Mr. Mark Carlin:

I thank the Chairman and members for the opportunity to engage with the committee on modern methods of construction. I am joined by my colleague Mr. Des O'Toole, who works extensively with our forest industries to develop and promote the use of home-grown timber in applications such as modern methods of construction, which is the main topic of discussion today.

Our forests have never been more important to society in addressing many of the challenges we face today, including climate change and biodiversity loss, and in providing a valuable source of products and materials that will help to drive sustainable living. Recognising this, Coillte recently launched a new long-term vision for our future forest estate that aims to balance and deliver the multiple benefits from our forests across four strategic pillars, namely, climate, nature, wood and people. Our ambition is to create new forests and manage existing forests for greater carbon capture and to provide more habitats to protect and enhance biodiversity. Additionally, we will increase forest recreation areas for everyone to enjoy. We will also support the creation of new homes by continuing to deliver sustainable Irish wood products that will underpin the decarbonisation of our built environment.

Ireland's built environment currently represents 37% of overall annual greenhouse gas emissions, with 14% of these being in the form of embodied carbon, that is, the carbon required to construct our buildings. Timber products have a dual advantage over traditional building products in that they have a lower embodied carbon and a higher level of stored carbon. A recent report by the National Council for Forest Research and Development, COFORD, looked at both the embodied carbon and the carbon stored in building materials. The report clearly identifies a net carbon saving of 8 tonnes of carbon dioxide when we build a timber-frame home rather than a traditional one. This equates to a two and a half times net carbon saving for each new home built.

The benefits of building with wood for mitigating climate change are well understood, but we can do much more in this regard. Today, only about 25% of housing units in Ireland are built with timber frames, whereas the figure is closer to 80% in Scotland and is even higher in Scandinavia. Therefore, there is an opportunity in Ireland to embrace timber-based modern methods of construction at a meaningful scale. In addition to the obvious climate benefits of building with wood, there are many other advantages. The off-site prefabrication of timber frames and mass timber, such as glued laminated timber, glulam, and cross-laminated timber, CLT, provides a quality-controlled environment that results in less waste and fewer environmental impacts from construction. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, 8.2 million tonnes of construction waste was generated in 2020. Prefabrication significantly reduces on-site waste, thereby supporting our circular economy. Using prefabrication is also much less labour intensive, enabling us to build homes faster than with traditional methods of construction. For example, a typical timber-frame home is more than six times quicker to build on-site, taking only one week to construct the main structure.

In order to be able to take advantage of the many benefits of building with wood, key enablers must be put in place. The first enabler relates to policy and regulation. It is worth noting that unlike our European counterparts, Ireland does not have a culture of using wood in construction. Our building regulations currently have a 10 m height limit for the use of timber, which equates to only three storeys. Mass timber buildings of up to 24 storeys are being constructed elsewhere. The regulations must be changed in Ireland. We are also of the view that embodied carbon needs to be measured and quantified for all new builds. We must prioritise low-carbon materials and fast-track the introduction of embodied carbon targets and thresholds.

Another enabler relates to education and promotion. The traditional methods with which we construct our buildings are being challenged. We need to promote a better understanding of the benefits of building with timber and provide the necessary technical guidance and support to our design professionals to allow them to build with these new technologies.

Demonstrator buildings are another enabler. There is an opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of building with wood in our public building and social housing projects.

These projects will help to drive demand, grow skills and increase confidence in these building technologies, which will allow the industry to build capacity and increase investment.

Looking forward, we are very well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity to increase the use of wood in modern methods of construction. We have an increasing softwood fibre resource in Ireland, so we can increase our self-sufficiency in meeting our future timber requirements. We have a leading forest products industry that has the technology and capacity that is needed to produce the quality timber products in order to build low-carbon homes. Accelerating the use of wood in construction is no longer a desire, it is now a climate imperative. Ireland has an opportunity to be at the cutting edge of the next timber-building revolution.

To conclude, we offer members of the committee an open invitation to visit Beyond the Trees, Avondale House and Forest Park. Here, Coillte have pushed the technical boundaries, using homegrown Sitka spruce and Douglas fir to showcase what is possible in construction when forestry, sawmilling, innovation and engineering work together.