Over 200 experts from the construction industry, scientific community and regulators attended the Build with Wood Conference.
As the climate and housing crisis continues, the increased use of wood is being considered. Wood products have the lowest embodied carbon of any mainstream building material. Compared to other European countries, Ireland's use of wood in construction is extremely low. Without incorporating the use of wood, it will be difficult for Ireland to meet its embodied carbon reduction targets.
The conference explored the carbon benefits of using more wood in construction and the key actions needed to achieve this by Government, industry and other key stakeholders.
Coillte's forestry strategic vision intends to capture up to 28m tonnes of CO2 from the environment by 2050. In the period to 2030, Coillte plans to produce 25 million m3 of certified Irish wood to support the delivery of Irelands climate action plan which seeks to cut the embodied carbon emissions for materials produced and used in Ireland by at least 30 per cent.
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Coillte intends to raise the level of wood use in the construction of housing from its current level of 20 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050.
Minister of State for Forestry, Senator Pippa Hackett, said: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak at today’s conference bringing together expert speakers and panellists to discuss the importance of timber in construction. We need to use much more wood in our built environment to displace emissions-intensive steel and cement where possible, and we need to maximise the increasing supply of timber that is coming from our forests. The Forest Strategy that I launched last month recognises the importance of timber, in particular its potential to reduce the embodied carbon of our buildings. Government is giving strong support to the expansion of our forest estate, and I encourage all farmers and landowners to give serious consideration to the generous grants and premiums now available under the new Forestry Programme."
Imelda Hurley, CEO, Coillte said: "This group will play a pivotal role in increasing the use of wood in construction. With a collaborative approach, a framework can be created to work through the current barriers, unlock regulatory constraints support demonstrator buildings, and develop the guidance and training materials which our architects and design specifiers need to move this critical agenda forward.
"It is abundantly clear that accelerating the use of wood in our built environment is critical to meeting Ireland’s climate targets. Modern methods of timber construction offer a valuable solution to several issues facing housing delivery in Ireland – increasing the speed of delivery, delivering more sustainable homes, and reducing the need for onsite labour, decarbonising our built environment, and supporting our country's Net Zero ambitions."
