Friday, 3rd December: Timber frame homes and the opportunity to develop a large-scale timber construction sector were extensively discussed at the Irish Green Building Council’s (IGBC) Better Homes conference today.
Ireland needs to build at least 300,000 homes over the next 10 years. The emissions associated with the construction of these homes, including quarrying, manufacturing and transporting of building materials, could blow out Ireland’s carbon budget. On the other hand, the development of a bio-based construction products industry could significantly reduce these emissions, if a number of challenges are addressed first. These were some of the key points made at the Better Homes conference today.
Opening the event, Minister of for Agriculture with responsibility for land use and biodiversity, Pippa Hackett T.D. said:
“We need to think “Timber first” when designing our new buildings. Growing more trees and using wood in construction provides us with many opportunities, as well as contributing significantly to our ambitions on climate action. It is a natural and renewable product and was the material of choice for many centuries. Critical too, is to ensure the long-term supply of environmentally sustainable timber, which delivers for rural jobs and rural communities.”
Conan O’Ceallaigh, researcher at the National University of Ireland – Galway (NUIG) added: “Ireland has one of the best growing conditions for timber in Europe and this timber is suitable for use in mass timber construction here”.
Pat Barry, CEO of the Irish Green Building Council explained: “The feedback we are getting from our members, Irish and International developers, is that they are very interested in building apartment blocks in mass timber in Ireland. But they are blocked by fire regulations which do not currently allow timber construction above 10 metres”.
The conference heard how over 1,000 mass timber buildings have already been constructed in the UK, and how mass timber is being used across Europe in apartment buildings. To date, only 3 low rise mass timber developments have been built in Ireland. Many Irish organisations have gained considerable experience of designing this type of buildings in other jurisdictions, and these skills could be easily applied in Ireland.
Victoria Janssens, Associate, Building Structures at ARUP said: “We believe that increased use of timber is vital to helping achieve net-zero in construction. We are working globally to break down barriers related to topics like acoustics, vibration and fire safety and to increase the popularity of timber construction”.
Joe Giddings, project director of the Timber Accelerator Hub at The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products added: “One of the main challenges we have faced with mass timber construction in the UK relates to insurance. Recently, insurers have been reluctant to insure these buildings, but we are seeking to overcome these issues with a wide stakeholder network and supporting efforts to explore innovative alternative risk transfer approaches”.