar

started there now. Uh we're just going

to give another maybe a couple of

minutes, another minute before everyone

starts to enter in and then we'll get

going.

Whatever

All right guys, so we'll get going with

today's webinar. Uh good morning

everyone. You're very welcome to our

webinar today focusing on water

sustainability and leisure and sports

sector. Uh the webinar is delivered as

part of the ESM project. Um just before

we begin, just to let you know that

today's webinar is being recorded and

will be shared on our YouTube channel

later on in the day. Uh just some

housekeeping before we start. Um if you

have any questions throughout the

presentations of the two speakers uh

please share your questions in the Q&A

section. Um and I will ask the questions

uh as soon as the presentation is over

after each of the speaker. Uh I also

would appreciate if uh everyone just

mutes their audio throughout the

presentation so there's a nice flow to

the webinar. Um so just a quick

introduction before we get going with

the speakers on what the ESM stands for.

So it's the enhanced sustainable

measures and sports facilities project.

Uh and it's short for ESM project. Uh

the ESM project is a collaborative

effort aimed at fostering sustainability

and innovation within sport and leisure

facilities across Europe. Uh both Sport

Ireland and Art Active are involved with

the project to help sport and leisure

facilities to uh to facilitate a green

transition throughout the development uh

of tools, guidelines and knowledge

sharing platforms and webinars such as

today. H as a aims to empower facilities

to adopt sustainable best practice

measures. Uh the project is developing a

digital platform that sports and leisure

facilities from all over Europe can

assess to gather information, ideas and

possible solutions to become more

sustainable. The platform will contain

an interactive map of facilities across

Europe that are already successful

example of sustainability and green

solutions. So really hope that you get

uh some great insights and informations

from uh the session today and from the

two speakers. So as you already know we

have two wonderful speakers lined up for

today and to kick off we're delighted to

be joined uh by Neil McCabe. Uh Neil is

the CEO and founder of the green plan, a

sustainability leader and entrepreneur

who has earned international recognition

for pioneer and practical award-winning

sustainable solutions. So h I'm just

going to stop sharing the presentation

and I will

share Neil's presentation. So just keep

bear with me for a moment.

So I hope you can see my screen.

Yes, Neil. So you can nail if you can on

mute.

>> Oh, there we go.

>> Perfect. Yeah,

>> I was looking risky for a minute there,

Bal.

>> Yeah, you're all right. You're all

right. No problem.

>> Yeah. So, uh, thanks for having me here

today. Uh, I recently had a presentation

with Michael and the team including Val

there at the Ireland Active Conference

and it was a great day with some really

good chats afterwards.

Michael had asked me to talk about today

so I'm delighted to do so. Um, although

I'm going to get into the presentation

just a kind of quick intro. So my

background is in deep retrofits and

energy reduction of buildings as well as

carbon emission projects across the

community. uh they apply to many

different settings. So um I also run the

green plan the file mentioned and that's

a licensed framework to reduce energy

demand and uh my first success was with

the launch of the green plan in Kabar

fire station which became the world's

first carbon neutral fire station and

verified by many different associations

around the world. Um but because of that

I'm actually still a firefighter and

paramedic with Dublin Fire Brigade and

my shift was last night just to put it

in perspective. So um I bring a kind of

different different viewpoint and

standpoint on a lot of energy issues and

carbon emission related issues. So um

I'm obviously thanking Michael for the

invitation to share that with everybody

today. Um my focus today is that if you

run or manage a pool, you're already

doing a hard job.

My goal is just to show in simple terms

small visible changes that can buy some

time may have already happened can be

tweaked can be added to but will develop

money and resilience. So I'm going to uh

try and get this presentation up now and

I'll I'll share how that goes with

everybody from here on in. Uh Val, if

you can click away there. Sorry.

>> Yeah.

So, uh, I spend half my life in energy

respon emergency response and I send the

other half inside buildings that were

never designed for the future we're now

living in. Where that comes from is that

although I do uh my shift, which is 56

hours one week and 44 hours the next as

the frontline firefighter, the green

plan and the other side aspects of of

the work I do with the license have me

involved in deep energy retrofits that I

mentioned earlier. And that's why I I

feel I have a good bit to bring to this

today. If you can click there.

Um, so where I'm coming from is

firefighter paramedic perspective. My

world revolves around when systems fail

under pressure right now. The climate

crisis is a system that's uh under

pressure and actually in complete

crisis. And I work inside public

buildings. So I don't just talk about

them. Um, but I also just as an

interesting aspect, I I mentioned this

before. I used to be a pool lifeguard

for nearly five years. So, I've seen

energy, water, and waste all hand.

