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  • HPH395: How easy is it to insure a natural building? – with Dr. James Glockling

    HPH395: How easy is it to insure a natural building? – with Dr. James Glockling

    Dr. James Glockling explains how insurance works and outlines some of the challenges of insuring a natural building.

    Interview with Dr. James Glockling

    Dr. James Glockling began his career with the Loss Prevention Council, the insurers’ hub for studying fire, security, flood and other loss‑mitigation challenges. He later deepened his expertise at the Building Research Establishment (BRE), and then worked at the Fire Protection Association before setting out on his own as a consultant. His clients are wide-ranging, including insurers and even the military, helping them build resilience and mitigate risks in high‑risk scenarios—from multi-storey apartment blocks to the confines of a submarine. His work reminds us that, regardless of setting, safety rests on the same timeless principle: robust materials and well‑designed systems protect the people who depend on them.

    In this podcast interview we discuss everything from one-off homes to high-rise, multi-dwelling projects.

    Insurance protects the individual against disaster

    Insurance began as a collective safety net, allowing many people to share the cost of rare but catastrophic events. By pooling premiums, an insurer can compensate an individual when a loss occurs, turning an unpredictable disaster into a manageable financial outcome. This principle still underpins modern home and commercial policies, even as building practices evolve. Understanding insurance as a partnership rather than a pure expense helps homeowners see it as part of responsible building.

    “Insurance was originally set up as a means of protecting people against disaster, where you levy a premium on a large group of people to protect the interests of the individual.”

    Insurers have to weigh up a variety of risks

    Underwriters assess far more than fire. They examine the building’s use, size, occupancy, and any ancillary systems such as solar panels, battery storage, EV chargers, green roofs, or underground car parks. Factors like these may have an impact, so insurers request detailed information on design, materials and mitigation measures. The broader the picture they have, the more accurately they can price a policy and set conditions.

    One-off homes should be easier to insure

    As insurers always have to think about a complete loss and rebuild, having a single smaller property is a limited loss scenario. As the scale of a building increases so does the potential loss scenario.

    Self-builders often choose to construct with timber

    Estimated Maximum Loss (EML) is a key metric for insurers

    EML is the insurer’s worst‑case estimate of loss from a single incident, expressed as a proportion of the building’s total value. For a 20‑storey tower, an insurer might assume only four floors could be completely destroyed, translating to a 20 % EML. When new construction methods make fire spread more unpredictable, insurers often raise the EML toward 100 %, which drives premiums skyward or leads to outright refusal. Demonstrating a defensible, lower EML is therefore a key part of the underwriting conversation.

    Under‑insuring is a false economy

    Many owners underestimate the true rebuild cost of their property, declaring a lower value to obtain cheaper premiums. If a total loss occurs, the payout will only cover the declared amount, leaving owners with a significant funding gap. Accurate valuation, combined with robust risk mitigation, ensures that the insurance policy truly protects the investment.

    Insurance companies may have their own specialist areas

    James says that he used to live in a thatched home and that his monthly insurance premium was what most people would pay for a year. This is because if a thatched roof catches fire then the house will be a complete loss. However, NFU Mutual have made this their specialism and are seen as the go-to provider. This is because they understand the risks, know what conditions matter and have a history in this area.

    Water damage is the most common insurance claim

    Water loss accounts for billions of pounds of damage each year and occurs far more frequently than fire. Burst pipes, roof leaks and flood ingress can rapidly degrade timber, leading to rot, mould and structural failure. Early detection systems—wireless tape sensors, automatic shut‑offs—are increasingly expected by insurers, especially for mass timber projects where hidden water would otherwise go unnoticed for months. Proactive monitoring can therefore reduce both risk and premium.

    When it comes to timber, voids present a fire risk

    As timber is combustible, the design of a building becomes crucial. Voids can allow smoke, heat, and flames to spread rapidly, bypassing sprinklers and complicating firefighter access. Mass‑timber panels (CLT, glulam) reduce voids but may be subject to smouldering, which can persist for many hours and even lead to the flames reigniting. These behaviours force insurers to demand rigorous fire‑stopping, compartmentation, and sometimes hybrid designs to keep the EML manageable.

