In a bid to enable more equitable insurance for mass timber buildings, the Alliance for Sustainable Building Practices (ASBP) has released its Mass Timber Insurance Playbook (MTIP).
The impact of the Grenfell Tower fire and the ensuing cladding crisis has put the spotlight on the combustibility of material used in buildings. But with the regulatory response focussing on life safety in the event of a fire, the concerns of the insurance industry regarding the potential for structural loss in mass timber building fire has led to challenges for developers in arranging insurance.
Responding directly to this challenge, ASBP has produced a resource that works alongside the construction process from early concept through to operation. The guidance aims to help stakeholders in the insurance and construction industries understand each other’s priorities and language to enable constructive communication and help overcome gaps in understanding that can hold back mass timber construction.
According to co-author of the guidance, Professor Jim Glockling: “Insurance industry concerns are not kneejerk. They are genuine concerns that need addressing. The problem is that stakeholders each speak a very different language, and not all stakeholders are engaged at the right time.”
Taking the RISCAuthority-produced white paper Insurance Challenges of Massive Timber Construction and a possible way forward, the authors worked closely with industry partners and other interested stakeholders to ensure the MTIP represents both insurance and construction best practice. It provides a succinct background and context to the insurance market on what is relevant for underwriters, and on the responsibilities of developers and contracting parties towards risk identification and mitigation when executing a project.
The Playbook uses the RIBA stages in a series of guidance sheets to provide a common ground for all parties to use as a reference point for what is relevant and required by insurers. It follows guidance on protection of buildings (BDM 01) as established by RISCAuthority.
The guidance also looks beyond the issues of fire and combustibility in mass timber projects, looking at construction quality control, record keeping, and building management - all central to building safety. It also addresses the issue of water damage in construction and aims to provide steps for all construction methods at all scales to ensure safe and insurable building are produced.
Co-author Philip Callow of Mass Timber Risk Consulting summarises the pressing need for this work thusly:
“My research has made it very clear that communication is the key to progress. For the most part trades are doing the right thing, but when communication fails that is almost always where the issues lie. There has absolutely been a disconnect in this area.
“The cladding crisis exposed the fact that understanding and regulation of fire risks in construction was not fit to be relied upon. This has made insurers wary about buildings with any combustible components. Simply complying with the regulation is not sufficient to give insurers comfort.”
The report was co-funded by a grant from the Accelerator Fund from Built by Nature, global insurance broker Marsh, and Zurich Resilience Solutions, part of Zurich Insurance Group, to create an industry endorsed guidance and playbook for developers, investors, and designers.
Highlighting the importance of this work, timber specialist and partner at property consultancy Gardiner Theobald, Olly Booth said:
“This new guidance is incredibly important. There has been a lack of understanding of how risks are mitigated by design and construction teams, which have been holding back mass timber construction. Mass timber has been on the back foot and insurance is by far the biggest thing making projects stall.
“There’s a lot of pointers in the Playbook that we should be adopting on all our projects.”
The playbook is available to download from the ASBP website.