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Exhibitions and events
If you design exhibition stands or exhibitions for a fee, you need professional indemnity insurance, even when a separate contractor builds them. Your drawings decide whether a stand counts as a complex structure, whether the venue gives permission to build and whether it can go up in the build-up window. If a design fails any of those tests, the exhibitor can lose the whole show. Public liability covers accidents on the show floor; PI usually covers claims that a design you produced was wrong.
Part of: Professional indemnity for designers
In short
Exhibition stand designers carry design liability even when they never build. The eGuide, the industry guidance published by the Association of Event Venues, says it is the stand designer’s responsibility to decide whether a structure is complex, a category that includes multi-storey stands, anything over four metres and platforms of 0.6 metres or more. Complex structures need calculations and an independent structural engineer’s confirmation before a venue will allow the build. HSE treats anyone with input to a stand’s physical design as a CDM designer. PI covers design errors, missed approvals and unintentional IP infringement, subject to the policy terms.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
Professional indemnity (PI) insurance usually covers your legal liability when a client loses money because of an error in your professional work. For an exhibition designer that work is the concept, the scaled drawings, the specification of materials and finishes, and often the graphics. The exhibitor relies on all of it to get a stand approved, built on time and seen by the right people.
Public liability (PL) answers a different question: who pays when someone is accidentally hurt, or property is accidentally damaged, because of your business. If you knock over a display while checking the build, that is PL. If the venue refuses to let the stand open because your design needed structural calculations that nobody prepared, nothing has been damaged. The exhibitor has paid for space, freight, staff travel and a build crew, and has nothing to show for it. That loss flows from your design, and PL policies usually exclude it.
If you also fabricate and build stands, the risks widen to cover contract works, transit and hired plant. Our page on exhibition and event build insurance covers that side. This page is about the design.
The scenarios below are illustrative. They describe the type of allegation an exhibition designer might face; they are not real claims.
Each turns on whether you used the skill and care expected of a competent exhibition designer, which is what PI is written to answer.
A complaint about a stand design is usually tested against the industry guidance used by UK venues, the health and safety duties of a designer, and the show’s own exhibitor manual.
| Rule or guidance | What it says | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| eGuide, Stand build section (Association of Event Venues, August 2026) | “It is the responsibility of the stand designer to determine whether a structure is complex or not.” Complex structures include anything needing structural calculations, multi-storey stands, any part of a stand or exhibit over four metres, bespoke suspended structures, sound and lighting towers, and platforms and stages of 0.6 metres or more. | The first and most important classification decision is yours. |
| eGuide: submitting complex structures | Organisers must submit full details no later than 28 days before tenancy. The venue needs scaled structural drawings, calculations and written confirmation from an independent structural engineer, with adequate PI cover, that the design is safe for its purpose. | A late or incomplete pack means no permission to build. |
| eGuide: materials | Stand materials must be non-combustible, inherently non-flammable or durably flameproof, to the standard the eGuide sets. | Fabric, timber and plastics in your specification can be removed by the venue if they fail. |
| CDM 2015, regulation 9, and HSE guidance for the entertainment industry | CDM applies to building, fitting out and taking down temporary structures for live events. HSE says that if you have input to the physical design of the structure, you have CDM designer duties: eliminate foreseeable risks so far as reasonably practicable, reduce or control the rest, and provide information with the design. | Safety duties attach to your drawings even though you never lift a panel. |
| Exhibitor manual and venue rules | Each show issues its own exhibitor manual with stand-build rules, deadlines and forms. | Height limits, open sides and rigging rules vary by show, so check them for every design. |
Most stand designs never trouble a structural engineer. The ones that do are where exhibition designers face their largest losses, because the eGuide puts the classification decision on the stand designer and a wrong call usually surfaces at the worst moment, during build-up.
An engineer’s confirmation reduces the risk but will not necessarily take responsibility for your classification decision or your concept off you. Under CDM, you must also not start design work unless you are satisfied the exhibitor, as client, is aware of its own duties.
