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Safe as houses: educating insurance sector on timber and construction

While building with wood has environmental, economic and productivity benefits, extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common across Australia due to climate change impact

Now it’s more important than ever for the insurance sector to understand how timber can be used safely in construction.

As part of WoodSolutions’ commitment to promoting the benefits and effective use of timber, our team recently hosted a webinar for Insurance Business Australia, with 101 representatives registered from the insurance sector.

The session, Assessing risk: why engineered wood products are a safe solution for mid-rise construction, was delivered by Paolo Lavisci, Program Development Manager for FWPA’s WoodSolutions Mid-rise Advisory Program.

During the webinar, Lavisci outlined some of the potential risks most often associated with using engineered wood products (EWPs) in construction, alongside explanations of what insurers should keep in mind when assessing timber projects.

A range of topics were discussed, including designing and building safely with fire in mind; the behaviour of engineered wood products at extreme temperatures; and how off-site construction and pre-fabrication can be used to achieve a safer work site, faster installation and high-quality finishes. Also covered were issues relating to procurement, pricing, and supply chains.

“As wood-based projects require design to be largely resolved before the elements can be produced, projects often experience fewer variations than is common with other materials that have larger tolerances and require more site work,” said Lavisci.

“In general terms, significant advantages can be found in a fast and predictable building process, where the accuracy of EWPs plays a major role, and this should be reflected in your risk assessment matrix and in the related cost allocations.”

WoodSolutions’ 17th fact sheet, Mid-rise insurance, was recommended to attendees during the session as a useful reference, and can be downloaded by clicking here.

The event was moderated by Danny Wood, News Editor of Insurance Business Australia magazine, and offered to magazine subscribers. Attendees included insurance brokers, underwriters, architects, risk engineers and building and quantity surveyors.

During the session, Lavisci was joined by Natasha Carter, Director at Rider Levett Bucknall — an independent global construction and property consultancy which provides management and advice throughout the built environment.

Carter presented a case study on timber from a quantity surveyor’s perspective. This element of the webinar focused on considerations relevant when cost-checking timber buildings.

For more information, expert advice, case studies and technical design guides specific to mid-rise timber design and construction, head to the WoodSolutions website.

To coincide with the webinar, an article based on its content, authored by Lavisci, was published in Insurance Business Australia magazine.

In addition, Insurance Business Australia published a further article, also authored by Lavisci, in response to the severe damage caused to homes and infrastructure by the recent catastrophic flooding in Queensland and New South Wales. The piece outlines steps that can be taken to salvage waterlogged timber.

For more information, readers were directed to the WoodSolutions website, and in particular, Technical design guide 12 — impact and assessment of moisture-affected timber-framed construction.

 

Posted Date: June 14, 2022

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