Future forward at Mahon Point

The beloved Cork shopping destination is reaching new heights in its award-winning sustainable journey

Mahon Point is fast becoming an industry leader with its climate-friendly retail and shopping experience.

Whether it’s a trot through the concourse by wide-eyed fashionistas, foodies relishing field-to-fork artisan produce at the Farmers’ Market, or families gathering over a burger before a flick at the Omniplex — are customers aware of how lean and green their favourite destination shopping centre really is?

Mahon Point is a celebrated, commercial pioneer in terms of their sustainability and energy saving achievements, awarded the first feted BREAAM Certification for a shopping centre in the whole country in 2015. To put this achievement in context — BREAAM is the leading science-based suite of validation and certification systems for a sustainable built environment in the world.

The holistic, Earth-friendly model at Mahon Point, imaginatively improved upon annually with renewable energy retrofits and best environmentally inclined practises, has encouraged other members of the sector to take notice. This is not green-washing, but a meaningful journey towards a highly climate-friendly retail and shopping experience. It works with and for the local communities, involving management, every staff member and individual occupier. Meeting the challenge 24/7, the team at Mahon Point have their sights keenly focused on a carbon neutral retail precinct by 2050.

General Manager, Justin Young, has been involved in forging this unique sustainable journey since 2008. Despite the solid achievements at Mahon Point and lighter carbon footprint, the team consistently describe what they are doing, as an energising work-in-progress, a genuine legacy.

Justin Young, General Manager of Mahon Point Shopping Centre.

“The considerations are threefold” Justin explains. “Firstly — to reduce CO2 emissions, secondly the economic benefits, and thirdly to make us energy independent. Together with our owners, we wanted to look at and understand our carbon footprint for the shopping centre and how we could improve it. Knowing that this is a global issue, how could we address it a local level? Once we began to look at the issues, it opened up a whole set of areas and opportunities.”

Renewable energy and utility efficiencies have played a central role in the sustainable success and productivity of Mahon Point. Over a nine-year period, the centre has pumped the equivalent of 40 Olympic sized swimming pools or 100,000 cubic metres of grey water from their ground-water well. In 2020, a vast photovoltaic array (PV) of 952sq m was installed on the soaring roof, generating around 160,000kWh of electricity per annum, powering the public areas. This summer this was expanded to a further 635sq m of PV panels, with an added 150,000kWh of free, green energy per year.

“Generating and consuming our own renewable electricity cuts down on our greenhouse gas emissions, facilitating a total of 33% of our total electricity requirements per year” Justin explains. “Utilising our LED and solar projects alone, we have annually reduced our carbon emissions by 338 tonnes (the inside/outside LED roll-out was completed this year). A third installation of PV panels is planned for 2023, raising the green gain to 50% per annum towards the total electricity load at the centre.” 

Over 1,500 square metres of PV panels are installed on Mahon Point's roof, powering the shopping centre, with plans for a further installation in 2023.

Where Mahon Point does draw from the Grid, since 2017 they settled on 100% renewable electricity from preferred energy providers.

There’s a palpable sense of community in the proactive adventure, radiating from Mahon Point to the wider localities. Money saving, sustainable initiatives from 100 “Straight to the Point” Bus Eireann services, bike friendly facilities, and an increasingly zero-waste, plastic-free environment, invites visitors to get involved. The brown coded P4 area of the parking at Mahon Point hosts four 250kW Tesla Supercharger stalls, open 24 hours a day. Currently dedicated to Tesla vehicles, these will become universal chargers for all plug-in EV car makes by next year. Cork was the first city to have access to the latest V3 Superchargers in Ireland.

Justin adds, “We are also looking at the expansion of other initiatives including aiming for higher BREEAM certification, additional EV charging points, and improved cycle facilities to allow better access to the local Greenway. Our Farmers’ Market is currently developing a project with Cork Urban Soil Project (CUSP), where all of the compostable market waste will be broken down in a bio-digester and turned into soil to be distributed to gardens and growing projects around the city.” 

The shopping centre sector and others have taken notice of the progress and rewards recorded at Mahon Point. “Earlier this year” Justin reveals, “we participated in a video by the energy company, Pinergy. They run a series of sustainability videos called Sussed, and in a recent episode they featured the Centre, specifically our solar project and our Farmers’ Market. In September we had a visit from the Irish Green Building Council, for a tour to give an overview of the many initiatives we took over the years, and additionally we recently presented at the Irish Shopping Centre Managers Association’s annual conference.” 

Lilian Murphy is pictured at Mahon Point Farmer's Market, surrounded by her tropical plants. The market was recently featured in Pinergy's sustainability series.

The team are keen to ensure that the impact of their sustainable projects are visible, and inspirational for customers. “We have posters in place throughout the mall and on our digital screens as well as a ‘Sustainability Corner’ that highlights our efforts to date. At regular intervals on social media, we flag our ongoing initiatives. Customers as well as our retail partners have been highly supportive of our efforts and welcome all new developments.

“LED lighting has been installed throughout the public areas of the mall” Justin continues, “— and some retailers have also installed this within their stores. Others have looked at different areas such as packaging, product offering etc and all are considering waste management. We provide substantial facilities to allow our retailers to fully recycle their waste streams including a food-composter for our food and beverage retailers. Furthermore, we just introduced green clauses into lease contracts to ensure all comply and play their part with measurable parameters.” 

Do customers really care about the carbon footprint at Mahon Point — wooden forks, green power, water from your well for non-potable water? “Absolutely” Justin responds emphatically, “all our customers care. The socially-conscious younger generation who grew up with global challenges like climate change don’t simply care, they demand and expect greater action. It is now no longer a ‘nice to have’ strategy but a ‘must have’ set of principles top-down, to protect our planet and to address future shopping centre industry trends that will reflect the needs of environmentally and socially conscious consumers and occupiers.” 

Future-forward and mindful, the strategy at Mahon Point is not simply to reach expected parameters, but to exceed them, wherever possible, facilitating good climate behaviour and profitable business prospects for the centre and their retailers.

Justin explains. “ESG is defined as Environmental, Social, and Governance — factors used to measure the sustainability of business practices. Shopping Centre owners are taking a growing interest in the ESG performance of schemes and looking beyond short-term investment horizons to the creation of longer-term value. From a business perspective it gives us a competitive advantage when retailers are looking at locations.

“It is our view, that in the future, tenants will be increasingly attracted to schemes that operate with resource efficiency and in-line with environmental and socially expected norms. We have also made considerable financial savings which have become even more pertinent in the current energy market. Our reduced reliance on the national grid and water supplies can only be a good thing for the planet and our pocket!” 

Find out more by visiting the Mahon Point website.