Exhibitors often expect to reuse a stand at the next show, sometimes with a different builder. Unless your contract says otherwise, GOV.UK guidance is that the creator of a commissioned copyright work, such as your drawings and artwork, is its first owner, not the commissioner. For the three-dimensional shape and configuration of a stand, section 215 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 makes the designer the first owner of design right unless the design was created in the course of employment. That protection lasts 10 years from the end of the year the design was first made available for sale, or 15 years from the end of the year it was created, whichever ends first.
For your PI, the direction of the dispute matters. A claim that your graphics or concept infringed someone else’s rights is the kind of allegation many PI policies cover, if the infringement was unintentional and subject to the policy terms. Taking action against a client or builder who copies your design is different: PI defends claims against you and will not fund you to sue. Settle reuse, licensing and credit in writing before the first build.
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| A complex structure missed or misclassified in your design | Promises that a stand is fit for purpose or will be approved, beyond reasonable care and skill | Injury to visitors or damage to the venue (public liability) |
| Drawings that don’t match the floor plan or the exhibitor manual | Designs that cost more to build than your estimate | Damage to the stand before handover, if you build (contract works) |
| Materials specified without the required fire performance | Structural design you take on without being qualified, where the policy excludes it | Stand components in storage or on the road (goods in transit) |
| Unintentional infringement of copyright or design right in graphics and concepts | Deliberate copying, and pursuing others who copy you | Hacked client files or lost data (cyber insurance) |
| Defence costs and settlements, subject to the policy terms | Shows cancelled for reasons unrelated to your design | Your own staff (employers’ liability) |
Check that the policy describes you as an exhibition or stand designer. A wording written for graphic design may say nothing about temporary structures, and one written for builders may treat design as incidental.
Your limit is set by the people who appoint you. Exhibitors with procurement teams, event agencies and stand builders that subcontract design commonly write a minimum PI limit into their terms. Think about the realistic worst case: for a large space-only or double-deck stand, that is the exhibitor’s whole investment in the show plus a rebuild, not your fee.
Because PI is claims-made, the policy that pays is the one in force when the claim is made. If you close your studio or move in-house, arrange run-off so earlier designs stay covered. See run-off cover explained and aggregate and each and every claim limits.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
Speak to a broker
PI for exhibition designers, placed by a named broker
Start the online proposal and save it as you go, or leave your number and a named broker will call you back, usually the same working day.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker based in Bristol, established in 2009 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not tied to one insurer: we work with over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates through wholesale brokers, and every client has a named broker who handles the placement, mid-term changes, certificates for clients and the renewal.
Yes, if you are paid to design stands or exhibitions. Design errors cause financial loss, such as a stand refused permission, reworked on site or unable to open, rather than accidental damage, so public liability usually won’t respond. PI covers your liability for those errors, subject to the policy terms.
No law requires exhibition designers to hold PI. Exhibitors, event agencies and stand builders often require it in their terms. For complex structures, the eGuide asks for written confirmation from an independent structural engineer with adequate PI cover, but that is the engineer’s policy, not a substitute for yours.
It depends on what you do, not your job title. HSE guidance for the entertainment industry says that if you have input to the physical design of a structure, you have CDM designer duties. A designer who only supplies artwork may not; one who shapes the structure itself will.
It can, if the refusal results from a design error, such as a complex structure that was never classified or submitted. The exhibitor’s wasted costs would be claimed against you, and PI responds subject to the policy terms. Delays caused by others, such as a late builder, are a different matter.
Unless your contract says otherwise, you are usually the first owner of copyright in your drawings and of design right in the stand’s shape, because commissioning a design no longer transfers ownership. Whether the client can reuse the stand with another builder depends on what you agreed, so put it in writing.
Many PI policies cover claims that you unintentionally infringed copyright or design right, subject to the policy terms. Deliberate copying is excluded. PI will not pay for you to pursue someone who copies your design; that needs separate legal expenses cover.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for exhibition designers across the UK. Tell us about your work and we’ll find cover that fits. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your PI proposal Call 0117 325 0027Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances. Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms, and this page does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
