Building the Future: Bennett Freehill delivering UK & Ireland’s most sustainable campuses

Today at the UK & Ireland Passivhaus Conference, Cormac Freehill will present on the CAFRE Greenmount Campus as part of “DAERA College Campus: College of the Future,” alongside Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and Hamilton Architects.

Bennett Freehill is acting as Passivhaus Consultant, BREEAM Assessor and M&E Designer for both the Greenmount and Loughry campus redevelopments – transformative projects creating the most sustainable campuses in the UK and Ireland.

Following our award-winning work on South West College’s Erne Campus, Bennett Freehill is delivering exemplar buildings that achieve the exceptional dual certification of BREEAM Outstanding and Passivhaus Premium across both CAFRE – College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise campuses.

Our integrated approach combines:

  • Fabric-first design principles for superior thermal performance
  • Full electrification with ground source heat pumps
  • Campus-scale solar PV generation
  • Large-scale battery energy storage systems

 

This comprehensive redevelopment encompasses state-of-the-art student accommodation, classrooms, laboratories, conference facilities, and staff offices – all designed to dramatically reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions while providing exceptional comfort and air quality.

These campuses will serve as living laboratories for sustainable agriculture and land-based education, demonstrating that net-zero principles aren’t aspirational – they’re achievable today through expert design and cutting-edge technology.

Bennett Freehill is committed to creating buildings that don’t just meet sustainability standards – we aim to set them.

Read more about our Passivhaus and NZEB expertise.

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Paul O'Neill

MIET CEng MEng

Paul joined Bennett Freehill in late-2021 as part of the organisations drive towards technical excellence, an employee-focused culture, strategic growth and NZEB focus. 

A Chartered Engineer with 14 years’ experience in the construction and electrical industries, Paul has particular specialisms in electrical engineering, conservation, power generation and vertical transportation having worked on projects in the education, healthcare, hotels and office sectors. 

As electrical engineering design lead, Paul is responsible for technical delivery and project responsibility related to electrical engineering, and more critically, directing technical, quality and standards within the engineering teams.

Paul brings his passion for technical quality, buildability, progressivity and efficiency to the Bennett Freehill team.

Aaron McCarthy

MCIBSE CEng BEng

Aaron is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in sustainability and low carbon design, with detailed knowledge of passive design techniques and thermal modelling procedures.

Aaron joined Bennett Freehill in mid-2021, having previously gained 10 years’ experience as an Energy and Building Services design engineer within leading multi-national building services practices. Aaron brings extensive experience in managing and delivering large scale multi-disciplinary projects and has a wealth of experience in MEP Project Management.

Aaron is responsible for client liaison, technical delivery and management of design teams to ensure we meet our clients aspirations.

Aaron brings his passion and drive for successful project delivery through collaboration with clients and design teams.

In May 2022 Aaron was appointed as Partner.

Cormac Freehill

MCIBSE MIET CEng MSc BEng

A Chartered Building Services Engineer with over 15 years’ experience working with some of the UK’s foremost engineering companies, Cormac has been pivotal to the successful award and delivery of multi-million pound projects since being appointed to the role of Managing Director in June 2020 and rebranding the business as Bennett Freehill.

Cormac brings a new vision, new energy and fresh leadership to the team and is responsible for the strategic growth and development of the business, through supporting and undertaking marketing activities, and the training and development of our technically accomplished staff.  In the role of design team leader and client liaison Cormac ensures that the team delivers pioneering, pragmatic MEP design excellence for our clients. 

Cormac specialises in Passivhaus and Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) construction and is passionate about, and professionally skilled in, Renewable Energy Systems, Energy, Procurement, Design Management and Consulting Engineering.

Cormac Freehill

MCIBSE MIET CEng MSc BEng

A Chartered Building Services Engineer with over 15 years’ experience working with some of the UK’s foremost engineering companies, Cormac has been pivotal to the successful award and delivery of multi-million pound projects since being appointed to the role of Managing Director in June 2020 and rebranding the business as Bennett Freehill.

Cormac brings a new vision, new energy and fresh leadership to the team and is responsible for the strategic growth and development of the business, through supporting and undertaking marketing activities, and the training and development of our technically accomplished staff.  In the role of design team leader and client liaison Cormac ensures that the team delivers pioneering, pragmatic MEP design excellence for our clients. 

Cormac specialises in Passivhaus and Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) construction and is passionate about, and professionally skilled in, Renewable Energy Systems, Energy, Procurement, Design Management and Consulting Engineering.