The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Coillte, will host a conference in October focusing on increasing the use of Irish homegrown timber in construction.

The event, titled 'Build with Wood: From Policy to Practice', will be held on October 15 at Avondale Forest Park, Co. Wicklow.

The event is also being co-organised by the Timber in Construction Steering Group, which was established in November 2023 to explore ways to scale up the use of timber in construction.

The event is set to be opened by a welcome address from architect and broadcaster Dermot Bannon, which will be followed by an address from Minister of State for forestry Michael Healy-Rae.

Following the minister, Coillte CEO Imelda Hurley will address the conference.

The meeting will also hear from private architects and representatives from the construction and engineering sectors; as well as personnel from Forest Industries Ireland and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The topics to be covered include developing guidance for mass timber in Ireland; the carbon impact of modelling timber use; decarbonising construction; and turning policy into practice.

The meeting follows the publication earlier this month of the timber construction in Ireland research report, ‘Pioneering Research and Innovation for timber and wood-based products in Ireland’.

Notable examples of research featured in the booklet include:

SAOLWood – Sustainable Construction and Lifecycle Assessment of Irish Timber;
MODCONS – Modular Mass Timber Buildings for the Circular Economy;
WoodProps – Wood Properties for Ireland Programme.

SAOLWood is creating Ireland’s first national database to track the environmental footprint of Irish wood products across their full life cycle.

MODCONS focuses on the design, development and experimental testing of a sustainable modular timber using prefabrication to speed up construction, reduce waste and improve building performance.

WoodProps, meanwhile, is a national programme helping define the structural capabilities of Irish timber species, especially Sitka spruce.

Launching that report, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon said: "The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is a key funder of forestry and timber research.

"This investment in research and innovation reflects the continued government support for utilising our forest resource and creating a renewable building environment," Minister Heydon.