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For immediate release February 16, 2005 Leading International Scientists Bring expertise to Toronto Workshop Discussion on how to Protect Homes Against Damage from Extreme Weather and Natural DisastersTORONTO , ONTARIO – The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction today announced that internationally renowned housing safety researchers will meet at a Toronto workshop on February 21, to collaborate on the development of research to be undertaken in the recently announced “Three Little Pigs” testing facility at the University of Western Ontario . The workshop: Mitigating Housing Losses in Extreme Natural Events 2005 , is co-sponsored by Research Western and Western Engineering. It's purpose is to establish the research direction of the $7 million, 13,000 cubic metre facility, identify research collaborators and explore potential short and long term funding sources, including a possible network of centres of excellence in the engineering of light-frame housing construction. “We just signed a lease with the London Airport for a hangar which finalizes a very hectic ten months of site search, designing the infrastructure and finalizing the infrastructure budget”, said Dr. Mike Bartlett, Associate Professor, Engineering, of the University of Western Ontario. “ I am eagerly anticipating this opportunity to talk about the research that we will be doing there.” Areas of research to be discussed include: • Predicting wetting patterns on building surfaces due to wind-driven rain, assessing the ingress of moisture through the building envelope, and determining the time- line of mould growth in cavity walls in response to realistic environmental conditions. • Predicting forces generated within wood buildings during wind storms and earthquakes and how this relates to creation of efficient, engineered, design solutions. • The effects of construction errors on the vertical load path in wood frame buildings subject to high wind loads. • Cladding and serviceability concerns “The research that Dr. Mike Bartlett and his team will be undertaking is groundbreaking work. It will greatly enhance housing resilience in extreme weather and reduce disaster damage in Canada and around the world”, said Paul Kovacs, Executive Director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. “Often the greatest tragedy when a disaster strikes is that most disaster loss can be prevented through preparedness and investments in loss prevention.” * * * * Established in 1998 by Canada 's property and casualty insurers, ICLR is an independent, not-for-profit research institute based in Toronto and The University of Western Ontario in London , Canada . ICLR is a centre of excellence for disaster loss prevention research and education. ICLR's research staff is internationally recognized for pioneering work in a number of fields including wind and seismic engineering, atmospheric sciences, water resources engineering and economics. Multi-disciplined research is a foundation for ICLR's work to build communities more resilient to disasters. Ongoing ICLR funding is provided by the insurance community, The University of Western Ontario and the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund . For further information, please contact: Denise Jetten, Manager, External Relations, ICLR
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