Think I clicked that f.

Uh, I have hoped to frame water as a

cost and risk issue today. So, it won't

be an environmental lecture. I don't

intend to be preaching to people. And

I'd say most of the people who are here

today already have a good idea about

what can be done or what they would like

to do. So I'm definitely not here to

preach about it. But I want to talk

about the whole building concept and not

just the pool. And I'm definitely going

to use approximate maths. Uh my

intention is not to bury deep into maths

because we probably need a full day on

that just just to get through it. So

it's not it's not about that kind of uh

idea. It's more about unlocking the

thinking among everybody today.

So if we want to talk about meaningful

savings in Ireland, leisure facilities

and pools are obviously unavoidable.

Um so your own group uh just did some

digging and a little bit of research.

You have roughly 200 uh members that

operate pools and according to the

information that I can get from Swim

Ireland, there's approximately 400

swimming pools across the country. Um

and these are some of the most energy

and water intensive buildings in the

country. And again although today the

focus is on water, it's we actually need

the energy to run the water and heat the

entire building. So we'll just look at

the building as such today.

So I put this as a slide because water

waste is a hidden energy waste and a lot

of us feel that if we're dealing in

water, it's what the water you can see

is what we're accounting for. And

bizarrely, we don't have water meters in

a lot of swimming pools in Ireland, so

we can't even tell how much water is

being used. But it's actually a hidden

energy water waste because the energy is

the water travels in and out. So just to

be aware of that.

So how it matters, it's a financial

situation. If we think about maths, if

we can do anything that saves money and

then helps the environment, well then

that is a benefit to society. So that is

a benefit to the environment. Um water

isn't just water. It's the heated water

that's in swimming pools. It's every

single liter of water as energy. It's

the water carrying chemicals. It's the

temperature dropping when chemicals are

introduced. It's the temp the

temperature hiring and having to be

lowered. It's insulation. It's

insulation on the building. It's the

water pumping. And it's the staff time

even that's involved in regulating the

water and treating the water. And all of

this is a financial burden as well as an

amount of water used. But the big thing

is that water is paid for as a rate in

every part of Ireland for water going in

and water going out. Unless you have a

well, and there's still rates connected

with that anyway.

So most savings don't actually come from

the swimming pool at all. They come from

everything that's wrapped around it. As

I said at the start today, I want to

talk about the building to explain the

importance and relevance of the building

on water reduction.

So just looking at some as I said just

some average figures. I don't want to

dig deep into every single person's

swimming pool and one pool is really

good and another pool could be better,

another pool wishes it was better. Just

just looking at facility energy use. So,

we're looking to 2,000 to 3,000

megawatts of energy a year with 400 to

600 tons of CO2E. So, carbon emission

equivalent reduction per swimming pool

per year. that they're massive figures

especially if you look at the CO2e value

because we while we all focus on

emissions and what goes into the

stratosphere and the atmosphere we're

also having to understand that there's

other emissions being released along

with carbon emissions and those

emissions travel back to land and cause

other problems in the community such as

ill health and different medical issues

which I'll I'll do my best not to go on

a tangent about but

But it's just very important to

understand it's the CO2E value per

swimming pool per year is a massive

figure. So we looked at 400 pools

nationally

which is almost roughly 1.2 gawatt of

energy which is over a quarter of a

million tons of CO2e in one year. So

these are this staggering maths and

definitely people have the opportunity

to do things about it without spending

millions of euro. Go to the next one,

pal, please.

So, these buildings weren't designed to

be in efficient. That's very important

to recognize. They were designed for a

different world. They were designed for

when fossil fuel independence wasn't an

issue. They were designed when solar

panels and PV panels and airsource heat

pumps weren't considered. They were just

built for fossil fuels. Now, more modern

buildings are designed better, but the

thing is that the figures that we're

talking about are normal at the moment.

Those those like 1.2 to gigaton. We're

talking major figures and it's it's

spoken about as if it's normal across

the industry.

So when you look at building scope,

design and function, you'd have things

like building manager, design phase,

building manager, you'd have BMS

systems, all these things that are

supposed to be prepared ahead of time,

and sometimes they are, but they're

always prepared for a facilities uh

first approach. the energy systems are

second and sometimes I'm sure Colin will

have loads to talk about um inside of of

Pro Park, but a lot of the time the

energy system is second and that brings

us into retrofit, which means the

building is already inadequately

performing because of that fossil fuel

era mindset.

And then a lot of the time when I'm

dealing with clients, the biggest

problem is they're retrofitting things,

which is a terrific idea, but the

retrofit itself isn't futurep proofed.

