Mr. Sean Downey:

The Deputy raised three issues: embodied carbon, the huge supply of homegrown timber and the urban design guidelines or Part B restrictions. They are all interlinked. We have already talked about what we need to see happen with the review of Part B of the fire regulations. There must be a technically led approach to allowing people to develop fire-engineering solutions, as Mr. Kirwan referenced. It is not subjective. It is completely objective whether a building can meet the performance requirements, provide a safe means of escape and protect firefighters in the event of a fire. We have a huge opportunity in embodied carbon. Some of the larger developers are looking at the concept of a factory in a box. If they have a site of 800 units in Galway, they are talking about commissioning a local factory to deliver offsite manufacturing in the locality, whether that is timber frame or structurally insulated panel systems. We should think about the benefits they will get with respect to the carbon rating for those homes they are delivering. We would absolutely like to see urban design guidelines. We talk about more compact settlements so that a much greater advantage is obtained from available urban sites. We can build eight to ten storeys in cities like Dublin and other major urban centres to get the scale and capacity and ensure we are making the best use of the type of technology that offsite manufacturing offers.