Insurers won’t cover new build

Companies including Aviva and Axa may pull cover for completed timber-frame buildings amid growing concerns over safety and the spiralling costs of claims, Building reports.

RISCAuthority figures show that 40% of fires that provoked a loss of more than £150,000 involved structures built using modern methods, including timber frame and light gauge steel frame.

A report by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) in December that found commercial fire claims were running at a 20-year high.

Disproportionate losses

Allister Smith, property risk manager at Aviva, said the firm was suffering “disproportionate losses” from large buildings built using modern methods of construction. “There may come a day when some materials will be challenged; the risk assessor will say we are not prepared to take that risk.”

Douglas Barnett, head of customer risk management at insurer Axa, said: “We’ve had massive concerns about this for five to six years. What we now have is the evidence.”

The combination of flammable timber and poorly installed fire barriers within the void means fires can spread easily inside the cavity and back into apartments.

London Assembly investigation

RISCAuthority has handed a report to the London assembly fire investigation panel warning about the risks of timber frame, as part of an Assembly investigation to begin on 16 March, prompted by a fire in a housing block in Peckham in November.