    A self build home that used cross laminated timber

    It’s essential that fire‑stopping is correctly installed

    Every penetration—pipes, ducts, cables—in walls and floors must be sealed with a fire‑stopping material. Missing or poorly installed fire stops create pathways for flames and smoke, dramatically increasing the EML. In light‑timber frames, the sheer number of voids makes comprehensive fire‑stop inspection essential. Regular audits, preferably by a dedicated Clerk of Works, provide the documentary evidence insurers demand. This may make a boring photo collection but it will be a valuable one.

    “I haven’t been to any fire in a building where I haven’t found the fire-stopping either missing or misplaced or just absent.”

    Hybrid designs with concrete cores satisfy insurers

    In high-rise buildings, combining timber with non‑combustible elements—concrete cores, steel columns or concrete plinths—offers insurers a tangible safety buffer. A concrete core protects against fire spread, provides a stable fire‑fighter access route, and serves as a flood‑resistant base. Such hybrids offer the best of both worlds, with the carbon benefits of timber while delivering the structural and fire‑performance assurances underwriters look for.

    Take photos during construction to provide evidence of good workmanship

    Even the best design fails without quality construction. Insurers scrutinise records of on‑site inspections, photographs and sign‑offs to confirm that fire‑stops, penetrations and material installations match the approved design. A diligent Clerk of Works creates a paper trail that can be presented during underwriting and later claims, reducing disputes and speeding up payouts.

    “Evidence is everything, and if there’s a Clerk of Works properly reporting on the job as it’s put together, then that can only be of great benefit.”

    Insurers steer away from complexity

    The industry uses six categories to describe the percentage of combustible material in a building. For example, Structural‑Insulated Panels (SIPs) are often highly combustible, pushing a project into the highest risk tier. When a building lands in the 100 % combustible category, insurers typically raise premiums sharply or decline coverage. Understanding these categories lets designers choose lower‑risk assemblies or offset risk with non‑combustible cores.

    The Mass Timber Insurance Playbook is useful resource

    The Mass Timber Insurance Playbook, co‑authored by Dr. Glockling and broker Philip Callow, lists 26 features that insurers evaluate in timber projects and offers practical mitigation strategies. It is freely downloadable from the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products website and provides a clear roadmap for architects, engineers and developers.

    Increasingly AI is being used in the underwriting process

    Insurers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to analyse loss data, identify patterns and refine risk models. By feeding detailed, high‑quality information from the construction phase into these systems, builders can help shape more favourable underwriting outcomes in the future.

    Find out more

    Mass Timber Insurance Playbook – free download from the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products

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  • HPH388: How are building regulations made? – with John Palmer

    HPH388: How are building regulations made? – with John Palmer

    Having spent the last few years working within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, John Palmer explains how building regulations are made and what their role is within the construction industry.

    Interview with John Palmer

    In 2012, having served as an engineer in the Royal Navy for 16 years, John Palmer pivoted into the construction sector. Over time he gained his Passivhaus credentials, built a high performance home and also spoke to us about the impact of setting an energy target. He then joined the Passivhaus Trust and was trying to lobby the government to do great things for energy efficiency and housing when an opportunity came up in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. He moved into a policy position there four years ago, looking at the Future Homes Standard and Energy Performance Certificates. John has recently taken a secondment to work with the Building Safety Regulator on some of the processing of Building Control applications.

    British building regulations date back to the Great Fire of London

    The origins of building regulations can be traced back to the Great Fire of London in 1666, which resulted in banning timber in the external construction of homes in London. More recently, the building regulations, became not just for fire and structure, but for many other aspects like energy efficiency and moisture, so that there are now 18 parts to the UK Building Regulations.

    Each regulation will require a certain outcome to be achieved

    John explains that the Building Regulations are primarily outcome-based regulations, which means that they don’t set prescriptive requirements for how things should be built. For example, Part B relates to Fire, with outcomes to build things that don’t spread fire to other buildings, and that can resist fire for long enough for people to get out. This could be met in a variety of ways.

    The Building Regulations set minimum standards for life safety

    The primary intent of the Building Regulations is to set minimum standards for life safety and that’s where most of the regulations are targeted. John explains that it’s not just about structural collapse and fire, which are obvious threats to life safety, but also longer-term threats such as poor internal air quality and moisture levels within buildings.

