Leaving Certificate · for Transition Year and 5th year students
Construction Technology
You learn how homes are designed, built, heated and kept healthy — and how to make things well with your own hands. You learn it through real buildings, the same way the subject is examined.
2 years5th and 6th year. At least 180 hours of class time.
4 strandsFour areas of learning, always used together.
3 partsA written exam, a project and a skills test make up your grade.
2 levelsHigher Level and Ordinary Level. The project and skills test are the same for both.
1What you will learn
The subject has four strands. Each strand is a different way of looking at a home.
Strand 1The Built Environment
Where and how we build.
- Choosing a site and getting planning permission
- Good design and our building heritage
- Homes that work for everyone, at every age
- Working safely in the room and on site
Strand 2Design, Materials and Craft Skills
How we design and make.
- Sketching and drawing to explain an idea
- Choosing materials and their impact on the planet
- Hand tools, machines and joints in timber
- Planning and managing your own project
Strand 3Building Fabric
The house itself.
- Foundations, floors, walls, roofs, windows and stairs
- Keeping heat in and water out
- Retrofitting older homes
- The Building Regulations
Strand 4Services and Control Technology
What makes a house work.
- Heating, heat pumps and renewable energy
- Water supply, drainage and wastewater
- Electricity, ventilation and fresh air
- Smart home technology and U-value calculations
2How you will learn it: one real building at a time
You do not study one strand, finish it, and move on to the next. You study a real building — a new house, a damp apartment, an old farmhouse — and take what you need from all four strands. Here is one example.
Strand 1
- Choose the best site
- Apply for planning permission
- Keep the site safe
ScenarioA new house in the countrysideabout six weeks of classFrom SEC Higher Level Sample Paper 1
Strand 2
- Sketch the site and its boundaries
- Choose local materials
- Draw a section to scale
Strand 3
- Pick a foundation for the ground
- Build a warm, dry ground floor
Strand 4
- Bring water and power to the site
- Treat the wastewater on site
You come back to every strand many times over the two years, each time with a new building. This is also how the written exam works: every question is about a building, and no question can be answered from one strand.
Theory classesYou work through each building at your desk: discussion, sketches, drawings and calculations.
Practical classesIn the Construction Technology classroom you use hand tools and machines to make things in timber.
Four ways you will meet the subject
Scenarios
A real building, studied over four to six weeks in your theory classes.
For exampleA damp apartment. A retrofit of an older house. A power cut.
Counts most in
Written exam · 50%
Written exam · 50%
Craft pieces
Small pieces you make in your practical classes. Each one is a step up from the last.
For exampleA photo frame, a phone holder, a key rack — frames held together by joints.
Counts most in
Skills test · 20%
Skills test · 20%
Briefs
A design challenge. You investigate it, design a solution, make it and judge how well it works.
For exampleShort practice briefs in 5th year. The real brief from the SEC (State Examinations Commission) in 6th year.
Counts most in
Your project · 30%
Your project · 30%
Themes
Big ideas that run through every scenario, craft piece and brief.
For exampleSustainability · comfort and health · safety · design for everyone · heritage.
Your two years at a glance
5th year6th year
Theory classes
Practical classes
What counts
3How your grade is made
Three parts. Each one has its own page with the full detail.
Written exam. 2½ hours in June of 6th year. Six questions; you answer Question 1 and any four others. Every question is a building scenario. Your written exam →
Your project. A design folio and something you make, in answer to a brief from the SEC. About 35 hours in 6th year. Your project →
Skills test. You make a small timber frame from a drawing in 3 hours. Your skills test →
Half your marks are earned before the written exam begins. Your project and your skills test are done during 6th year, in class. Steady work across the two years counts.
4What you get out of it
These are skills you use in this subject every week, and keep long after the Leaving Cert.
Solve real problemsFind out why a house is cold or damp, and what would fix it.
Think like a designerLook at a problem, weigh the options and choose — then say why.
Explain with a sketchShow an idea quickly and clearly in a freehand sketch or a scale drawing.
Make things wellMeasure, mark out, cut and fit with hand tools and machines.
Use numbers for realWork out heat loss through a wall and what it costs a family each year.
Work safely and with othersPlan a job, manage your time and keep yourself and others safe.
5In everyday life
Everyone lives in a building. What you learn here you will use whatever job you do.
Renting or buying a homeRead a BER (Building Energy Rating) certificate and know what it means for comfort and bills.
A cold or damp houseKnow why it happens — and what will fix it, and what will not.
Cutting energy billsUnderstand insulation, airtightness, heat pumps and solar panels before you spend money on them.
Talking to the expertsFollow what a builder, an architect or an electrician tells you, and ask the right questions.
Making and fixingUse tools with confidence to make, repair and adapt things at home.
Having your sayUnderstand a planning application in your area, and what makes a street and a town work well.
6Links with your other subjects
Construction Technology uses what you learn in other subjects, and gives it a real job to do.
Strongest link withStrand 1Strand 2Strand 3Strand 4
Physics
Heat transfer, U-values, electricity, light and sound.
Maths
Scale, area, volume, angles and the cost of energy.
Geography
Sites, soils, flooding, climate, settlement and planning.
DCG (Design and Communication Graphics)
Plans, sections, scale drawing and CAD.
Engineering
Materials, making, control systems and smart technology.
Art
Design, proportion, sketching and architecture.
Biology / Agricultural Science
Biodiversity, timber, wastewater treatment and healthy air.
Chemistry
Concrete, lime, timber treatment and how materials decay.
History
Vernacular buildings and how earlier generations built.
Business
Costing, planning a job and managing a project.
7Where it can lead
Ireland needs more homes, and it needs to upgrade the homes it already has. People who understand how buildings work are needed at every level.
Leaving Certificatewith Construction Technology
Apprenticeshipearn while you learnCarpentry and joinery, electrical, plumbing, brick and stonelaying, plastering, wood manufacturing and finishing.
Further educationPLC (Post Leaving Certificate) coursesConstruction, architectural technology, renewable energy, furniture making — often a step into a degree.
Higher educationuniversity or technological universityArchitecture, architectural technology, civil and building services engineering, construction management, quantity surveying, planning, teaching.
Design it
Architect · architectural technologist · interior designer · town plannerBuild it
Carpenter · electrician · plumber · site manager · construction managerEngineer it
Civil, structural or building services engineer · energy engineerUpgrade it
Retrofit coordinator · BER assessor · heat pump or solar installerCost and manage it
Quantity surveyor · project manager · health and safety advisorTeach it
Teacher of Construction Technology, Wood Technology and Engineering8Is it for you?
Thinking of choosing it?
It could suit you if you:
- like to know how things work and why
- enjoy making things with your hands
- are willing to sketch and draw — you will get better every week
- want half your grade earned through work you do in class
- care about homes, energy and the environment
Junior Cycle Wood Technology is a strong start. If you did not take it, talk to your teacher. Before you decide, look at the specification with your school and your parents or guardians.
Just chosen it?
- Expect each topic to come back with a new building. That is the plan, not repetition.
- Ask "which strands is this?" in every class. Soon you will see all four.
- Keep every sketch and every sheet. They become your revision.
- Sketch something every week. It is the skill used in almost every exam question.
- Look at the buildings around you — your house, your school, your street.
- Learn to work safely from day one in the Construction Technology classroom.
Sources: NCCA (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment), Leaving Certificate Construction Technology Specification (2025); SEC, Construction Technology Sample Papers (2026); NCCA, Guidelines to support the Additional Assessment Components in Leaving Certificate Construction Technology (2025). © constructiontechnology.ie 2026