About the Playbook
The objective of the Mass Timber Insurance Playbook is to enable a collaborative approach between construction teams and insurers, opening the door to more equitable insurance for mass timber buildings.
Mass timber has the potential to reduce the embodied impact of construction versus more conventional materials such as concrete and steel. It is strong and light, and as a natural material, has a strong aesthetic appeal. But, especially since the Grenfell disaster, mass timber projects have sometimes faced difficulty securing insurance.
The Mass Timber Insurance Playbook is a direct response to the challenges developers have faced, providing guidance for all parties involved in arranging insurance – for both development and operation of projects.
The Playbook was written by insurance and building resilience specialists, to help stakeholders in the insurance and construction industries to understand each other’s priorities and language. The aim is to enable constructive communication, to help overcome gaps in understanding that sometimes hold back mass timber construction.
Launch event
View the online launch recording
Find out more about the Playbook with the recording of our hour long launch webinar.
Project partners
In partnership with the ASBP, the development of the guide has been overseen by the founder of Mass Timber Risk Consulting Ltd, Philip Callow, who has 19 years of experience as a construction insurance broker and underwriter, and Jim Glockling, previous Director at RISCAuthority, the leading UK risk assessment organisation for construction, and currently an independent consultant and Visiting Professor, School of Natural Sciences University of Central Lancashire. Prof. Glockling authored, in association with UK insurers, the widely circulated 2022 industry publication which described the insurance challenges of mass timber construction.
In support of the project, ASBP was awarded a €97,000 Accelerator Fund from Built by Nature, a network and grant-making organisation with a mission to accelerate the timber building transformation in Europe. Co-funding of €17,400 and in-kind expertise are provided by global insurance broker Marsh, and Zurich Resilience Solutions, part of Zurich Insurance Group.
Project partners includes Eurban and Gardiner & Theobold. Supporters include RIBA, Woodknowledge Wales, PEFC UK, London Engineering Group and Timber Development UK.
Videos
A recording of one of our Mass Timber Insurance Playbook stakeholder workshops.
Hear from Whitby Wood’s Associate Director Kelly Harrison on the importance of early stage engagement between designers and insurers.
Timber Accelerator Hub
The Mass Timber Insurance Playbook is a continuation of work that began with the Timber Accelerator Hub, which culiminated in a report shedding light on the major challenges faced by developers in their attempts to reduce carbon emissions in new building projects. It recommends a series of potential solutions that could unlock significant carbon savings through an increase in the use of mass timber.
Find out more
To find out more about the project, please contact Simon Corbey – simon@asbp.org.uk.
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