The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called for the introduction of a voluntary kitemark scheme to govern minimum construction standards.
The insurance industry has paid out over £3 billion for 180,000 claims filed as a result of last summer's floods, and the ABI wants house builders to take steps to ensure new homes are more flood resistant. Features such as water resistant doors and window frames should be part of the kitemark, as outlined by ABI Director General Stephen Haddrill at the Expo CO2 climate change conference in Barcelona.
"A new standard and kitemark for new housing developments would benefit consumers, developers and insurers," he said. "Consumers would have more confidence in a property's ability to withstand a flood, developers could use it as a marketing tool, and insurers would be better placed to offer competitively priced flood insurance."
In his Budget last month, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced plans to create 70,000 affordable new homes each year by 2010-11.
"We are very concerned about the potential number of homes likely to be built in the flood plain," said Haddrill. "We appreciate that suitable low flood-risk land for development is becoming even more scarce, and this idea would ensure that a new customer looking to insure a newly built house at risk of flooding is more likely to get flood cover if they can show that the house has been built to recognised flood resilient standards."
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called for the introduction of a voluntary kitemark scheme to govern minimum construction standards.