Fire Safety Cover in PI: Wider Cover for Construction Professionals

The construction PI market has evolved significantly in recent years. Regulatory expectations have increased, while the Building Safety Act has brought greater focus to competence, accountability and the management of building safety risks.

For construction professionals, strong governance, clear documentation and robust project controls have therefore become increasingly important. For brokers, understanding the extent of fire safety cover available remains an important part of assessing PI options for clients.

Understanding fire safety cover

The extent of fire safety cover can vary between PI policies, particularly for architects, engineers and design and construct firms.

It is therefore important to consider not simply whether fire safety cover is available, but the basis on which it is provided. Aggregate versus any one claim cover, restrictions relating to rectification costs and the professional services to which the cover applies can all materially affect the protection provided.

Our wider fire safety offering

We have updated our fire safety extension to provide a wider fire safety solution for construction PI risks offering a more relevant proposition for well-managed clients operating in today’s regulatory environment.

Available for architects, engineers and design and construct firms, the updated extension provides a broader basis of cover for Fire Safety Claims arising from professional services undertaken on or after 20 December 2018.

For Fire Safety Claims falling within the scope of the extension:

• the rectification costs-only restriction has been removed for low rise buildings;
• the aggregate restriction has been removed;
• the increased excess has been removed; and
• cover is available on an any one claim basis.

Limitations remain in place for higher-risk areas, supporting a balanced and sustainable approach to fire safety exposures.

RICS-compliant fire safety cover also remains available for RICS-regulated firms.

An opportunity to revisit construction PI risks

For brokers, the wider cover creates an opportunity to revisit prospects and renewal cases where previous fire safety restrictions may have limited the options available.

As the construction PI market continues to develop, it is worth looking again at the cover available for well-managed clients and whether previous restrictions still apply.

Talk to our PI team

If you have a construction PI case you would like to discuss, please get in touch with our specialist PI team on 0333 032 5000.

We can also accept manual PI submissions. Simply send us your proposal form or presentation to pi@nbsunderwriting.co.uk and our AI-enabled submission technology will convert the information into a structured submission within our portal, ready to be reviewed and underwritten by a specialist PI underwriter.