Insurers Back Windstorm Project

A major new windstorm research project has been initiated after gaining financial backing from the insurance industry. The industry’s disaster prevention organization, the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) has approved the University of Western Ontario’s (UWO) proposal to build a facility to test the effects of wind and moisture on a full-sized building structure. This is the first project of its kind in the world.

The $7 million project, dubbed “The Three Little Pigs” has now received funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Innovations Trust, with a hope of breaking ground next spring, says UWO professor Mike Bartlett. He explains testing on full-size structures will allow researchers to determine “down to the last nail-head” how to make buildings more resistant to weather-related damage, and also in what areas buildings are already over-protected. The goal is to better the existing building code and achieve more efficient engineering, he explains.

The moisture and mold tests that will be carried out as part of the project will provide valuable first-hand information that will hopefully fill in some of the “gaps” that currently existing in environmental science, adds the UWO’s Jon Galsworthy. The project is an example of how seed money from the insurance industry can grow into internationally ground-breaking research, says ICLR executive director Paul Kovacs.