Axa Commercial has used an artificial intelligence tool to establish if any buildings owned or occupied by customers may be impacted by the ongoing RAAC issue in the UK.

The insurer deployed AI to review more than 70,000 multi-page documents in one week – a job, it said, would otherwise have taken 12 months to complete manually.

Initial checks are understood to have identified 65 potential cases. After a detailed desktop review of the reports, four were confirmed. Underwriters are now working with the impacted customers to discuss next steps.

Dougie Barnett, director of customer risk management at Axa Commercial, said: “This was a situation where speed was of the essence – our customers were concerned about their buildings, and we were able to provide reassurance about which ones were at risk.

“Using the AI tool enabled us to react quickly to an urgent issue, rapidly reviewing thousands of pieces of data to identify those customers whose buildings could have been constructed using RAAC.

“Our customers are our priority, and we are constantly exploring ways to use new technologies to improve and enhance our processes. This powerful AI tool has shown it has the potential to revolutionise admin-heavy tasks of unstructured data and allow us to respond rapidly when needed.”

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is a lightweight, and less durable, form of concrete used in construction between the 1950s and the mid-1990s. As at 19th September, 174 schools in England and Wales were identified as having RAAC in their construction.

The impact of RAAC is varied – some settings may have very little RAAC present with limited disruption as a result. In the case of schools, not all are expected to close. Government guidance for responsible bodies and education settings with confirmed RAAC in their buildings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-guidance-for-responsible-bodies-and-education-settings-with-confirmed-raac

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