Allianz's Paul Higham comments on flood defence research

“Experiencing a flood can be a devastating experience for households and businesses, so Government investment in future long term flood resilience is hugely important. The insurance industry has a key role to play by helping customers to reduce or mitigate future loss but this has challenges. There may be home and business owners who ideally would like to move towards flood resilient methods of protecting their property but this requires upfront investment. For this reason, continued Government funding remains essential.

“There is also a lack of common standards for resilient flood defence methods but the insurance industry is working with suppliers in order to determine a set of standards for products and materials. We hope that this will ensure that all parties have a clearer view on quality and performance, and will allow insurers to provide cover more readily for customers who have invested in defence or resilience methods.”

Paul Higham, Head of Property Insurance, Allianz Insurance