Strategic forum chairman Sir John Egan has put his weight behind plans for project-based insurance cover in a bid to integrate project teams and circumvent the rising price of professional indemnity insurance.
The plans for project insurance are due to be revealed in a strategic forum consultation document this summer. If implemented, they would mean that a single insurance policy would be taken out by a project’s client and would provide PI cover for all members of its team.

It is understood that high-profile clients, including NHS Estates, have been lined up to run pilots of the scheme.

John Nelson, executive secretary of the Constructors Liaison Group, said the plans were being considered by the forum and could bring massive savings for firms.

He said the insurance cover would bring the whole project team together and reduce the blame culture on a project, as each stakeholder would have a common interest in the success of the project. “Talks with insurance companies are at an advanced stage and the pilots will act as a good lever to implement an integrated supply chain.”

Talks with insurance companies are at an advanced stage

John Nelson, Constructors Liaison Group

The idea of single-project insurance is not new, but renewed interest in it has been triggered by the Movement for Innovation’s development of the “virtual company”. This considers client and project team as forming an ad hoc company.

Martin Davis, M4I committee member, said Egan had asked him to chair a meeting looking at how the project insurance works.