Mass Timber Construction and Financing Projects
Traditional construction approaches provide a mechanism for auditing works completed on-site and allow for progress claims to be progressed based the transfer of title when the good become associated elements of the building. Such an approach has been used for many years and proves to be a fair and equitable exchange in goods and service for payment. Mass Timber Construction (MTC) differs from the traditional primarily as the building is built in elements and components off-site requiring payment for materials contained off-site without the security of physical association to the building. Further, the company producing the off-site portion of the project, i.e. Glulam and CLT suppliers, must purchase feedstock, process the raw materials and pay the labour to produce the elements for assembly on-site. Many finance providers do not offer project funding facilities, that cater for the different way mass timber is procured. Therefore the IAMTC strives to educate and advocate for the mass timber industry in trying to devise finance products that cater for the sector.
Insurance for Mass Timber Constructed Projects
In recent times the insurance industry has really tried to understand what mass timber is and how it can be used on construction to deliver more sustainable outcomes for our planet. Global insurance companies are asking to be ‘engaged early in the design process’ as the availability of early information about the products, the building, the engineering to provide awareness of the mitigating factors that can provide a realistic assessment of risk, instead of the current approach of costing in higher risk premiums to compensate for the unknown aspects of a relatively new technology. Information being collated by global insurance firms is driving a new agenda in the insurance of MTC projects. As the technology becomes more readily available the IAMTC will provide the latest news on the best offerings on the open market.