Offsite Prefabrication for Traditional Building, Onsite Installation for MMC Projects – Pipelife Ireland’s Heating Systems
Pipelife Ireland is a leading manufacturer and provider of piping systems for heating and plumbing contracting in construction projects nationwide. Upskilling in the company’s Renewable Training Academy is a core part of its approach to supporting staff and enabling companies using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) to deliver a higher standard of building.
In modern construction, energy efficiency and compliance with higher sustainability targets is of significant value. That makes Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) system manufacturers and installers core to the construction supply chain. If piping and heating units are prefabricated offsite for ease of installation onsite, or optimised for integration by MMC companies that are manufacturing structural panels or 3D modules offsite, it will be simpler to maximise this value.
For MEP system manufacturers, embracing advanced offsite manufacturing, Lean principles, and sustainable production linked to carbon output and Life Cycle Assessment can pay dividends. Drawing on half a century of manufacturing experience, Pipelife Ireland is now at the forefront of developing innovative heating and piping systems for building projects across the country. In particular, Pipelife is increasingly focused on delivering a range of expert designed products to support more sustainable, and more energy efficient, residential apartment developments.
In recent years, Pipelife has invested significantly in its manufacturing operations in Little Island, Co. Cork. This included installing 10 new high-speed, automated extrusion lines for piping products, with all older extrusion lines due to be replaced by the end of 2027. By then, the company will have 28 high-speed, automated extrusion lines in operation. These will have an annual capacity to extrude close to 48,000 tons of piping across the sectors that Pipelife serves.
This investment plan also encompassed building Pipelife’s new Renewable Training Academy in Cork, and revamping its Distribution Depot in Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, to cater for training installers, architects, and engineers. To complement this, Pipelife has also launched a €4 million, three-year training programme, backed by IDA Ireland, to upskill its 200+ employees.
Specification Manager Eoghan Considine and Quality Engineer João Carita have both enjoyed these recent upskilling opportunities and contributed to developing Pipelife’s offsite solutions.
João came to Ireland in 2022 after close to a decade working in his native Portugal as a Quality Engineer for a company specialised in plumbing fixtures. First graduating in chemical engineering, João returned to study for a Diploma in Environmental & Energy Engineering to pivot his skillset.
“My wife and I had just had our son less than a year before the opportunity with Pipelife came up, but I couldn’t turn down working for well-known global name in engineering.”
Quality Engineer and Sustainability & Continuous Improvement Leader at Pipelife Ireland
This background has aided his subsequent work at Pipelife, as has upskilling in circular economy principles and AI deployment for sustainability through the Skillnet Climate Ready Academy. He is also currently undertaking a Lean Black Belt, to improve the quality management process and help him identify opportunities for waste reduction and continuous product improvement.
Eoghan, meanwhile, qualified as an Architect from Technological University Dublin in the wake of the 2008 Recession, leaving him with few career opportunities. That led him to launch his own company installing wireless heating controls for residential developments. In 2017, Eoghan started working in sales and as a Business Development Manager for a series of ventilation system companies. In a latter role he worked in product specification, with Pipelife a core client.
“I had a lengthy relationship with Pipelife across three years or so and always really admired how they did business. When the chance to work with Pipelife came up, I took it.”
Specification Manager at Pipelife Ireland
Within a year, Eoghan requested to join the Construction Innovation programme at the University of Galway to improve his knowledge of MMC. This provided what Eoghan called a “perfect helicopter view of the whole industry”, with the course part-funded by the Springboard+ initiative and the remainder covered by Pipelife, to support Eoghan’s professional development.
Indeed, this exposure to core MMC concepts repaid itself quickly. Eoghan was central in the design of Pipelife’s Inova Indoor Heat Pump, with this system designed for easy pre-installation offsite within full modular units for improved quality and reduced build time. He elaborated that much of his role is about product identification and specification for developments using MMC.
“For 2D panelised options, such as LGS or timber frame, we need to be involved from the design phase with the client and architects so we can coordinate penetration points for installing our systems, and ensure spacings are correct for the structural panels used.”
Specification Manager at Pipelife Ireland
Eoghan elaborated that the rest of his day-to-day encompasses coordinating installations with architects and consultant engineers, handling BER and other sustainability compliance queries, developing and testing new products for Pipelife to launch in the Irish market., and delivering CPDs to engineers and architects, and system installation training to contractors.
“Although I have been developing new systems for the market for years, my architecture background—having a full overview of a building’s fabric and envelope, and its design—helps me to develop more widely deployable heating and ventilation solutions. Communicating how to integrate a system into a building’s superstructure is also vital.”
Specification Manager at Pipelife Ireland
For João, the training in sustainability (particularly the application of AI to identify growth opportunities) and Lean production directly supports his day-to-day activities. This includes supporting manufacturing quality, working with production and technical teams to address process inefficiencies, handling customer quality queries, supporting product validation activities, and driving continuous improvement initiatives.
Two recent Pipelife projects showcase the skills in product specification and quality assessment needed for both offsite prefabrication in a traditional build and onsite installation in modular units.
“Many of the products we manufacture are used in construction projects where quality and consistency are critical. There is very little tolerance for defects once products leave the factory, so our focus is on building quality into the manufacturing process from the start. We are also working to increase the use of recycled materials while maintaining compliance and product performance. With greater automation and process monitoring, we can identify variation earlier, improve efficiency, reduce waste, and continuously enhance product quality, helping us deliver more sustainable manufacturing outcomes.”
Quality Engineer and Sustainability & Continuous Improvement Leader at Pipelife Ireland
In the first case study, Pipelife was contracted to install its Inova indoor R290 heat pump for a project using Insulate Concrete Formwork (ICF) on a development of 39 apartments in Co. Cork. Eoghan worked with the project architect, BER assessor, and developer to model and design the most appropriate system to match their needs, as well as provide regular onsite support.
In the second case study, Pipelife was contracted to install indoor heat pumps directly into the modules of an offsite manufacturer of 3D volumetric garden pods. These heat pumps were designed for both one and two-bed typologies, so Pipelife could adapt the pumps at scale and ensure installation within the modules in the offsite manufacturing facility was seamless.
If energy efficiency and compliance with higher sustainability targets is paramount to modern construction, training in core skills for both offsite prefabrication and onsite installation of leading solutions is important. Pipelife, and its employees, are sure to be at the forefront of that move.
