Key Topics Resilience Construction Projects ecsolutions Construction Industries Industry & Commerce Insurance Policies Business & Property Builder's liability Liability Public Liability

Watch out, extreme weather! Best possible protection for buildings and infrastructure

Resilience plays a central role for companies and economic systems when it comes to overcoming current and future challenges. Cedric Lichte, Head of Ecclesia Construction, and his team have extensive professional expertise and a strong network. deas's clients benefit from this when it comes to protecting their structures from stress factors and damage such as extreme weather events in the best possible way.

Heavy rain, storms with days or even weeks of flooding and catastrophes such as the collapse of the Carolabrücke bridge in Dresden on September 11 are a cause of great concern for many people in Germany, Europe and worldwide. That is why not only the strategies and concepts of the Ecclesia Construction team, but also special insurance products are in particular demand. As part of the Ecclesia Group, deas has access to specialized units of the group and offers its industrial clients high-quality solutions for professional and comprehensive protection.

The construction project premium policy satisfies all parties

“There are many political challenges that we, as insurance brokers, naturally cannot solve or cure,” says Cedric Lichte. ”But we can address hazards that lurk on construction sites – especially with our combined construction project premium insurance, in which we insure all parties involved in the construction process, from the planner to the construction company, in a single, seamless insurance contract. With this policy, we ensure that in the event of a claim on the construction site, the effort for our customers is reduced to a minimum.” It is important that the customer receives their compensation quickly and easily in the event of a claim. Cedric Lichte: ”When a claim on the construction site needs to be resolved, often no one wants to have caused it. On large construction sites, there are often more than 200 people on the premises. It is therefore regularly challenging to identify the actual person who caused the damage. This is where our construction project premium concept comes in. With this policy, we remove the complexity and no longer have to go to the trouble of investigating who is actually at fault.” All of this ensures more cooperative collaboration and a bit of ‘peace on the construction site’. This is essential to complete projects to the satisfaction of everyone involved in the construction.

Business risks, climate events and construction delays

As Cedric Lichte explains, construction site shutdowns are not uncommon either. There are a variety of reasons why a construction site may come to a halt. This can happen due to a pandemic like the coronavirus, because construction materials cannot be delivered or because the general contractor is on the verge of insolvency. “These are examples of issues that are simply not insurable,” explains Cedric Lichte. ”To a certain extent, this is a business risk that a building owner has to bear, but of course there are still a variety of loss scenarios that can be insured. If we look back over the past few years in Germany, for example, we still have the terrible images from the Ahr valley in our minds. Due to such climate events, which are increasing from year to year, we are experiencing massive flooding and heavy rainfall events that cause significant damage to construction projects and at the same time lead to construction delays. Of course, other events can occur that are not related to natural hazards. These can be fire incidents caused by arson or because a construction crane topples over due to overload and penetrates the building roof.” These are all types of damage that can be covered by insurance. In particular, when something like this happens, construction site shutdowns are inevitable, reports the construction expert. “As a result, the planned completion time can usually no longer be met and our customer may suffer immense financial losses. For example, he may have planned to receive rental income from this building from a certain point in time. But now the building is not finished and the agreed lease cannot begin as planned.” It is precisely such issues, such impending financial losses, that can be insured against with a so-called construction business interruption insurance. This is a further component of our construction project premium policy. You can build on safe ground as well.

Plenty of know-how and extensive expertise

Cedric Lichte: “One of our biggest challenges is that, unfortunately, there are many insurers who try to avoid the current developments in Germany and the challenging topics and events to some extent. Be it in the case of timber-hybrid construction projects, which represent an important step in the right direction under ESG aspects, or the construction of hydrogen production plants or battery storage plants. Numerous insurers are not willing to provide insurance cover for such projects.” All complex construction projects throughout Germany are handled centrally by the Ecclesia Construction team. This has allowed a wealth of know-how and expertise to be developed in a very short time. ”This ensures that we can talk to insurers on equal terms. Coupled with our nationwide market overview, this enables us to always provide our customers with comprehensive insurance cover, even for large and complex construction projects.”