With the aim to help build properties back in a more sustainable, flood-resilient way, Ageas was one of the first insurers in the UK to sign up to Flood Re’s Build Back Better (BBB) scheme.
In October 2023, many parts of the UK were devastated by Storm Babet. Among those who were impacted by extreme flooding, Chris B and his wife had to be rescued from their home through a window.
During Storm Babet, the brook that runs down the side of their property in Derbyshire overflowed.
Chris recalls: “The brook has had high levels of water before, but never like this. The flood was devastating; we lost a lot of things. You lose more than you ever expect”.
Although he had only lived in the property for roughly five years, Chris lived elsewhere in the town before, saying: “The property was built in 1676 and has never been known to flood before. My neighbour has lived there since the 1980s, and they’d not seen anything like Storm Babet”.
While Ageas’s appointed loss adjuster managed the restoration of their home, Chris and his wife couldn’t live in their house for six months while repairs were underway. With the option to rent a friend’s nearby property for the duration, the couple were able to stay in the town.
Once the house had been restored, the loss adjuster introduced Chris to the BBB scheme.
Chris said: “The loss adjuster called me about the option to Build Back Better, I hadn’t heard of it before. They told me we were eligible*, so they submitted our application with the surveyor and it got approved”.
With the aim to reduce the impact and cost of future floods, BBB offers eligible* customers the opportunity to install Property Flood Resilience (PFR) measures when repairing their property after a flood.
In addition to the installation of a flood barrier on their door, following the surveyor’s assessment of suitable PFR measures, Chris had a high stone wall built on their property to run directly alongside the brook.
Since having these measures in place, Chris said: “If it did ever happen again, we are more prepared. …I feel more comfortable if bad weather happens, and I feel confident our home is more flood resilient”.
*Ageas offers Build Back Better for flood events that occur on or after 1 June 2022 for customers who have:
- Buildings insurance with us
- A property in a high-risk flood area and/or have suffered previous flooding within the last 5 years
- Damage caused by coastal, river or flash flooding, where water has entered the building
- A claim expected to cost over £10,000, being managed by our loss adjusters
Flood Re
A joint initiative between the insurance industry and government, Flood Re is a re-insurance scheme that makes flood cover more widely available and affordable as part of home insurance.