So sometimes you come across talk of an

ESCO um and EPCs that are so immediate

and short-term or temporary based, they

haven't itself looked towards the

future. So they're not even futurep

proofed. And that makes it more

expensive in the in the the reciprocal

effect of everything. And this causes a

lack of monitoring because as soon as a

BMS is put in or any type of system is

in, it's easy to step back and go that's

monitoring everything. But it may not

have been futurep proofed. The concept

may not have been there. So this causes

more energy inefficiencies.

So easy wins that anybody can look at,

but if there was a number one win that I

that I would regularly talk to people in

the industry about, it's water meters

and the visibility of the water meter.

Um, bizarrely, this isn't the thing. So,

no one usually, I don't say no one, but

a lot of the time water entering and

leaving the building isn't checked. As a

result, you can't tell how much water is

used, but you can't tell how much water

left the building and what temperature

it was when it left. So, there's

actually a a catchment system that could

be put in place and isn't um do duty

flush monitoring. It's probably the the

bane of my life. So, we put in um as

many urininals and different flush

systems all around big complexes and

different swimming pools and leisure

centers

and then up to 15 L of water is flushed

every 9 minutes. some some some places

it could be 60 liters per minute and the

whole entire time the building was

dormant and hadn't been used for a full

week as an example. Maybe it was closed.

It's going all through the night and a a

tiny tiny bit of monitoring match with a

tiny little system can actually prevent

that much water from being lost. But

again, what's the point if there wasn't

an energy sorry a water meter to begin

with? And people have completely missed

that. uh lowflow showerheads. It's a

simple one. We can all visualize that

the budget is tiny for these things. The

maintenance budget is tiny for these

things, but the preventative maintenance

budget usually doesn't exist. So

creating a small budget to allow for the

facility to replace the lowflower uh

lowflow shower heads and the likes of

the duty flush or even self-closing taps

but monitored and metered is an enormous

energy saving which is an energy saving

because it's it's a water saving first

and of course it all feeds into the

cycle. Um, we spoke about the the

fabric. I was saying it's a whole

systems approach to to reducing water.

If you it's a simple mats. If you can

put in LED lighting, you probably have a

one to threeyear payback. And that's a

behavior change that affects the entire

building. But just like the duty flush

on the urinals and toilets, buildings

don't need to be powered up and don't

need to have energy running 24 hours a

day. Again, this uses cons consumes more

water because it's actually overloading

the boiler and that's we can talk later

about the biomass system. Uh what type

of system is being used? Is it a

straightforward old boiler? Is it gas?

What's the system? But it's still having

a a heavier load because of this. And

then the main thing I'm I'm forever

talking about with with um clients would

be the roof insulation on the swimming

pool. Sometimes it's not just it doesn't

exist. It's usually just a piece a small

piece of tin and or steel or some type

of clad. And it's bizarre to hear that a

building is in effect a giant chimney

and all the hot water which naturally uh

sorry all the heat which naturally rises

go straight through the ceiling of the

leisure center. Like you'd never if if

we look back in 20 years no one will

believe this was a thing. So just to

share with you that's another uh angle

to come from.

So I mentioned earlier about monitoring

and meeting how important it is and you

can't manage what you can't see. So on a

visit to many swimming pools or being

involved in in several EPCs and ESCOS

for uh collaborative projects across

Dublin, one of the things we really

noticed in the swimming pools was that

the hot water cylinder is in overdrive.

So as as you can imagine hot water

cylinders and moni um and different

systems would have expansion valves,

expansion vessels and systems that blow

off the excess hot water. But in the

pools we were visiting the water was

actually overflowing out of the cylinder

and was putting a constant demand on the

boiler 24 hours a day. So that

overheating was because there was no

temperature check and just to make like

in the scale of hundreds of millions of

euro being spent on energy uh demand

reductions and how to reduce emissions.

It cost €14 to put a temperature

temperature probe into the first

cylinder that we did the trial on. And

we ended up we put three probes in to

make the point of we were we were

rolling them around the cylinder. But

those those simple like €14 it's it's

doesn't even make sense. It was so

inexpensive and it was able to reduce

the cylinder's heat capacity and stop

the expansion expansion vessel uh being

in overflow which reduced the workload

on the boiler because someone was able

to see it. And then because they're able

to see it, they started to monitor the

amount of water that was being sent to

the cylinder from the boiler

system. And they were able to show how

much water was leaving the cylinder to

go to the pools and obviously the the

other areas such as the the foot bath,

the uh showers, the wash basins. But

that was when they realized the system

was plumbed in and it had lukewarm water

making its way to the toilets. But

because it was never monitored and

measured, no one had a way to do it. So

for €14 they're able to save an awful

lot of money and although they still

needed an ESCO I just say imagine if it

was as easy as just putting a

temperature probe in a cylinder in every

single swimming pool that doesn't have

one. So it's a it's a big impact big win

idea.

