The insurance industry markets itself on the reassurance and protection it provides for, as the advertising slogans so often say, life's rainy days. That is not quite the way it is working out for the construction industry. Rather than a rainy day, the industry has faced a storm following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and the weaknesses it has exposed in construction's fire safety standards, processes, practice and systems have had an impact on insurers' policy approaches. As a result, securing essential professional indemnity (PI) insurance has become a struggle for practices large and small, with once stable premiums soaring by 500% or more over recent years and policy exclusions relating to cladding and fire safety now commonplace. Small wonder then that PI insurance loomed large among the subjects discussed in a debate late last year about the industry's future. Rebooting Construction in the UK, hosted by the RIBA and RIBA Journal in association with Hilti, brought together architects, insurers, fire professionals and other key figures to look at this and other ways in which the industry could move forward positively in the wake of Grenfell.
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