Mass timber insurance: A stock take

Joe Giddings, Projects & Campaigns Director at the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) new Timber Accelerator Hub, explains how some of the complexities surrounding timber and insurance can be addressed.

Despite its many well-known advantages in terms of carbon, waste, speed and quality of construction, mass timber faces multiple challenges that are preventing it being adopted as the primary structural material for most medium and high-rise commercial and residential developments.

Unfavorable changes to regulation have combined with high costs or lack of availability of insurance. With widely held doubts and misconceptions around fire performance persisting amongst insurers, many developers are reluctantly reverting back to concrete or steel – so what’s the solution?

The Timber Accelerator Hub (TAH) was launched earlier this year by the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP), in partnership with the Laudes Foundation, to help develop solutions to these complex challenges alongside timber industry partners including Swedish Wood & Timber Development UK.

More info