Coillte chief executive Imelda Hurley yesterday urged builders to give preference to timber frame houses to help Ireland meet CO2 emissions targets.
The semi-public company hosted a conference yesterday in Wicklow with stakeholders from the public and private sectors.
Pippa Hackett, Junior Secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine was among those attending the event.
Ms Hurley said the event aimed to explore how Ireland can ‘break down barriers’ and make recommendations to accelerate the increased use of wood in construction.
“The only way we can reach our net zero goal is to reduce the climate impact of the construction sector,” she said.
“Innovation, partnership and collaboration will be necessary to achieve this much-needed change.”
Earlier this year, Coillte presented its strategic vision for forestry. It aims to sequester 28 million tons of carbon from the environment by 2050.
As part of this strategy, Coillte aims to plant 100,000 hectares of new forest by 2050, which is a third of Ireland’s afforestation target. The government wants 18 percent of the country to be covered with forests by 2050.
Coillte also aims to produce 25 million cubic meters of Irish timber and help the country create 300,000 new homes by 2030.
Coillte also wants the number of timber frame houses being built in Ireland to increase from the current 20 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050.
“The World Bank forecasts that global wood fiber demand will quadruple by 2050,” said Ms. Hurley.
“It is crucial that Ireland is self-sufficient in meeting its timber needs from well-managed forests, which takes pressure off ‘old-growth’ forests elsewhere in the world.”
She added: “Ireland’s growing capacity to build more timber, through increased off-site use of timber frame, glulam and cross-laminated timber buildings, could significantly increase the overall capacity to build houses in the state while also supporting our local native forestry industry and.” forest products industry.”
Foresters in Ireland have been hampered by delays by the Department of Agriculture in issuing forest licenses, with some applications having been in its system for more than two years.
However, significant progress has been made in tackling the backlog.
The government has also announced a €1.3 billion package for a new forestry support program until 2027.
https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/forestry-enviro/forestry/boss-of-state-owned-forestry-firm-coillte-urges-builders-to-embrace-timber-homes-to-meet-green-targets-42168560.html The boss of the state forest company Coillte urges builders to use wooden houses to achieve green goals
