RE-CUGI
Reducing Emissions through Compact Urban Growth in Ireland
Project description
The RE-CUGI project promotes low-carbon development for sustainable, lively and resilient communities through quantifying carbon impacts of neighbourhoods and its associative infrastructure. Currently, carbon is calculated mainly for buildings only and not for associated infrastructure and transport.
Every square meter of a constructed home adds approximately 600 to 1400 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kgCO2e). This is before the carbon cost of each car parking space, the linear metre of road, water and utility infrastructure needed to serve these dwellings is counted.
The RE-CUGI project builds on the research project Viable Homes, which for the first time in the Irish context quantified the carbon cost of infrastructure, in addition to the dwellings themselves. The Viable Homes guide and report showed that the optimisation of newly built areas and the efficiency of infrastructure per dwelling must play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions at the early design stage before material selection is considered.
In RE-CUGI, tools are being trialled such as the PLACE tool which is a pre-planning and planning, liveability and carbon quantification tool useful to planners, policymakers, developers, green finance providers and building design professionals interested in evaluating potential sites and situating low carbon developments.
Low carbon development relates to multiple actions in the Climate Action Plan including those addressing the implementation of the National Planning Framework and the main aim of RE-CUGI is to make the case for the low carbon development in Ireland’s villages, towns and cities.
Goal
The research and tools support the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2021, which commits to:
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030,
- codify annual carbon budgets and sectoral ceilings,
- mandate the yearly production of a Climate Action Plan
- introduce a requirement for Local Authorities to prepare individual climate action plans
Timeline
3 years (April 2023 – April 2026
Partners
Who Was Involved?
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University College Dublin
Funders
Who supported the project?
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SEAI
Grant no RDD850
IGBC Team
Who Works On This?
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Brian Crowley
Brian joined IGBC in 2022 working on the Home Performance Index (HPI) Certification and co-leads IGBC’s research on EU Taxonomy. An architectural graduate of UCD with a further Masters in Environmental Policy, Brian brings a strong academic foundation combined with hands-on experience supporting rural communities in developing local regeneration plans. -
Michael K. Hayes
Michael is an architect and PhD candidate at UCD’s School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, researching how different forms of urban expansion impact the operational energy use of towns and cities. His PhD is jointly funded by IGBC and Research Ireland through the Enterprise Partnership Scheme (Project ID: ESPG/2024/882). -
Joselyn López Pelayo
Joselyn joined IGBC in 2024 contributing to several projects. An architect with an MSc in Architecture, Urbanism and Climate Action from UCD, she previously worked as a researcher and project manager at UCD on projects including PROBONO, HeritACT and RE-CUGI. Her expertise spans adaptive reuse of existing buildings, stakeholder engagement and life cycle assessment of new constructions and site works. -
Sally Carpenter
Sally joined IGBC in October 2025 contributing to certification projects including the Home Performance Index and the CO2 Performance Ladder. She holds an MSc in Smart and Sustainable Cities from Trinity College Dublin, where her dissertation explored housing and communal space in Dublin’s Liberties, and a BA in Psychology from Boston College with a minor in Environmental Studies.
How to Get Involved
If you have any questions about this project and want to get involved, please contact Brian.