Mass Timber in 2026: Progress, Partnerships and the Path to Greater Insurability

Mass Timber in 2026: Progress, Partnerships and the Path to Greater Insurability
October 22, 2026 9 mins

Mass Timber in 2026: Progress, Partnerships and the Path to Greater Insurability

Mass Timber in 2026: Progress, Partnerships and the Path to Greater Insurability

New research, stronger standards and greater industry collaboration are increasing confidence in mass timber. Yet insurability still depends on demonstrating project quality, resilience and recoverability as adoption accelerates.

Key Takeaways
  1. Better research, testing and industry collaboration are improving the evidence available to assess mass timber risk.
  2. Instead of signaling that underlying risks have been resolved, favorable market conditions should be used to strengthen risk management.
  3. Organizations that engage risk, insurance and technical specialists early are better positioned to secure sustainable insurance capacity.

The mass timber conversation is moving forward. In 2025, we examined the key barriers to broader mass timber adoption, highlighting concerns around fire performance, moisture damage, limited loss data and constrained insurance capacity. Today, many of those challenges remain, but the conversation has progressed significantly.

Across the industry, insurers, researchers, regulators and project stakeholders are moving beyond identifying risks and focusing on how they can be measured, managed and mitigated. New fire testing, evolving moisture management guidance, greater industry collaboration and clearer regulatory pathways are contributing to a stronger evidence base for underwriting decisions.

This progress matters because insurability increasingly depends on differentiation. The market is looking beyond broad assumptions about mass timber and seeking evidence that individual projects can effectively manage risk, limit loss severity and support efficient recovery after an event. Projects that can demonstrate those capabilities are better positioned to secure sustainable insurance capacity as adoption continues to grow.

New Evidence Sharpens Mass Timber Risk Assessments

  • Collaboration is creating more consistent underwriting inputs.

    One of the industry's most important developments has been greater collaboration between insurers, contractors, researchers and industry bodies.

    Initiatives such as Canada's Mass Timber Insurance Action Plan1 are helping create more structured approaches for evaluating contractor experience, organizing insurer-relevant research and improving information sharing. Efforts like these are important because they convert broad concerns about limited data and varying experience levels into more consistent underwriting inputs.

    For insurers, consistency matters. When project teams can present comparable information about experience, controls and performance, underwriters are better equipped to assess individual projects on their merits.

    As a result, mass timber developments are less likely to be viewed as undifferentiated or first-of-kind risks and more likely to be assessed according to their specific characteristics.

  • Fire research is moving from structural performance to loss and recovery.

    Recent fire testing has generated valuable insights into how mass timber structures perform under real-world conditions. Research in the UK2 and France3 has demonstrated encouraging results, while also reinforcing an important reality: Performance depends on the entire system, not simply the material itself.

    Testing has shown that factors such as detailing, protection strategies, construction quality and post-fire cooling can significantly influence outcomes. In some cases, structures maintained stability throughout burnout conditions. In others, issues such as smouldering and reignition highlighted the importance of understanding long-term fire behavior and recovery requirements.

    The industry's focus is also expanding. Insurers want to understand not only whether a building survives a fire, but what happens next. Questions about trapped sprinkler water, drying requirements, repair strategies, replacement decisions and business interruption are becoming central to underwriting discussions. This represents a meaningful shift for organizations.

    Demonstrating how a building can recover after a loss may become just as important as demonstrating how it will withstand the initial event.

  • Moisture management is becoming a life cycle consideration.

    Moisture continues to represent one of the most significant challenges for mass timber projects. However, industry guidance is evolving beyond construction-stage controls and toward a more comprehensive life cycle perspective.

    New research views moisture as a risk that must be managed during design, construction, operation, maintenance and recovery.4 This includes distinguishing between surface moisture, which may be relatively straightforward to address, and deeper or concealed water that can be more difficult to detect and remediate.

    For insurers, the challenge is rarely water exposure alone. It is understanding how quickly damage can be detected, how effectively it can be remediated and how confidently structural performance can be validated afterward.

  • Regulatory pathways are becoming clearer.

    Regulatory progress is also helping create greater certainty. In markets such as Canada, the UK and France, regulators, industry bodies and researchers are building a stronger evidence base to support the assessment of taller mass timber buildings, while enhanced fire engineering approaches are providing additional routes to approval in certain jurisdictions.

    Greater clarity benefits developers and project teams by reducing uncertainty during planning and approval processes. However, regulatory approval does not automatically resolve insurance concerns.

    Insurers continue to evaluate issues such as construction exposure, property protection, repairability and business interruption independently of building code compliance. In practice, code approval and insurability remain related but distinct considerations. Successful projects must address both.

Better Evidence Does Not Mean Less Underlying Risk

The growing evidence base is improving confidence, but it has not eliminated the underlying risks associated with mass timber construction.

