Mr. Pat Barry:

Quite a significant cost within developments relates to the infrastructure, and a large part of the carbon emissions relate to putting in that infrastructure. Our colleagues in UCD have done considerable research on the impact of the embodied carbon of all the infrastructure and of putting in attenuation risks when we could take a more nature-based solutions approach. Such an approach would be more cost-effective and would militate against flooding where there are natural flood defences and attenuation of water through surfaces and where plants and soil are used to slow down the movement of water and runoff. You can save costs through that approach as well.