    Over the years, additional regulations have been added that go beyond this. For example, broadband services and electrical vehicle charging have their own part of the regulations.

    Events often drive significant changes to the regulations

    The Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017 had a huge impact upon building safety in the UK, notably prohibiting combustible materials from being used in the external walls of buildings more than 80 metres high.

    Whenever government decides to bring in a change to the regulations, there is a lengthy process involved to work out what the impact of that change might be.

    “Is this going to do what we would like it to do? Is it going to be enough? Are people going to try and circumvent it?”

    There can also be unintended consequences to consider.

    “What else would people use? What are the non-combustible materials? Are there enough of them in the supply chain? What does that mean for the quality of design or structural strength?”

    All these second order effects need to be considered during the policy-making process to ensure the unintended consequences have been explored, and any risks are accepted or understood.

    John Palmer giving a keynote speech at the ASBP Healthy Buildings Conference

    Policy changes stem from the government of the day

    Any changes to the Building Regulations will be initiated by the government of the day, who will ask the civil service for an assessment of the impacts. This will include the second order effects that might occur from a change to the regulations, such as to supply chains and labour markets. Ministers will be looking at how they will balance the impact of the proposed change to the regulations versus other competing government priorities. In some cases, a minor change might be relatively straightforward, with little or no impact on anything else, in which case it would be implemented. Other more significant changes might have bigger impacts on the cost, complexity or material supply chains of new homes. Government ministers will take a measured decision as to whether to press ahead, postpone it or do a lesser version of the change in order to lower the impact. It becomes a proportionality and judgement call for the government of the day at that point.

    Policy‑making is a multi‑stage, consultative process

    John shares an example of how a regulation might be created and the process it would need to go through. So, it might be proposed that we should paint all our houses pink in the future! This would then be assigned to a relevant team in the civil service, and they would look at how it might work and form some options of how it might be achieved. Building regulations might be one of the options. They’ll look at the potential benefits of pink homes, they will put that to ministers, and create a consultation, because normally there has to be input from the public or a stakeholder view for any proposed policy change. The consultation will have to get ministerial approval and cross government approval. It then gets published and runs for a minimum of three months, at which point it will be evaluated. The results may lead to more questions that need answering and so that might require further work. The options then go to ministers, who may ask further questions or want different options. If an option is approved that requires a change to the regulations themselves, not just the guidance, then a statutory instrument needs to be drafted by lawyers, checked several times and then time found for it to be laid in Parliament. In other words, it’s not a trivial process to update the regulations and can take anywhere between 12 months to two years to put in place.

    Other mechanisms could achieve the same outcome

    The other option is to encourage the desired outcome. So, in our example there could be an advisory that encourages all homes to be painted pink, and there might be a scheme whereby discounted rates on pink paint from a local retailer has been arranged. This whole approach could be put in place in two or three months.

    “The carrot encouragement, optional, discretionary type approach to getting things into the built environment is always much quicker than the stick approach of actually going through and making changes to the regulations.”

    Approved Documents provide statutory guidance on how to meet the regulations

    Accompanying the Building Regulations is a set of statutory guidance, known as the Approved Documents. John explains that Part A of the UK Building Regulations, which is a statute in law, has an accompanying Approved Document A, which is the statutory guidance that sets out how that part of the building regulations may be complied with in typical situations. That means that someone designing a building can look at that Approved Document and know that there is a clear path to compliance. John says that if you are doing something slightly unusual, say an innovation, that might not be covered by the Approved Documents, then it is the building regulation itself which must be complied with.

    Regulations will always evolve

    In an ideal world, all regulation is necessary, all regulation is minimal, and all regulation is proportionate. These are the tests that government applies when introducing new regulations. However, things do change over time and regulations which were previously proportionate and made perfect sense, may no longer do so. This means there will always need to be a review and update of the regulations.

    Regulation is nothing without enforcement

    Part of creating a regulation involves working out how the government or the relevant regulator will know if that regulation has been complied with. Also they must consider what action to take if the regulation is breached.

    “As part of the policy process, you would define what the sanctions would be for organisations or individuals that didn’t comply, which might include fines or coming off registers.”

