Join us for IGBC’s annual conference for the residential sector.
This year’s Better Homes is all about innovation for low carbon buildings. Ireland needs to quickly build at least 300,000 homes over the next 10 years whilst cutting carbon emissions by 51%. How is this possible? If we build using conventional methods we will blow our carbon budget. We need speed, quality and zero carbon homes across their full life cycle. How about we grow our homes, absorbing CO2, and storing them in beautiful high-quality places to live?
Can we use native forestry and agriculture to develop an indigenous supply chain of high-quality bio-based homes? What is happening at Government policy level to make forestry more attractive to landowners and farmers and eliminate current barriers?
How do we get past some of the financial barriers and regulatory barriers to making large scale timber apartment blocks viable?
AGENDA
| 10.00 am | Introduction | Carbon Designer for Ireland live demo |
| 10.10 am | Minister of State for Agriculture Pippa Hackett TD | Address on the future of forestry in Ireland. |
| 10.25 am | Conan O’Ceallaigh – NUIG | Ireland has the best timber growing conditions in Europe, but can Irish timber be used in construction for use in timber frame or even CLT. What is the capacity of Irish forestry to meet the housing challenge. |
| 10.40 am | Joe Giddings – Alliance for Sustainable Building Products | How can we overcome the barriers to use of mass timber in construction? The UK Timber Accelerator hub is overcoming insurance and other barriers to uptake of timber construction. Can the approach be replicated in Ireland? |
| 10.55 am | Gareth Mason – Stora Enso | What is the potential for large scale timber construction in Europe and how is the market developing? How have barriers been overcome elsewhere? What are the lessons for Ireland.? |
| 11.10 am | Panel discussion
Gareth Mason Joe Giddings Conan O’Ceallaigh Victoria Janssens Diane Harrington |
Can timber be a viable large scale alternative in Ireland to steel and concrete. What do we need to do, to establish a large scale industry, and overcome the social, regulatory and financial barriers to use of timber in housing? |
| 12.00 pm | End |
SPEAKERS
Pippa Hackett is Minister of State for Agriculture with responsibility for land use and biodiversity. She was appointed to this role in June 2020. Pippa was elected to the Agricultural Panel of Seanad Éireann in a by-election on 1 November 2019 and re-elected in 2020. Pippa holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Essex, a postgraduate diploma from University College Dublin, and a PhD from the University of Limerick. She is a former member of Offaly County Council.
Gareth Mason is Sales Director of Stora Enso Western Europe. He has worked in the pre-fabricated timber construction industry for fifteen years and brings a broad perspective drawn from his experience working across the various stages of the construction process. He has specialised in Mass Timber, working as a design engineer and project manager, site co-ordinator and now in international sales. Gareth has been involved in many large-scale mass timber project internationally and is currently involved in the development of the market for Modular CLT and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) in all markets.
Joe Giddings is Project Director of the ASBP’s Timber Accelerator Hub, a research project with the aim of investigating and overcoming the major barriers to the wider uptake of mass timber in the UK. The project is establishing a network of key stakeholders and initiatives already undertaking work to unlock the use of timber, and identifying further work to be done to allow the material to be used as a tool to decarbonise construction. Joe is an architect by background, and is Campaigns Coordinator at Architects Climate Action Network
Dr Conan O’Ceallaigh is an Adjunct Lecturer and Post-doctoral Researcher working with the Timber Engineering Research Group (TERG) at the National University of Ireland Galway. Conan’s research on National and European funded projects has focused on increasing the use of timber in construction through experimental testing and he has significant experience in the structural design testing and characterisation of mass-timber products such as glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT). Conan is an active member of the Irish mirror committee of CEN/TC 250/SC 5 working on the second generation of Eurocode 5 which will provide more prescriptive rules governing the design of mass-timber elements in multi-story timber construction
Victoria Janssens is a structural engineer and an Associate at Arup Dublin. Having lived and worked in Ireland, Canada, the US and Hong Kong, Victoria has experience working on a wide variety of projects ranging from iconic transport buildings, stadia and high-rise developments, to seismic upgrades and unique pavilions. Stemming from her experience working in British Columbia, Victoria has a particular interest in structural timber and is a strong supporter of the wider use of timber in the Irish construction industry.
Diane Harrington is an Architect at Bucholz McEvoy Architects. The design-led practice has completed award-winning projects of various scales, in Ireland and abroad, working in collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams, with an ethos that emphasizes environmentally responsive design solutions. The practice has completed a number of mass timber buildings and is a strong supporter for the wider use of timber as a structural material in Ireland. Diane is a graduate of UCD with experience working in Ireland and the UK. Recent mass timber projects include the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority Headquarters and phase two of the Samuel Beckett Civic Campus, Dun Laoghaire.
| This event is supported by #BuildingLife, an initiative that aims to achieve the mix of private sector action and public policy necessary to tackle the whole-life impact of buildings. Learn more here. |  |
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| The project is supported by | ||
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Bookings
Bookings are closed for this event.
