Developers and contractors entering new markets that are looking to mitigate their projects’ risk now have available an interactive tool that not only allows them to access real-time updates pertaining to the risk climate of municipalities across the U.S., but also to create a job-specific risk profile that takes into account such factors as local statutes and the potential for catastrophic exposure.
Aon Risk Solutions, through its Construction Services Group, has gone live with its Construction Risk Portal, a web-enhanced tool that helps clients navigate risk when working across multiple geographies simultaneously.
Aon Risk Solutions is a division of London-based Aon plc, a publicly traded global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. It has clients in 120 countries.
The portal is a single website with two applications:
• Construction Risk Map is a searchable reference library. It provides a macroeconomic vantage of the construction risk climate across the country, and outlines specific issues—such as litigation, legislation, and insurance requirements—that contribute to overall construction’s risk rating;
• Construction Risk Register is an interactive module through which users can create project- and location-specific risk profiles based on data about the project. The profile would have three components: State-specific statutes and case law based on construction-specific issues as tracked in the Construction Risk Map; a map that plots a project’s location based on information input and through a partnership with Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting capabilities and analysis of catastrophic exposure; and a risk “matrix” that plots the potential severity of jurisdictional issues and catastrophic exposures on a construction project.
Aon Risk Solutions developed this interactive platform with assistance from Johnson & Bell, a real estate and construction litigation firm, and one of several information partners with which Aon has on retainer.
“The Construction Risk Portal will allow our clients and colleagues to have access 24-hours a day, seven days a week to statutory developments, case law, risk trends and regulatory updates,” says Matt Walsh, Executive Vice President and Chief Broking Officer of Aon Risk Solutions’ Construction Services Group.
Aon now includes access to this portal as one of the services it offers to clients, says Walsh. The plan is to add other applications in 2015, which Walsh says could revolve around safety drivers, contractual issues, and information about risks in other countries, such as Canada.
Related Stories
| Apr 5, 2011
Top 10 Buildings: Women in Architecture
Making selections of top buildings this week led to a surprising discovery about the representation of women in architecture, writes Tom Mallory, COO and co-founder, OpenBuildings.com. He discovered that finding female-created architecture, when excluding husband/wife teams, is extremely difficult and often the only work he came across was akin to interior design.
| Apr 5, 2011
What do Chengdu, Lagos, and Chicago have in common?
They’re all “world middleweight cities” that are likely to become regional megacities (10 million people) by 2025—along with Dongguan, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Wuhan (China); Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Jakarta (Indonesia); Lahore (Pakistan); and Chennai (India), according to a new report from McKinsey Global Institute: “Urban World: Mapping the economic power of cities”.
| Mar 30, 2011
China's low-carbon future city
In 2005, the Chinese government announced its target to reduce energy consumption per GDP unit by 20% by the year 2010. After a multi-billion investment, that target has been reached. The Chinese Climate Protection Program’s goal to increase energy efficiency, develop renewable energies, and promote energy savings while reducing pollutant emissions and strengthening environmental protection is reflected in the “Future City” by SBA Design.
| Mar 30, 2011
Is the AEC industry at risk of losing its next generation leaders without better mentoring?
After two or three horrifying years for the AEC industry, we are finally seeing the makings of a turnaround. However, data developed by Kermit Baker as part of the AIA Work-on-the-Boards survey program indicates that between 17% and 22% of design firms are eliminating positions for interns and staff with less than six years of experience. This data suggests the industry is at risk of losing a large segment of its next generation of leaders if something isn't done to improve mentoring across the profession.
| Mar 29, 2011
City's design, transit system can ease gas costs
Some cities in the U.S. are better positioned to deal with rising gas prices than others because of their design and transit systems, according to CEOs for Cities, a Chicago-based nonprofit that works to build stronger cities. The key factor: whether residents have to drive everywhere, or have other options.
| Mar 29, 2011
Chicago’s Willis Tower to become a vertical solar farm
Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is set to become a massive solar electric plant with the installation of a pilot solar electric glass project.
| Mar 29, 2011
Read up on Amazon.com's new green HQ
Phase IV of Amazon’s new headquarters in Seattle is nearly complete. The company has built 10 of the 11 buildings planned for its new campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and is on-track for a 2013 grand opening.
| Mar 29, 2011
Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura wins Pritzker Architecture Prize
Portugese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, whose precisely-honed buildings reflect the influence of the late Chicago modernist Mies van der Rohe, is the 2011 winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field's highest honor.
| Mar 25, 2011
Qatar World Cup may feature carbon-fiber ‘clouds’
Engineers at Qatar University’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering are busy developing what they believe could act as artificial “clouds,” man-made saucer-type structures suspended over a given soccer stadium, working to shield tens of thousands of spectators from suffocating summer temperatures that regularly top 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