So, just to put some maths back into

this, uh, based on what we said earlier,

if we only looked at say a 5 to 10%

reduction across the all of Ireland's

um, suite of pools,

obviously not just yourselves, we're

looking at 120 gawatt hour saved

annually, which is 24,000 tons of CO2e

that could be avoided. Now, again, I'm

not talking about the hundreds of

millions of euro. I'm talking about the

cost of insulating a roof, the cost of

putting in temperature probes, the cost

of putting in uh pipe work monitoring to

just show flow direction and what is the

the actual um rate of flow and just

having figures that we could do. And

that's all without spending millions of

euro.

So basically what I'd like to kind of

depart with today is that I have a one

to5 idea which would be monitoring comes

first which will in itself change

behavior.

If staff are asked to go around taking

the energy meter readings, find out what

the water reading is for these new

sensors that I'm talking about and build

data from that to create what would be

the energy saving. Now with that new

information and then consider where you

go with a retrofit later. Um the idea

would be you could then look for the

grant funding that is available provided

you have something to base it off and in

the the first chat I had given at the

conference and reference again today the

problem is people haven't measured or

monitored or metered the amount of water

use or energy use in the building first

and in some retrofits where you

introduce a building management system

an energy management system that's a

fantastic thing but when that's happened

without the original data, we've nothing

to work from. So I' I'd finish up by

saying if we can finish on understanding

the baseline first, that's the first win

to unlock the five systems there. So uh

it's not about perfection, it's about

control. So

So thanks very much for the chance to go

over that. I hope it wasn't too preachy

or boring. I'm trying to blitz through

everything without spending people's

money and uh I'll be hanging around for

the questions obviously.

>> Yes, guys. So, if if you have any

questions, please uh share them in the

Q&A.

Um

so, I have a question for you here, uh

Neil.

So Tim from Irish surfing I have

terrible reception as oh sorry sorry

sorry that's completely different

question

that's probably at the very start um

yeah guys so if you have a power as well

>> h if you have any questions guys please

uh share them in the Q&A h I have a

question here uh from our end here Neil

so um do you think there's still a

perception in Ireland that water is an

unlimited resource and uh why is it

important from sport and leisure

facilities to challenge that as part of

their sustainability journey?

>> Yeah, so my own my own take on

sustainability would be that there are

seven themes to sustainability. So it's

energy, water, waste, biodiversity,

society, transport and procurement. How

we affect all seven themes impacts life

in our community. So unfortunately in

our community we have an environment

where people take an awful lot of things

for granted. And when you go to a

swimming pool um a lot of people would

believe the phrase they or them

everything is provided by them for us

and we don't have to care about where

the water comes from. And in the same

mindset,

I I'm like flabbergasted at the amount

of swimming pools and leisure centers

that don't have water metering in place.

So, as a result, if water was to be

taken seriously, I wouldn't be on today

and no one would be here talking about

water because already people would have

monitoring and measurement in place. To

back that further, if we if we use

anything in our home, say in the current

environment, you're using a compost bin.

It's just a to give you an example. And

the organic waste matter is fed into an

a composting bin and somebody says

that's where that's now going. But the

same person that does that will

generally brush their teeth with the tap

running. They didn't turn the water off

while they were brushing their teeth.

There's a famous example of that when

Ender Kenny was uh the tea shock at the

time and his own family asked him to

turn the tap off while while he was

brushing his teeth while he was going to

a conference to talk about climate

change. So it's a well doumented uh

event. I would say it's just a mindset

and I think the biggest thing for all of

us is to think in money. If you can see

that wasting water is a waste of money,

you'd start to feel different and the

best way to do it is to meter and

measure so that you have those answers.

>> Thank you very much uh Neil. So there

whoever is on their on their only

starting their journey there's a lot of

practical um things that they can begin

with and I also really encourage uh for

participants to go and visit the green

plan that I there's a lot of helpful

information on on on Neil's website uh

and how to begin the journey and uh a

variety of different best practices. So

thank you very much Neil. Um so now

we'll we'll move on to our second

speaker and uh our case study. Uh so I'm

delighted to introduce uh Colin O'Brien

who works in operations and

sustainability at Crow Park. Uh Colin

plays a key role in delivering

sustainability initiatives at one of

Europe's most iconic sporting venues. Um

Colin will now share a case study on

water sustainability initiatives at Crow

Park outlining practical measures

implemented on site and learnings that

can be applied across the wider leasure

and sport center. So Colin will pass

that on to you. So I'll just stop

sharing my slide.

