Architect reports 1,100% hike in cost of PI cover

A Yorkshire-based architecture practice has reported an eleven-fold hike in the cost of its professional indemnity insurance cover as shockwaves from the Grenfell Tower fire continue to shake the market.

Gagarin Studio co-founder Gayle Appleyard’s social-media revelation about the practice’s latest PI bill prompted other architects to share their experiences of the ballooning cost of cover – and the impact of exclusions which are now being sought by providers despite the jacked-up cost.

Appleyard told Building Designthat the latest 1,100% hike in PII cover for the Halifax practice was a significant increase on the annual doubling of cost witnessed by her practice in recent years and meant £2m of cover cost in the region of £18,000.

她说，接受排除条件——通常排除火灾、覆层、地下室和游泳池——将导致七强实践工作的成本增加500%，但全覆盖是它的首选。

Appleyard said Gagarin Studio’s latest search for PI insurance had been conducted by the practice’s longstanding broker and its requests for quotes had been shaped by RIBA guidance.

“We don’t work with projects over 18m; we don’t deal with design-and-build or projects in isolation, and we were setting this all out clearly,” she said.

“We’ve got to have the RIBA lobbying and being the voice for architects and our shared experience.

“他们意识到这个问题，但我不认为这是他们的首要和中心。这是必须的。”

Appleyard said an inevitable consequence of increasing PI costs would be rising fees. She also predicted a growth in the use of fire engineers on projects. She added that some practices would limit the scope of their operations to match the cover they could afford, while others may opt for the minimum level of cover they could obtain and essentially be uninsured for elements of their work.

Soaring prices for PI in the construction industry are closely linked to industry reappraisals of risk following the revelations about building safety and construction standards exposed by 2017’s Grenfell fire, which claimed 72 lives.

位于谢菲尔德的保罗·泰斯塔建筑公司的保罗·泰斯塔说，他的事务所的费用账单增长了500%，并且连续第二年扣除了火灾和疾病的费用——尽管他承认营业额有所增长，保险金额也增加到了200万英镑。

泰斯塔告诉《建筑设计》日本vs塞内加尔比分，他目前还不太担心被排除在外，因为该事务所的主要工作涉及低风险的住宅项目。但他说，有限的保障可能会对未来社会住房工作的增长产生影响。

“Until legislation is sorted out and quality-control issues are dealt with, it’s hard to see what can be done,” he said. “In the meantime, I think an increase in fees will happen quietly across the industry to cover the extra costs.”

Darren Oldfield said his south-east London-based practice, Darren Oldfield Architects, had been unable to obtain PI cover without exclusions for the first time since it was established nearly a decade ago.

“我们已经设法保留了地下室的覆盖物，但我们排除的是火和覆层，”他说，并补充说，他没有获得排除的选择权。

“The cost is £3,600 for £1m of cover. Five years ago I was paying £500 for £500,000.”

Oldfield said he had spent around £1,000 worth of billable time filling out forms to take to brokers over a six-week period in order to obtain PI.

He added that it was “enraging” that the issues driving the increasing cost of PI were nothing to do with small practices delivering single new-build homes.

“It would be nice for RIBA to do something,” he said.

Last year former RIBA president Marco Goldschmiedproposed the creation of a not-for-profit insurance provider for small- and medium-sized practices in the face of “extortionate” premium increases. He said the institute could play a co-ordinating role in putting together a business plan for the new mutual to be submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority.

Current RIBA president Simon Allford said the professional body was “fully aware” of the spiralling cost and declining level of cover provided by PI policies.

他说:“这就是为什么我们成立了一个专门的委员会专家顾问小组，由詹妮弗·迪克森领导，以推动行动。”

“除了委托进行市场检讨，以确定和扩大会员从事保险活动的机制范围外，小组还会与承建商、经纪公司和监管机构进行谘询，以加深对保险业务的风险和责任的了解。”

Allford said open dialogue was critical to solving the PI problems being experienced by the industry, which he described as complex and cross-disciplinary.

“The advisory group will also produce a set of recommendations for regulatory interventions to reduce ‘unintended consequences’ – helping to guide the RIBA’s lobbying activity,” he said. “There’s work to do, and this is high on our agenda.”