Gareth Boyd, CEO, Watertight International on FloodRe Build Back Better
I was invited to speak and take part in a panel discussion at the Scottish Flood Resilience Conference at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on Friday 9th February 2024. Following the recent storms, the session “learning from recent events” was designed to explore impacts, organisational responses, lessons learned and included insightful and fascinating contributions from SEPA, Angus Council, Met Office, Network Rail and the Scottish Flood Forum.
I presented Watertight’s initial observations of the power of the Flood Re Build Back Better (BBB) scheme as part of the insurance industry’s response to a surge flood event. These observations and early lessons learned are informed by the 100 plus BBB claims that we are managing across the UK and includes several in Scotland.
We know that there is no one size fits all solution, that homeowners react differently and have a wide range of emotional, practical and financial responses but some key themes emerging have really stood out and I shared these with the conference delegates.
Firstly BBB is very well received by homeowners post a flood and all are most appreciative of the fact that they feel empowered to take back some responsibility and control for their situation going forward, something that many of their neighbours who were not able to access the scheme could not do. Even having the opportunity to have an expert visit your property, provide advice and educate you as to future mitigation was seen as an enormous benefit.
The national debate and policy shift in emphasis from protection to adaptation is something that BBB facilitates at an individual property level where we can substitute resistance measures for protection and recoverability measures for adaptation. These are conversations that are now happening as a direct result of BBB with homeowners.
On the same theme we have seen that there is a much greater demand and preference amongst homeowners for resistance measures at an early stage of the BBB process because their natural inclination is towards protection and keeping water out. Recoverability or adaptation is a harder discussion to have as this is about the next time and the perceived benefits are often to the insurance company who will have a reduced future claim. The non-financial benefits such as getting back into your property faster are not yet tangible or realised as the consequences of not being at home have not yet perhaps fully materialised.
Aside from resistance and recoverability, preparedness (access to flood alerts, creating a flood plan and maintaining whatever measures you have) is even further down the list of priorities in the early stages of dealing with someone who has just flooded. Regardless of spend on resistance or recoverability, preparedness will always be required but is often overlooked both at an individual and at a national level. The need for preparedness was highlighted by all contributors and was a key discussion topic during the Q&A session that followed.
Another key observation is around communication and the fact that timing is everything. Post a flood there are so many things to deal with, priorities will be around alternative accommodation and drying out as a first step. Engaging a homeowner to talk about BBB at a high level is fine but getting into the details too quickly has the potential to create information overload and every property and individual must be treated differently. The timing of the conversations and interventions is critical. As with PFR there is no one size fits all solution. It struck me that the BBB scheme affords the homeowner the opportunity to make choices and decisions over how it can be best spent and this is far removed from the insured repairs that traditionally only allowed for reinstatement back to the position pre flood. Options and decisions require the right headspace for a homeowner in the period after a flood and this where the timing of conversations is something that must be taken into account.
And finally, Build Back Better is very much reactive post a flood event. Several homeowners have debated the merits in having done all this in a planned manner in preparation and in advance of a flood event. This could be referred to as Build Better Before with preparedness as a priority with improved education and awareness. This is certainly something to be discussed going forward and was found to be a topic of much conversation at the coffee breaks.
