Mr. Mark Carlin:

I thank the Deputy. This is an open goal for us. The benefits of timber frames are very obvious from a carbon point of view. A recent Council for Forest Research and Development, COFORD, report calculated that a timber-frame house is 2.5 times more beneficial from the point of view of embodied carbon and stored carbon. That level of benefit increases to 3.5 times for apartments. We are building some of our houses with timber frames but we are not cutting through at all into apartments because of issues around height. Mr. O'Toole can address the specifics in that regard in a moment.

I do not think timber frame is well understood. People sometimes think it is some form of log cabin. They do not understand exactly what timber frame is. It is a modern method of construction, and it is very difficult to tell the difference in a finished building. The good thing is we do not have to persuade buyers. We just have to persuade local authorities, developers and investors that this is the right thing to do. There are carbon benefits. We have just talked about capacity and off-site construction is the way to do this because it is 25% faster. There is an inevitability here. The material cost is probably about the same but when it comes to second fixing and finishing out the project, it is a lot cheaper because it is a lot faster. I am confident we can make this jump quickly. Scotland has a very similar society and 80% of its house building includes timber. There is no reason that cannot happen in Ireland. Timber frame is not a new technology. It is here right now. We have invested heavily in timber frame. We have a growing softwood resource here in Ireland that we can utilise. We do not have to import the materials. We have a sawmill sector which has invested €200 million in the past five years. It is one of the most technologically advanced sawmill sectors in Europe. We have a timber-frame sector that is ready to deliver. It is all set up for us to take advantage. Mr. O'Toole might address some of the specifics and key takeaways on how to drive forward with timber frame.