![While the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action had heard details of how building construction regulations were being strengthened, Alan Farrell (FG) said “self certification [by developers] is not going to cut it”. Photograph: iStock](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NT2IXZB7IC5U44XOLT3TBD5OCU.jpg?auth=4110393994d9a4c1ace4812e70ac8f6caa2557e622070352a054cd8ca191d455&smart=true&width=1024&height=576)
Heat pumps have been installed in 86 per cent of new dwellings in Ireland “and it is expected that all fossil fuel boilers will be fully phased out of new dwellings by the end of next year”, the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action has been told.
Deploying this renewable option is under requirements for nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) that are almost carbon-free, Seán Armstrong, senior adviser with the Department of Housing, told the committee.
“We have also set the requirement that electric vehicle charging infrastructure be installed in all new dwellings with a car parking space within the curtilage, new buildings or buildings undergoing major renovation with more than 10 parking spaces in 2021, and in certain existing non-residential buildings from 2025,” he added.
The department was implementing a range of ambitious decarbonisation actions for housing under the 2023 climate plan and Housing for All, Mr Armstrong confirmed, with modern methods of construction (MMC) and increased use of timber frame dwellings being key elements.
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Deputy Alan Farrell (FG) said the level of carbon associated with construction required further changes to regulations “to promote and incentivise timber construction”. This was needed to dramatically reduce use of carbon-heavy cement, he added.
He questioned why “the Scots and the Nordics” had scaled up timber frame construction but Ireland had not.
While the committee had heard details of how building construction regulations were being strengthened, Mr Farrell said “self certification [by developers] is not going to cut it”.
In spite of the level of heat pump installation being achieved, it was unacceptable that gas and oil boilers were still being installed in new buildings under old planning permissions. This required a separate provision that they cannot be installed in a property, he suggested.
Climate politics is here to stay
Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly agreed there should be a compulsory element “rather than guidance” on building low-carbon buildings and this should extend from urban centres to one-off houses.
New builds aside, there was a lack of clarity on what was being achieved in terms of carbon reductions, she said. “The elephant in the room appears to be existing buildings.”
On embedded carbon in existing buildings, Senator Lynn Boylan (SF) highlighted the extent to which existing buildings were being demolished in Dublin city centre, and questioned whether developers were required to justify their move to demolish buildings or ensure as much material as possible was salvaged from sites.
Mr Armstrong said planning authorities were required “to consider sustainable development of the area”. Equally, conditions could be applied to planning permission to recover construction and demolition waste.
Implementation of NZEBs through building regulations would ensure all new housing delivered under Housing for All was typically “A rated”, while building “healthy, sustainable and durable buildings suitable for the Irish climate both today and into the future”, Mr Armstrong said.
The combination of MMC and alternative technologies currently available would facilitate increased use of timber while reducing carbon and providing cheaper buildings with quicker delivery times, he said.
The retrofitting programme for local authority housing was an essential measure to tackle energy poverty and provide good comfort levels for local authority tenants, he noted. “The plans to retrofit 26 per cent of 36,500 local authority dwellings not currently performing to a building energy rating of ‘B2′, to ‘B2′ or cost-optimal level, by 2030 at an estimated cost of €1.2 billion.”
The department will publish plans and guidance documents shortly to enable a significant increase in delivery of local authority housing using MMC in 2023, he said.
Ireland introduced the Ber system for new buildings and existing buildings which are rented or sold since 2007 – with more than 1 million dwellings now having a Ber.
The department had also introduced regulations that allow efficient district heating systems using unavoidable waste heat to fulfil the renewable requirements of building regulations.
On tightening building regulations, a range of initiatives focusing on ensuring strong and effective regulation in the “building control system” and the construction industry and on improving compliance with Building Regulations had been implemented since 2014, the committee heard.
To further strengthen the building control system, the Minister for Housing was developing proposals for the establishment of an independent building standards regulator. “The objective is to ensure that this body will have sufficient breadth of scope, effective powers of inspection and enforcement, and an appropriate suite of sanctions available to it,” Mr Armstrong said.
