Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Embodied Carbon in construction materials makes a significant contribution to the lifetime carbon emissions of new buildings. The operational carbon emissions for heating, lighting and other services have been significantly reduced in Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB). These NZEB regulations apply to all new buildings including social and affordable housing developments.  Currently these embodied carbon emissions are addressed in the Climate Action Plan and the Construction Products Regulation.

In addition my Department has issued design guidelines for sustainable housing which includes recommendations to have due regard for the environmental impact of construction materials. These guidelines “Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities” are available on my Department’s website at the following link. www.gov.ie/en/publication/24d9e-quality-housing-for-sustainable-communities-design-guidelines/.

Under the Climate Action Plan the Office of Public Works are putting in place a roadmap to promote greater use of lower-carbon building material alternatives in construction and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) are carrying out a research and development project to examine life cycle analysis and embedded energy in buildings to compare the use of sustainable materials.

Under Housing for All the following suite of measures and relevant targets under the pathway to addressing vacancy and efficient use of existing stock includes:

- The establishment of the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund which will be delivered by local authorities for the provision of serviced sites for housing, to attract people to build their own homes and to support the refurbishment of vacant properties, enabling people to live in small towns and villages, in a sustainable way. It is proposed that this Fund will provide 2,000 home/sites by 2025.

- A new local authority-led programme to help Local Authorities buy or compulsory purchase 2,500 vacant homes in their areas which can then be sold on the open market will ensure homes don’t lie vacant.

- A new Town Centre First policy which I launched on 4 February 2022 providing a major new policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres

 These are supported by the prioritisation of compact growth through the National Planning Framework (NPF). 

Compact growth means targeting a greater proportion of development to take place in settlements of all sizes, through urban infill and the re-use of brownfield lands. Through compact growth, the NPF effectively sets out recycling rates for the reuse of brownfield land, by requiring 40% of new housing nationally, to be built within infill and brownfield lands and encourages reuse of existing building stock (50% of development in the five cities where 50% of future development is to take place and 30% elsewhere, where the other 50% of development is targeted).

As an action of the Climate Action Plan, my Department is currently preparing a guidance document on ‘Improving the Energy Efficiency of Traditional Buildings’. The guidance will be aimed primarily at providing advice to retrofit specifiers and installers on fabric improvements and reducing the operational energy of existing buildings of traditional solid-walled construction. However, it will also draw attention to consideration of the full environmental impact of the works, the embodied emissions of materials used and the use of Life Cycle Assessment to calculate the total carbon footprint of a building project.

As part of the implementation of the Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Built and Archaeological Heritage 2019, my Department is currently exploring the feasibility of developing a Life Cycle Assessment tool specifically for existing, traditional and historic buildings.

 The review of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (known as the Constructions Products Regulations or “the CPR”) was confirmed by the European green deal in December 2019 and the circular economy action plan in March 2020.  In parallel, the European Commission initiated discussion on an implementation plan for a future environmental life cycle assessment framework for construction products, looking at the impacts on the wider environment that occur during the whole life cycle of a construction product. The objective is to identify the strategic issues that need to be addressed with a view to the implementation of Basic Works Requirement 7 ‘Sustainable Use of Natural Resources’ (BWR7) in the context of the current and the future revision to the Construction Products Regulation.

Ireland will be obliged to follow this harmonised procedure via harmonised technical specifications for construction products, when a consensus of approach emerges. In that regard, it would be counter to harmonisation to develop national rules for matters covered by the Internal Market regulation.