>> You can begin.

>> Thanks. Well, one second now.

Can you see that? Okay.

>> Yeah, perfect. Thank you.

>> Lovely. So, thanks everyone. I just have

a few slides here about 10 or 15 minutes

just to give an overview of of our water

usage here at Crow Park. Uh what we do

to manage it and just some of the the

measures we have in place. It's quite

different to to a swimming pool

obviously but again there'll be similar

things there discussed to what what Neil

spoke about but um yeah whether a

swimming pool sports facility a forest

station like Neil there spoke about or

any building or facility the same

principles apply really when it comes to

to water measures or energy measures

that there's a there's a large crossover

there so I'm sure you'll take a lot of a

lot of uh I suppose learnings from from

what what we're doing here hopefully

Um, just to give a brief background to

the stadium then for anyone who hasn't

heard of us. I'm sure most people have

at this stage, but we're Europe's fourth

largest stadium with a capacity of

82,300.

Uh, quite lucky to have a stadium of

this size in the country as as most

people will be aware of. The the three

largest stadiums in Europe are Wembley,

the Barnabo in Madrid um, and the New

Camp in Barcelona. So quite a large

facility. We're a multi-use venue. We're

not just a a sporting arena mainly for

Gaelic games obviously, but we're also

probably Ireland's largest and busiest

conference and events venue. Um we also

have a museum

um who offers skyline tours and museum

tours uh all year round. Uh we also host

concerts um up to six, seven concerts a

year and other sports as well. We had

our first NFL game this year. We've had

rugby as well. So quite busy. We've had

over 50 sporting events this year. Um

and that that amounted to over 1.5

million visitors to the stadium this

year. Uh we have over 100 meeting rooms,

corporate boxes, eight large event

spaces that are not just used on on a

match day or or a concert day, they're

used every day of the week for

conferences, exhibitions, meetings of

all sorts. So quite a busy venue all

year round, not just for for match days

throughout the summer. And we were the

first stadium in the world to obtain

both ISO 14,0001 and ISO 20121

certifications for environmental

management and sustainable events. And

over the past couple of years as well,

we we received the ISO 50,0001

certification for for energy management.

So they pretty much uh are the bedrock

of everything we do when it comes to

sustainability, those those

certifications. And yeah, as I

mentioned, we we welcomed I think 1.6

million visitors to the stadium this

year. So with that, as you can imagine,

comes a lot of a lot of water use, a lot

of energy use and a large carbon

footprint across all of our our

operations.

Just a few facts and figures then. So

our annual water usage is about 40,000

meters cubed, which is 40 million

liters. So quite a lot of water there.

The size of the stadium, we're we're

looking at 300,000 square meters of

floor floor space across seven levels.

We have 16 kitchens, nine restaurants,

nearly 800 toilets. We have about 400

urinals, 22 bars, and 56 QSRs or quick

service restaurants. So, as you can

imagine there, lots of water being used

in all those facilities. Lots of energy

as well. Um, just to give you an idea of

of our storage or where our water is

stored, we've cold water storage tanks

around the stadium serving different

stands on different levels of the

stadium. And that equates to about 1.2

million lers of storage capacity

overall. Uh we've one pitch irrigation

storage tank that holds just over 70,000

L of water and that's served from our

rainwater harvesting system which went

live about a year ago. And we believe

that's the the largest rainwater

harvesting system in the country. So

that holds 1.5 million lers of rainwater

at any given time. You collect all the

rain water off off the stadium roof, off

the surfaces of the car parks. Um,

anything that would have traditionally

went into the the sewers or the or the

uh the storm channels now goes into our

our underground rainwater harvesting

system. So, at the moment, it's being

used to to irrigate our pitch. Um, also

being used for cleaning power hosing and

we're looking to hook it up to some of

our toilets on your Rhinos now of of the

next stage of that project.

um our sprinkler system wet riser

storage tank nearly 3,000

um 300,000 lers to serve approximately

1,800

fire sprinkler heads around the stadium.

So quite a lot of water needed there in

storage in case touchwood um hasn't

happened yet but if there was a fire in

the stadium obviously a lot of a lot of

water as Neil would understand there lot

of lot of storage required for that two

break tanks as well thousand liters each

in each of those. Uh and we're members

of Ishka Eron's advanced water

stewardship program. I'm not sure if

many people have heard of the water

stewardship program. I'll I'll talk

about that further in in a few minutes

time.

So, where do we use our water and and

how much of it do we use in each area?