    Building Control is the main mechanism in place to ensure that people are compliant with the building regulations.

    New regulations may have a long lead in time

    Where the impact analysis has been sufficiently confident that the regulation is going to work, it’s not going to cost a fortune or result in supply chains collapsing, it can be put in place in fairly easily. Where it’s less clear-cut, different approaches can be taken. One of the primary routes is to give a long lead in time to allow the industry to plan and adapt. This way it’s also easier to address unintended consequences if they arise.

    John tells us it can be more difficult for the government to run small pilot projects as there is a tendency for people to think a proposal is definitely going to happen, which can result in unintended consequences for segments of the industry.

    Incentive schemes can also encourage behaviours

    Incentive schemes are another mechanism that government uses to encourage certain behaviours. They’re not necessarily regulated in the same way as by their very nature, they’re never going to be enduring. They are used to encourage either innovation in technology, market shifts or consumer behaviour, with solar panels being a good example. When solar panels first came in, they were prohibitively expensive, so incentive schemes mitigated against the high costs, and made them more attractive to homeowners. When the price of solar panels dropped to affordable levels, where payback periods without incentives still made financial sense, the scheme had done its job and that money could be better targeted elsewhere.

    Digital tools and automation are the future of compliance

    Currently, implementation of the Building Regulations relies on individuals becoming experts in compliance, which may not be the optimal way of doing it. John tells us that an Approved Document review panel has just been set up to look at how the documents are formed, communicated and relate to each other.

    “For example, is there a single definition of a dwelling that’s used across all the Approved Documents, or are certain words used in different ways in different parts?”

    John says this does happen, so communicating them more effectively and setting them out in a different way might be an option. Digital processes may also be embraced more in the future, perhaps becoming more integrated into CAD design systems.

    “Where regulations talk about heights, clearances, etc. could it be possible to have a level of automation? Or maybe a red, amber, green indication that you are compliant with the Building Regulations? Those kinds of things could make a big difference and create a better starting point for a designer to feel confident they’ve designed something in accordance with the building regulations.”

    Sometimes you may need specialist input to check you are compliant with the Building Regulations

    When building your own home or having your own home built, you can use either the Local Authority Building Control or a registered Building Control private provider. As part of your project, you will submit evidence to demonstrate that you’re compliant with the Building Regulations. This will include documents and drawings showing the structure of the build, fire safety, etc. For a typical self-builder, this will be quite specialist information that will require technical input. For John when building his own home, he was keen to have an input over the design materials and felt qualified to have a view on those. However, when it came to other parts of the Building Regulations, such as the structure and fire safety he knew he needed to bring in expertise.

    “That specialist input may sit with your architect or designer along with structural engineers, possibly fire engineers and energy assessors when required.”

    New building standards apply to some but not all aspects of retrofit

    John outlines how new build standards, don’t necessarily apply in their entirety to retrofits, because you’re starting with something already built. For example, energy performance will be looked at differently in a retrofit, where you can’t necessarily decide the form factor, the size of the windows or amount of glazing.

    There is also a basic principle of non-worsening in the Building Regulations that applies to retrofits. If you’re redoing an entire wall, you might need to bring that up to a required standard for thermal performance, whilst other aspects of the Building Regulations might not apply. You don’t necessarily have to make your refurbished building as accessible as a new building, but you do need to make sure that it doesn’t get less accessible, which is the non-worsening principle. Your Building Control body should be able to advise on exactly what level you need to reach in certain areas and whether other things would be subject to non-worsening, in which case you can leave them as they are.

    There’s likely to be a more coherent approach to housing as a system

    John concludes by noting that many different pieces of legislation have grown up organically over time, which drive outcomes in the housing sector and so it is a complex area. He thinks that the regulatory landscape will start to evolve to a more coherent approach towards housing as a system. This could go all the way from deciding what you’re going to build, planning, designing, building regulations, and once built to its occupation. All those regulatory regimes could work together a bit more seamlessly, and a bit more effectively.

    “So that the end result – which is people living in high quality, safe, decent homes, beautiful homes that you know are a pleasure to live in – becomes more the norm.”

    Find out more

    Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

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