Terrafirma has announced the launch of a new risk assessment model, the National Ground Risk Model (NGRM): Climate.

The expert in ground risk assessment suggested this will provide lenders with a dataset that helps them understand how ground risk may impact their mortgage book under a changing climate.

NGRM: Climate has been developed by geologists, soil scientists, engineers and geospatial data analysts using Terrafirma’s NGRM – the first map of all major ground instability risks in the UK.

Terrafirma said the model will also enable lenders to meet the demands of the Bank of England and the PRS under its 2021 Biennial Exploratory Scenarios (BES), to understand climate-related financial risks.

The development of the NGRM: Climate will enable instant analysis of ground risk on all 29 million properties, 50 million structures and 30 million land parcels in the UK – providing a baseline to understand how ground risk can impact property.

Terrafirma CEO and founder, Tom Backhouse, suggested its release of the NGRM: Climate is a “game-changer” for understanding ground risk.

“It dramatically improves the quality, availability and accessibility of ground hazard and risk information for lenders,” he said.

“Across the UK, homes, infrastructure and land are at risk from complex ground hazards that can remain hidden for years. Every day, decisions worth millions of pounds are being made without true understanding of the consequences of these hazards, so Terrafirma set out to improve understanding of the ground and the complex ways it interacts with the built environment.

“We have worked on NGRM: Climate for 18 months to provide the first commercial model of its kind. It provides a foundation for lenders to make decisions with a greater understanding of the ground and issues that can affect the value of the property they are lending against, in a manner that is easy to understand. This will help them to make informed decisions without needed to be ground risk specialists themselves.”

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