Insurers to Build Natural Disaster Research Center

The insurance industry is preparing to build a state-of-the-art applied research facility that will use science and technology to expand capabilities to create more durable homes and businesses and reduce the costs of natural disasters.

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), an insurance industry-supported nonprofit engineering and communications group in Tampa, Fla., will construct the Insurance Center for Building Safety Research with funds from its insurer and reinsurer members.

IBHS is evaluating several potential sites for the center, which it anticipates will require about a 100-acre parcel. Selection criteria include a mild climate to allow for year-round research activities, as well as access to significant amounts of electricity through a plant or substation. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year.

The center will feature full-scale testing of buildings and construction components. IBHS said a two-track research program will address catastrophic issues, such as high winds and wind-driven water intrusion, earthquakes and hail, as well as more isolated, but expensive, maintenance-related issues like plumbing system failure and interior fires.

The findings will be used in consumer education and advocacy campaigns, and to supply data to developing public policies in areas such as building codes and land use.

“Unfortunately, more people and property are in harm’s way in this country than ever before,” said Julie Rochman, IBHS president and CEO. “Mother Nature reminds us daily that we have to find ways to better protect the places where we live and work — and we will have greatly increased capacity and capability to do that through the new insurance industry research center.”

She said the center’s first priority would be to examine roofing performance issues. IBHS estimates that damage to the roofing system is present in as much as 95 percent of properties that suffer wind and water-related losses. The result is repair or replacement of millions of roofs every year.

Dr. Timothy Reinhold, IBHS vice president and director of engineering, who will lead the center’s research team, noted that “property owners should quickly reap the benefits of this research, since roofs are the most frequently replaced component of buildings.” Existing research shows that each dollar spent on disaster mitigation saves society an average of four dollars, he said.

Louisiana Home

The first home in Louisiana built to IBHS “fortified” standards was completed in Arnoudville in March 2008 by St. Martinville-based Louisiana System Built Homes.

The home, at the Ponderosa Estates in Arnaudville, earned the IBHS’ “Fortified… for safer living” designation.

The IHBS says the “fortified” criteria raises a new home’s overall resistance to natural disasters based on the hazards that the home will face where it is built. In Louisiana, “fortified” homes: are designed to withstand wind speeds 20 MPH above those set by the American Society of Civil Engineers; have higher design pressure rated windows and doors, and in the southern portion of the state require impact-resistant opening (typically window and door) protection; and have roofing materials that provide a resistance to water penetration, high winds and hail and provisions that take flood and wildfire into consideration.

The “fortified” designation is granted once the home is permanently sited and an inspection shows elevation and connection details meet IBHS requirements.

To promote safer construction in Louisiana, American National Property And Casualty Company, an IBHS member company, offers a 25 percent discount off the hurricane portion of a homeowners policy for homes built to the IBHS “fortified” standard. Homes must also meet other ANPAC underwriting requirements.