Fire, water damage, workmanship concerns and recovery challenges remain relevant considerations. The market also continues to operate with a relatively limited claims history compared to more established construction methods. As a result, underwriting approaches vary between insurers and across regions.

At the same time, softer insurance market conditions have improved pricing and increased available capacity in some markets. While this creates opportunities for project sponsors, it should not be interpreted as evidence that risk concerns have disappeared.

Insurance markets are cyclical. Competitive conditions can increase capacity and reduce pricing pressure, but those dynamics can change rapidly if claims performance deteriorates. Organizations can use favorable market conditions to invest in stronger moisture management, quality assurance, recovery planning and underwriting data collection, helping build a stronger long-term risk record before market conditions tighten again.

The most resilient approach is to view current conditions as an opportunity to build a stronger long-term risk record, rather than as confirmation that underlying concerns have been resolved.

3 Ways to Demonstrate Mass Timber Insurability

1. Build Confidence Through Experience and Accountability

Insurers want confidence that project risks will be managed effectively throughout the building life cycle. That starts with demonstrating relevant mass timber experience across the owner, design, manufacturing, construction and operational teams, supported by clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

As underwriting approaches evolve, demonstrable capability is becoming a more important differentiator than broad assumptions about the asset class.

2. Design for Recovery, Not Just Prevention

Preventing damage is important. Planning for recovery is equally critical.

Project teams should consider how moisture-related damage will be detected, assessed, remediated and validated throughout the building life cycle. Repairability should be incorporated into the design process from the outset, including consideration of:

  • Access to concealed areas and critical connections
  • Detection and removal of trapped moisture
  • Isolation and replacement of damaged elements
  • Availability of replacement components
  • Validation of repairs and structural performance

Projects that can clearly demonstrate how they will recover from a loss are often better positioned to reduce uncertainty around loss severity and business interruption.

3. Show Underwriters How Controls Reduce Risk

Strong submissions do more than document risk controls. They demonstrate how those controls work together to reduce the likelihood and impact of loss.

Effective underwriting information should bring together evidence on team capability, fire and moisture management, quality assurance, construction sequencing and recovery planning.

Quote icon

There’s a clear objective to help insurers understand why the project should be assessed on its own merits, rather than through broad assumptions about mass timber construction.

Hugh Sharman
Strategic Development Account Executive, Construction & Infrastructure, Canada

Manufacturing Capacity Grows but Supply Chain Risk Remains

Investment in mass timber manufacturing is expanding supply, but many projects still rely on specialist suppliers, bespoke components and complex logistics networks.

These dependencies can shape both project delivery and post-loss recovery. Replacement elements may require long lead times, while supplier constraints or manufacturing issues can extend recovery and increase business interruption exposure.

Consider:

  • Supplier capability and quality assurance
  • Production and logistics lead times
  • Alternative sourcing and repair options
  • Access to replacement design specifications

Strong supply chains can provide support, while also influencing the speed, cost and feasibility of recovery after a loss.

Turning Better Evidence into Sustainable Capacity

The mass timber industry has made meaningful progress. Research is improving, regulatory pathways are becoming clearer, collaboration between stakeholders is increasing and underwriters have access to more information than they did only a few years ago. The next challenge is applying that progress consistently.

Organizations that engage risk, insurance and technical specialists early in the project life cycle are often better positioned to translate project controls into underwriting confidence. By connecting technical design decisions, construction practices and recovery planning with insurance strategy, project teams can present stronger evidence and improve access to capacity.

The future of mass timber insurability will depend less on broad confidence in the material and more on the industry's ability to demonstrate the quality, resilience and recoverability of individual projects. Better evidence can support that differentiation and consistent application of that evidence will determine whether confidence becomes sustainable capacity.

To learn more about Aon’s mass timber capabilities and builders’ risk solutions, contact our specialist team at masstimber@aon.com.

Aon’s Thought Leader

Hugh Sharman
Strategic Development Account Executive, Construction & Infrastructure, Canada

With contributions from Alex in ‘t Veen and Patrick Bechtum.

1 Mass Timber Insurance Action Plan, CSBA
2 Fire safety: Structural fire resistance and fire separating elements, UK Building Safety Regulator
3 Fire Tests on Large-Scale Partially Protected Timber Structures: Assessing Exposed Timber in Fire, Efectis
4 Moisture Risk Management Strategies for Mass Timber Buildings Version 3.1, RDH Building Science, Damage Assessment & Repair of Mass Timber, ASBP
5 Moisture Risk Management Strategies for Mass Timber Buildings Version 3.1, RDH Building Science

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The information contained herein and the statements expressed are of a general nature and are not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information and use sources we consider reliable, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.

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