So, pitch irrigation accounts for about

15% of our overall annual water usage,

about 6,000 meters cubed. Toilets and

washrooms is is by far our biggest water

user, about 35%

uh or 14,000

uh meters cubed. Uh like I mentioned,

we've we've almost 800 toilets and about

500 urinals around the stadium. So,

a lot of water being used there,

especially on an event day. Uh

concessions and catering is about 20% of

our water usage or 8,000 uh cubic

meters. Showers and changing rooms about

10% again they'd only be really used on

an event day. So um would be a lot

higher if they were used every day of

the year about 4,000 cubic meters there.

Cleaning uh 15% about 6,000 uh cubic

meters of water a year. And then cooling

a mechanical system. So uh things like

our chillers and HVAC obviously use use

a bit of water. So the 2,000 cubic

meters there. So that's a breakdown

there of of where we use our water

toilets and wash mushrooms been being

the biggest one. So I'll just move on to

some of our cons conservation measures

we have in place to try and reduce those

figures year on year. The water

harvesting system then that went live a

year ago. That's obviously our biggest

our biggest initiative to date. It it's

the biggest water harvesting system in

the country and it's something that a

lot of facilities can implement. Ours is

obviously a large scale project, but you

can implement the water harvesting

system on any scale really depending on

your budget, the size of your facility

and what what you want it to serve,

whether it's to serve uh toilets and

washrooms or for cleaning, power

washing. Um it's we've got a lot of rain

water in Ireland obviously, so it's

something we should really tap into. Uh

low flush tap, showers, and toilets all

around the facility.

uh smart water controls uh covering

probably 95% of of the stadium as well

and that's hooked up to our BMS system

build building management system

something that Neil touched on there as

well as we used to have the urinal

flushing throughout the night as well

and if you can think of 500 urinal

flushing all throughout the night every

20 minutes half an hour it's a lot of

water usage a lot of water wastage there

so we've hooked them up to solenoid

valves which essentially allow the

urininals to be controlled through our

BMS that essentially allows us to turn

them off when there's no one in the

building. Turn them off throughout the

night and ensure they're only flushing

when when areas are in use or when

there's there's people actually in the

in the facility. So, um those smart

water controls and having having more

control around your oils, toilets, uh is

huge when it comes to water savings for

us. uh staff training and and fan

awareness programs is a big thing as

well. Trying to educate people about not

just how they can save water at the

stadium, but how they can save water at

home as well. And just trying to create

that culture around sustainability and

water savings as well. We we try and

train staff not just on water but on

energy as well um on waste segregation.

Um yeah, if you can bring bring fans and

staff on the journey with us, it's half

the battle as well. We have moisture and

weather sensors in the pitch. So that

ensures the pitch is only being watered

when it needs to be. So rather than

turning the sprinklers on all day, the

sensors in the pitch, the weather

sensors, moisture sensors will activate

the pitch sprinklers and they'll only

only water the pitch when it's needed.

And they they'll turn off then

automatically as well when the pitch has

has received um the adequate amount of

water. So again, it takes that that

human uh manual control out of it that

it's all it's all automated based on on

what it needs. We have a leak detection

program and regular regular maintenance

of of our water systems as well. So we

do regular leak detection um of all our

systems just to ensure there's there's

no leaks there. You can you can lose a

lot of water uh through leaks if it goes

unnoticed. regular maintenance as well

is is very important just to ensure all

your your water equipment and your your

water infrastructure is is fit for

purpose and that uh it's not old or or

brittle or risk of of bursting or or

causing a leak as well. Uh we have high

efficiency commercial dishwashers and

kitchen equipment in all our kitchens.

As I mentioned, we we've 16 kitchens and

nine restaurants.

Um a lot of smaller cafes and quick

service restaurants that would have

dishwashers in them. uh ice machines, a

lot of equipment that would use water.

So that's all high high efficiency when

it comes to water and energy. Um and we

have extensive monitoring and metering.

And as as Neil mentioned again, you

can't manage what you don't measure. So

when it comes to energy, when it comes

to water, when it comes to waste, we try

and gather as much data as we can. And

all our water tanks and probably 90% of

of anything that uses energy or water in

the stadium is metered or monitored. So

we can track that. We can set goals and

targets and we can do things like um

detect leaks as well. So this is just an

overview of what our our water um

management system looks like. This also

tracks our our energy usage um as well.

