2023 Reflections - Part 1 - Mass Timber & Insurance
Morning all. As the brain helpfully does sometimes, I found myself reflecting on 2023 at 3.30am this morning having been woken up by our youngest daughter. Therefore in an effort to prevent this from happening again, the advice is to write these thoughts down is it not?! So here we go - and I will split them into parts in an attempt to not write War & Peace...
Reflections on 2023 - Part 1 - Mass Timber & Insurance
2023 saw perhaps the most significant progress in the world of mass timber since I have been involved in it (8 years-ish). This year saw the launch of a number of materials aimed at improving the communication and understanding between the sectors;
- The Mass Timber Insurance Playbook - available here: https://asbp.org.uk/project/mass-timber-insurance-playbook.
An excellent piece of work trying to demystify insurers' thinking when it comes to asset protection, how and when to engage them on a project etc. Apologies as I won't be able to list everyone but main credit goes to;
- The New Model Building - detail available here:
Timber in general took a huge hit post-Grenfell, and perhaps no more acutely felt than in the mid-rise residential space, where concerns about combustibility mothballed a whole sector almost overnight. Huge credit to Andrew Waugh, Anthony Thistleton-Smith and their team - they stuck by their beliefs, and part of this involved proving to the world that sustainable mass timber residential construction can be perfectly safe - step forward the New Model Building. Having seen first hand the pain involved in getting this to print needing the sign off of so many different interested parties - this is a gamechanger and needs to be shouted about. Credit again to Built by Nature for seeing the value in this and supporting it Joe Giddings.
- The Commercial Timber Building Guidebook - detail here:
Still a work in progress, but testament to James Souter and his team, they had to put a limit on/turn down further interested parties from funding/being involved in the project, such was the interest from the Real Estate and Development industry in the UK. Backed by a who's who of big hitters in UK Real Estate including British Land & Landsec (full list if you follow the link above), this sends a hugely positive signal to the UK market as a whole that the direction of travel is unstoppably sustainable and heavily mass timber.
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Finally, an early Christmas present from the UK Government - who signaled it's intent to support the increased use of timber in construction across all sectors, recognising the huge value it will play in helping us achieve our nationwide net-zero ambitions. Credit here particularly to Andrew Carpenter and David Hopkins and all at the Confederation of Timber Industries - CTI for the heavy supporting role they played in ensuring this was kept high on the agenda, and published!
Away from the publications and into the real world, it has been a far, far more positive year for starts on site in the UK involving mass timber. We are insuring a number, and have a number more coming forward in the early part of 2024. This is especially encouraging given the tough year it has been generally in terms of new construction projects progressing in the UK.
So - to insurance. The insurance industry really feels like it has turned its own corner in 2023 when it comes to understanding mass timber, and moving towards a position where they can feel genuinely comfortable insuring it - which has no doubt been in large part due to all of the above. Clearly not all insurers are equal in terms of appetite and understanding, but my conviction that insurance should not be the barrier to a scheme using timber is stronger than ever, given the number of large and complex timber projects we have secured insurance for in the past 18 months. Huge credit/thanks in particular has to go to James Bell at Aviva and Alastair Baker at Axa for braving the stage with me as we held a Sustainable Construction event in Lloyds in September, and for being leading voices in the support of finding solutions here. A huge shout out to my colleague Sam Hiller for leading this event and making it such a success (and thank you also hugely to Ben Cross , Meredith Davey , Kelly Harrison & Eoin O'Loughlin for braving the insurance world and delivering such powerful presentations!).
Furthermore, it feels like we have turned a corner when it comes to providing developers and property owners with the confidence that their schemes will be insurable, and at an equitable rate, upon completion. We are working for a number of clients where we are some distance away from completion, but already engaging the real estate market in order to provide feedback and guidance on pricing - something that until this year has been a real sticking point for many.
Finally, it was great to see a bit of a "full circle" moment as Waugh Thistleton Architects won Architect of the Year in the AJ for The Black & White Building:https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/timber-all-the-way-the-black-white-building-by-waugh-thistleton. Having seen this right from conception and insuring it through construction, it was a brilliant moment to see London's Tallest Mass Timber Office Building being acknowledged for what it is - a gamechanger for sustainable, beautiful construction.
So my overall summary would be - a really positive year; problems not necessarily solved, but huge progress. There is undoubtedly loads I have missed and loads of people I should have acknowledged that I have not, for which I apologise. I am also never quite sure which clients would appreciate me mentioning them (or not!) by name, so I have aired on the side of caution - however you all know who you are, and thank you for your support and conviction in moving this work forward. Here's to more timber in 2024!!
Part 2 to come tomorrow... Real Estate & Insurance...
Structural Engineer · Mass Timber Consultant
1 年Love the reflections and status update, thank you for sharing Dominic. We are seeing similar trends in the US. However, insurance continues to persist as a very significant hurdle, just last week I was involved in a project that started design as mass timber but moved away in part due to the insurance premium (compared to a noncombustible building, the BR for mass timber was an add of more than half a million US $). At this point in time, and perhaps any, it is unrealistic to expect mass timber rates to match NC, so the biggest things a team can do to aid their insurance success are work with experienced people, have a very thorough and competent plan in place for construction process, contingencies, backup and so on, start the insurance procurement process early, and know that you still will pay more so work that into the budget. In addition to the mass timber insurance resources on our webpage (link below), we have also been working with Michael Hastings to adapt the UK Mass Timber Insurance Playbook, alongside the very talented authors Philip Callow and Jim Glockling. https://www.woodworks.org/learn/mass-timber-clt/mass-timber-building-insurance/
Founder & CEO at RRM (Rosetta Risk Management) a Data First Construction MGA
1 年Dominic Lion ACII you forgot to mention that we Rosetta Risk Management launched the first mass timber focused MGA two weeks ago and that we along with our partners DUAL UK are here ready to serve you and your clients!