At RSA, we have several commitments to climate and sustainability initiatives. One example being our commitment to low-carbon underwriting and investments. We aim to work with customers whose ethos aligns with our own – to improve sustainability.
As first appeared in Property Week in February 2024, RSA’s Tony Collman (Property Director, Specialty Lines) details how we’re working with property customers to help them meet their goals.
New opportunities and ideas
Property owners are increasingly considering ‘what are the first steps in becoming more sustainable?’ and ‘is it achievable?’. As new technologies emerge, a few key areas have become focal points:
Modern methods of construction
Reducing carbon footprints in production and transportation of materials is paramount. Property owners and developers should also consider adding emissions-reducing elements to existing buildings. For example, a build in London estimated that using modern methods produces 90% less waste, and involved 60% fewer truck journeys than conventional construction.
As with any new technology, long-term exposure and life-cycle should be explored and monitored to understand if it is creating a positive impact.
Effective risk management
Having effective risk management from the off can impact how property owners and developers carry out their projects. Having a clear and robust strategy in place reduces risks, leading to effective work carried out, and in turn helping to reduce claims and improve sustainability.
At RSA, we like our risk engineers and underwriting specialists to be involved as early as possible. This can help enable innovation, and give us the best risk information and data to allow us to underwrite appropriately. Risks are easier to identify and address early on, allowing for mitigation during the design stage.
Reducing carbon footprint with concrete
Concrete has a large carbon footprint. The manufacture of cement – a crucial binding agent in the making of concrete – is believed to have accounted for at least 8% of the world’s total CO2 emissions in 2022.
Some building companies have started to use recycled concrete, which has been shown to reduce carbon footprint by around 60%. However, there are still some unknowns around risk factors involved with using the material. These concerns include strength of the material, exposure to weather effects, and water absorption – all which must be considered when using this material.
Using cross-laminated timber (CLT)
A form of engineered wood, CLT can be made from the wood of trees sources from sustainably managed forests. The wood used in CLT captures and isolates CO2, helping to reduce overall carbon footprints of a building. For property owners, the main benefit is better thermal insulation, leading to reductions in energy bills. There are, however, unknowns about the use of CLT since there’s still a relatively short loss history to look back on.
Where our customers are using these alternative materials, we can actively guide clients so that they can reduce, manage or mitigate risks in the design rather than telling them they need to do this retrospectively, helping to ensure that the finished asset is insurable.
Evolving building design
Living walls and roofs
Property owners can consider things like living or green walls in their project designs, which can help improve air quality, boost biodiversity and provide thermal benefits to buildings. Blue roofs also have big environmental and sustainability benefits – they retain rainwater that can be reused.
Effective insulation
Insulation is a simple solution that can help reduce the need for high heating-use, especially during the colder months. It can also help to improve indoor air quality.
Water solutions
Aerated taps are a good solution to reduce water consumption and waste. A rainwater harvesting system could also be installed, such as a water butt, to collect rainwater to use on plants and outdoor spaces, or for flushing toilets and washing clothes.
Renewable energy
Solar – solar energy is directly converted into electricity through photovoltaic panels (solar panels). Solar thermal energy is more commonly found outside of the UK in industrial builds for water heat production.
Wind – wind turbines can now be built into the design of large-scale buildings, such as those seen on the Bahrain World Trade Centre. Alternatively, if land-size permits, wind turbines could be installed within proximity of a build to future-proof the use of wind energy.
Communication and early involvement is paramount
As we’ve already touched on, at RSA we like to be involved as early as possible in property owners’ projects or builds, to help mitigate risks and provide insight and ideas on how to adopt sustainable practices into buildings. We know that doing this retrospectively and having involvement at a later stage can be much harder and more expensive for the customer.
We can design insurance cover that enables property owners and developers to continue innovating and delivering on their sustainability goals, as well as aligning to our own.