Our gas usage, electricity and water

predominantly. So this just a quick

snapshot of what it looks like. Our 10

10 water tanks are monitored. You can

see the dark blue is is the daytime

usage and the light blue second half of

the bars there is the is the nighttime

usage. So again you can see any spikes

throughout the night or or maybe on

non-event days in areas where water

shouldn't be used. It allows you to to

um manage that aspect of it. You know

5 10 years ago people were just getting

their water bills at the end of the

month and seeing how much water they

used and then trying to figure out where

are we using all this water. So this

gives you real-time snapshot, real-time

visibility of water usage, where you're

using it, how much you're using, and

allows you to, like I mentioned, set

goals, set targets, set KPIs, enables

you to benchmark, then from year to

year, benchmark against other

facilities.

Um and ultimately it reduces water use,

energy use and reduces costs and it

allows you to track ROI or return on

investment on water projects and water

efficiency measures that you've put in

place as well which is obviously

important when you're looking to invest

in water projects that you're able to

track return on investment. So this

system here is called Acutrace. I think

you know Alan uses or certainly used to

use it at the at the sports campus. Um

very very useful system. Uh, and it can

be as as basic or as complex as you want

it to be. You can start off small with

this measuring uh just your your high

usage areas if you want or you can you

can roll it out over time to to all

areas of your facility. We started off

small and like I said, we've got 90% of

of the stadium covered now. So, we can

see exactly where where where we're

using water when we're using it and the

same with with energy.

Why do we do it? Um, so we realize water

is not an infinite resource.

Um

it's all about that resource efficiency

part of sustainability.

Um environmental and sustainability

responsibility

responsibility to be to be mindful of

the water that we're using um and and to

put put efficiency measures in place to

reduce that as much as we can to reduce

costs obviously is a big driver. Cost of

water have probably tripled for us over

the past three or four years. Um, so

there's a big a big focus on us trying

to reduce reduce our costs there and the

true cost of water. Again, as mentioned,

it's not just the cost of your water

charges. Um, for example, our cold water

storage pumps are probably our third

largest energy user. So, you're talking

into the the hundreds of thousands of

euro a year just to pump the water

around the stadium. The cost of the gas

then to to heat the water as well. So

yeah, we probably spend

three or four times more on energy when

it comes to our water use than the

actual cost of the water itself. So it's

probably the hidden cost that a lot of

people don't see or don't take into

account. They just probably look at the

water bills at the end of the month and

think that that's what your water is

causing you. But if you're being more

efficient with your water, cutting back

your water use, you're going to save in

in energy as well across electricity and

gas. Like I said, cold water storage

pumps to pump the to pump the water all

around the different levels of the

stadium. Um, it's what I think is our

third largest energy use. So, something

we need to be more mindful of. Uh,

regulatory and and compliance drivers

obviously. Um, our ISO certifications as

well, they they drill a lot into our

water use and what we're looking to do

there to to reduce our our water usage,

operational resilience and event

reliability. Our water systems do come

under a lot of pressure, especially on a

concert day or an all island final for

example. We use an awful lot of water,

probably about 400 cubic meters. Um, on

a large soldout event day like that. So

the the water coming into the stadium

actually doesn't come in fast enough to

deal with how fast it's it's leaving the

stadium. So that's something we're

looking to work with with with Ishka

Erin. But yeah, trying to manage that

that really closely on on an event day

is is is hugely important to doing an

event running successfully.

And linked into that is obviously

reputational benefits. Um

people are looking looking at us to see

what we're doing in this area. We have a

responsibility to

to be sustainably responsible

environmentally responsible when it

comes to our water use, our energy use

and and sustainability in general.

Um just to touch on the water

stewardship program then. So this is

something we we did or signed up to a

number of years ago and it's great for

anyone just starting off in their in

their water journey who just wants to

get a a good grasp on where they're

using water or how their facility

works when it comes to water. It's a

really good a good uh program to do. I

think they run it probably three or four

times a year. So I'd highly recommend

signing up to this if anyone hasn't done

it yet.

It's led by Ishka Erin and you

essentially become a certified water

steward at the end of it. So it builds

awareness of of water risks and

challenges. Um it allows you to develop

a water map for your facility which

really opens your eyes to to where

you're using water. Um allows you to

understand your site's usage and develop

a monitoring plan, implement solutions

and build a system of continuous

improvement. Um, and then there's

continuous water stewardship embedded

into the DNA of your facility, of your

pool, of your of your building, then off

the back of this. And ultimately, if you

implement the program correctly, it

reduces cost and usage. It improves your

reputation and it protects uh the

environment. So, it's a really good

course. There's different levels of the

course. We've done the advanced uh

stewardship course, which is for for

large facilities or large water users.

So, but they do it from for for

buildings and and facilities of all

different sizes. So, I think they did

one day courses up to six or eight week

courses. So, uh we we definitely gained

a lot from it when we did it probably

three or four years ago. So, I'd highly

recommend recommend doing that if no

one's done it yet.

