Overview
Water, not fire, is the risk most likely to determine whether mass timber succeeds as a mainstream construction method. Escape of water events alone cost UK insurers over £600 million a year, and escape of water and freezing losses combined total around $13 billion annually in the US. Unchecked water and moisture can compromise structural performance, cause decay and mould, invalidate manufacturer warranties, affect insurability and expose occupants to health risks.
This webinar launches new international guidance from ASBP, developed thanks to funding from the Softwood Lumber Board and Swedish Wood, on managing water and moisture risk across the whole life of a mass timber building, from design and manufacture through construction, occupation and eventual reuse.
It is a sister publication to the Mass Timber Insurance Playbook and a forthcoming guide on damage assessment and repair pathways for mass timber buildings. Together these documents form a growing body of ASBP guidance aimed at identifying and overcoming challenges to the design, delivery and long-term performance of mass timber buildings.
The guidance is written for architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers, insurers, investors and building owners. It is internationally applicable, with regional considerations added where relevant, and aims to complement existing local, national and international construction codes, rather than replace or impair.
The guidance sets out:
- How to undertake water, moisture, escape of water and flood risk assessments for both the construction and occupation phases
- Design principles for construction water resilience, including roof-first strategies, early facade installation, weather-resistant connection detailing and temporary drainage
- How to design for the release of encapsulated construction moisture after completion, including dryness verification hold points and handover of monitoring data
- Architectural detailing that keeps structural timber out of the wettest zones and makes wet rooms room-within-room constructions
- Specification of moisture monitoring, leak detection and automatic control systems
- Designing for inspectability and ease of repair, including reversible connections and separation of building layers by expected life
- Scheduling and sequencing measures, including just-in-time delivery, zone-based programming and appointment of a moisture management coordinator
- First aid measures for water removal and drying during construction and occupation
- What the insurance market expects across construction, latent defects, property, business interruption and liability cover, and the case for pre-agreed terms of repair
Rather than duplicate existing work, the guidance references out extensively to established texts including the Mass Timber Insurance Playbook, the Canadian Wood Council’s construction moisture management handbook, RDH’s moisture risk management strategies, the FPA joint code of practice on escape of water, the Danish Technological Institute’s moisture management guide, Timber Development UK guidance and the Swedish Wood CLT Handbook, amongst others.
The guidance was developed with an international steering group drawn from the insurance, construction and timber sectors across the UK, Europe and North America, with input and feedback from Aon, BFL Canada, Buro Happold, Eurban, RISCAuthority (FPA), KLH UK, Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), Rothoblaas, Tector, Timber Development UK and WoodWorks.
Programme
16:00 Welcome and introduction – Richard Broad, Chief Executive, ASBP
16:05 Why this guidance matters – Softwood Lumber Board and Swedish Wood
16:15 Overview of the guidance – Dr Jim Glockling, lead author
16:40 Q&A
17:00 Close
Key details
Date: Tuesday 24th November 2026
Time: 16:00 – 17:00 GMT
17:00-18:00 CET (Central Europe) / 11:00-12:00 EST (New York, Toronto) / 10:00-11:00 CST (Chicago, Dallas) / 09:00-10:00 MST (Denver, Phoenix) / 08:00-9:00 PST (Los Angeles, Vancouver)
Location: Online
Cost: Free, registration required
Registration
Free to attend, registration required.
By subscribing to this event you will be added to our mailing list so you can keep up-to-date with our latest news and upcoming events. If you are already on our mailing list then we will update your profile with new information if necessary. You can unsubscribe at any time. View privacy policy – https://asbp.org.uk/privacy-policy.