Subsidence Risk analysis – more important than ever

As in previous years, insurers in particular will be waiting to see if south-eastern England is worst affected, where buildings are well-known for being constructed on subsidence-prone clay soil. It’s something that has an influence not only on subsidence but, when compacted, on flash flooding too. It’s a type of soil that has far-reaching impact for homeowners. That said, subsidence is caused by several factors. However, around 75% of the subsidence claims overall are a result of soil shrinkage – a combination of clay substrates drying out due to low rainfall and tree roots branching out in search of moisture. In fact, tree issues are cited as the underlying problem in 7 out of 10 claims, and that runs true nationwide. 

 Ben: “We’re using incredibly detailed tree data that provides valuable insights for anyone who’s working with or needs to think about subsidence risk. It’s not just insurers – there are planners and developers and contractors of all kinds whose costs increase when properties are impacted.”  

Analysis reveals risk and helps with the organisation of preventative maintenance 

Ben continues, “Our data and our services makes it possible to access this kind of analysis, even if you don’t have a large GIS team in-house. It’s specialist, but we can support you. Best of all, with previous clients we’ve proved that it’s cost-effective from day one – we can share case studies with interested teams.” 

Property by property, a single tree may be just as much of a problem as a moisture-seeking copse and proximity to buildings, and height and breadth of canopies can also play a part in setting levels of risk. Tree data is complex. Analysts need it to be interpreted at an individual address level. This involves substantial processing capacity – making sure the source information is as up to date as it can be – which means that, while one or two larger insurers have invested in the technology, smaller insurers are struggling to offer the same service. 

Subsidence Risk provides a normalised risk score – it makes subsidence risk easy to quantify on an individual property basis. It’s ideal tool for anyone who’d like to see that risk in detail or share the information in a way that makes it easy to understand.  

What’s more, Subsidence Risk is accessible as a downloadable file and as a web-based service – which means these insights are accessible to a wider team.  

You can find more information on Emapsite’s Subsidence product here