And yeah, that's that's a whistle stop

tour. I'm sure um you have a few

questions um but if you don't, happy to

to share my contact details for anyone

to to follow up in the future.

Yeah. Any questions? Shoot away there.

I'll be happy to answer them.

>> Yeah, that's that's a brilliant thing.

Uh thank you, Colin. Uh thank you for

sharing the case study. Uh it's amazing

all the work that you're doing in

regarding sustainability in Crow Park.

Um

so yeah, guys, if you have any

questions, uh please share in the Q&A

section. Um

I just have a question from our end. Um

Colin, so obviously Crow Park is is a is

a big stadium and it's a it's a big

project in terms of sustainability, but

uh what would your advice be in how

smaller scale uh grounds or even leisure

facilities that how can they implement

those measures uh maybe just to begin

with in their in terms of their journey?

Yeah, I think like I mentioned there in

the last slide definitely to sign up to

something like the water stewardship

program through through which they are

and it's really good starting point just

to get an understanding I suppose of

getting just a water map together. How

many water tanks do I have? Where what

areas do they serve? Where are we using

the most water? What quick winds are in

place? Like the low flush showers, low

flush taps, uh low flush toilets. Like

we've reduced our toilets from probably

flushing 50% to what they used to be,

you know. So parts of our stadium are

probably 30 35 years old. So again, they

weren't built for sustainability back

then. They were built to serve a

purpose. And that purpose is no longer

relevant. So depends on how old your

facility is, how new it is. Do doing a

good water audit of your facility

similar to an energy audit. just seeing

where you're at, where you're at, and

where you need to go, and then filling

out the bit in between of how you're

going to get there, focusing on the

quick wins first. Uh, what budget you

have available, what resources you have

there, but yeah, the the water

stewardship program and other resources

that Ishka Eron have available to them

is is a good start for sure.

>> Good. And uh suppose another one I

suppose was the main drivers in in

behind the waters initiatives. Was it

more like the environment environmental

impact or operational efficiency or just

a combination of both or

>> uh yeah combination like like a lot of

these things started out to reduce cost

you know back before it was labeled as

being sustainable. Same with energy. You

know, people were always trying to cut

cut cut their energy usage, cut their

water usage mainly just to to save

costs. But now, as people are more aware

of sustainability and conserving

resources and their carbon footprint, um

it's not just for for cost reduction.

It's about resource efficiency and

conserving resources and reducing the

carbon footprint as well. So, there's

probably two or three reasons why we do

it. like I said a reputation as well and

to to reduce the risk as well associated

with some of our events. So like the

water harvesting project that we

implemented was largely due to if there

was ever a drought or a shortage of

water um that we'd have a backup supply

there or or a supply there to be able to

water the pitch and to be able to

service some some of our I suppose vital

services if there ever was a drought and

we'd still be able to run an event or

still be able to water the pitch and the

pitch wouldn't wouldn't die or suffer as

as a result. So there's a resilience

piece and and the d-risking our

operations piece there as well. So it's

it's not just about cost or or

sustainability. There's there's the risk

element of it there as well.

>> Yeah.

Well, well done for for all the work

that you're doing in in this in this

topic and we wish you all the best. Um I

do encourage uh everyone to go on Crow

Park um website and go into the stadium

uh section and they have a a lot of

variety of again different uh projects

they've been doing in in this topic. Uh

and there's a lot of helpful information

uh for you to to look through. Um so uh

definitely go and check it out. Uh so

just before uh we finish we do encourage

you to stay connected with the ESM

project. Uh so by uh scanning the QR

code uh here on the on the slide that

will send you to the ESM LinkedIn page.

Um and ESM shares a lot of helpful

information in regarding um the prog the

progress that they're doing throughout

the the project. uh they share learning

from across Europe and information on on

any upcoming webinars and they have a

great newsletter as well linked to uh

sustainable practices in sport and

leisure facilities. So be sure to uh go

on their LinkedIn page to to see

whatever they are sharing. Uh

uh and then finally uh that brings us to

the end of today's webinar. Uh on behalf

of Ireland Active, Sport Ireland and

Esmus, I'd like to sincerely thank Neil

McCabe and Conry for their time and

valuable insights and thank you all for

joining us today. Um just again to

remind you that the webinar has been

recorded. So we will share uh the

recording on our YouTube channel. Um

and if you would like to receive the

presentations of the two speakers uh

again get in touch with us and uh we

will share them with you. Um so that's

all guys. Uh wish you all uh a very

happy festive season and we will talk to

you very soon again.