Category: Sector × city · Reviewed by Al Jabbar, Broker · Specialist Risks · Last reviewed May 2026
Apex Insurance Brokers Ltd is an independent professional indemnity broker based at 53 Queen Charlotte Street in Bristol. We act for architectural practices across the United Kingdom, including studios based in Manchester city centre, Salford and the wider Greater Manchester area. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference 724952; our Companies House registration is 07014570.
We do not have an office in Manchester. Every Manchester studio we work with is handled from Bristol, by phone, video meeting and secure email. We say so upfront because the architects’ PI conversation — particularly for studios with live design-and-build novations or Building Safety Act-related exposures — works better when both sides know how the relationship will run. If a practice’s directors want a broker who can drop into the studio in Ancoats or NOMA for a coffee, we are not that broker; if they want a placement run by people who have been working in architects’ PI for years, we may be a fit.
The notes below set out what we see in the Manchester architects’ market, the PI conversations that come up for studios in the city, and the claim patterns that recur.
Manchester has the largest concentration of architectural studios in the North of England, and the work mix has shifted substantially over the last decade towards residential-led regeneration, build-to-rent towers and large mixed-use schemes. Ancoats, NOMA, the New Cross neighbourhood, Castlefield, the Salford waterfront, Mayfield and the Oxford Road Corridor have all generated sustained development pipelines, and the city skyline has been visibly remade by towers that Manchester studios have either led on or partnered into. SimpsonHaugh, Stephen Hodder Architects, Hawkins\Brown’s Manchester studio, Sheppard Robson, OMI Architects, Ollier Smurthwaite, 5plus, Buttress, BDP’s Manchester base and a long list of smaller independents all sit within this market.
That work mix is very different from London (which still skews more towards public and institutional commissions alongside its own residential development) and different again from Leeds or Birmingham. The Manchester pipeline is dominated by BTR towers, large-scale residential blocks for institutional landlords, and city-centre mixed-use schemes; the contractual environment is dominated by design-and-build, with novation from employer to contractor occurring at a relatively early stage and the architect carrying ongoing obligations to the contractor post-novation. Cultural and civic projects — Aviva Studios, the Whitworth and university buildings — feature, but the bread-and-butter of mid-sized Manchester studios is residential and mixed-use.
Underwriters read Manchester submissions in that light. A studio whose fee income is heavily weighted to in-progress BTR work, or to remediation/recladding of legacy stock, will be asked different questions from one whose work is dominated by single-house residential or heritage retrofit. The Building Safety Act 2022 regime, and the consequent focus on higher-risk buildings, has added a layer of underwriter scrutiny that bites particularly hard on Manchester studios because of the volume of city-centre tower work in the back catalogue.
Architects regulated by the Architects Registration Board are required to hold “adequate and appropriate” professional indemnity cover. There is no statutory monetary floor in the way solicitors or IFAs have, but in practice limits are driven by contractual asks from employers, contractors, funders and warranty beneficiaries. For Manchester studios working on city-centre towers, BTR schemes and mixed-use developments, contractual limits of £5 million, £10 million or higher per claim are common, and aggregate fire-safety sublimits, asbestos sublimits and basement-related sublimits have become a routine feature of the renewal terms offered by the architects’ PI market.
We routinely advise on primary placements, top-up layers, project-specific extensions and run-off arrangements. Further reading sits at /sectors/architects/ and /professional-indemnity-insurance/.
The patterns that come up most often in our Manchester architects’ conversations are tied closely to the city’s development profile. Cladding and fire-safety issues on legacy residential towers — both pre-Grenfell stock and the early waves of BTR — have generated the largest single concentration of notifications in the NW architects’ PI market over the last five years. Even where the architect carried only a limited role on a delivered building, the post-Grenfell remediation environment has pulled studios back into investigations and disputes that long pre-date the current cycle. Underwriters treat the cladding position as the central renewal question.
Design-and-build novation is the second cluster. Novation from employer to contractor, often with the architect picking up a novated appointment and a parallel “monitoring” or “client-side” role, generates a steady tail of disputes when the contractor pushes design changes, when the delivered building deviates from the consented scheme, or when responsibility for buildability issues falls between the design team and the contractor. Manchester’s BTR pipeline runs almost entirely on design-and-build, and this pattern feeds a meaningful share of notifications.
A third cluster involves residential schemes — both city-centre flats and suburban housing — where defects identified after practical completion generate claims by management companies, residents’ associations or successor owners. A fourth, smaller but live, involves heritage and warehouse-conversion work in Ancoats, the Northern Quarter and parts of Salford, where conversion designs interact with retained fabric in ways that drive disputes about scope, surveys and contractor liaison.
We are independent, not tied to a panel, and we approach the architects’ PI market on a placement-by-placement basis. For Manchester studios that means we look at the studio’s project mix, the fire-safety position, the run-off exposures and the live disputes, and we choose the route accordingly. We handle the proposal preparation — and the underwriter dialogue that increasingly follows it — from Bristol, by video meeting and secure email.
When notifications arise, we act as the studio’s advocate. Architect notifications can run for years, can involve multiple insurers if they span renewal dates, and can interact with parallel disputes against contractors or other consultants; we keep the file together and push for the right reserving and coverage positions.
More on our work at /locations/manchester/ and the firm at /about/.
Do we need to use a Manchester-based broker? No. The ARB and RIBA do not require a Manchester studio to use a Manchester broker. The architects’ PI market is national and the question is whether the practice wants face-to-face contact at renewal.
What limit do we need? The ARB requirement is “adequate and appropriate” — there is no statutory floor. Limits are driven by contracts; £2 million is a common minimum for small studios, with £5 million, £10 million or higher routinely required on city-centre towers and BTR schemes.
How are cladding and fire-safety exposures handled? Underwriters apply aggregated sublimits and exclusionary language on fire safety, cladding and combustible materials. The exact wording varies by insurer and by submission, and the studio’s project history shapes terms.
What about the Building Safety Act? Higher-risk buildings, the principal designer regime and the extended limitation periods under the Defective Premises Act are now central renewal topics. We discuss the studio’s position on each.
Can you handle design-and-build novation issues? Yes. Design-and-build novation is a major feature of Manchester work and we are familiar with the underwriting and claims patterns it generates.
Do you act for sole-practitioner studios as well as multi-director practices? Yes. We act for studios across the size range, from sole practitioners to studios of fifty-plus.
Can you arrange run-off cover? Yes. We routinely place run-off for studios that are closing or retiring, and the limit and duration are discussed against the work mix.
To discuss a renewal, a new placement, a project-specific extension or a notification, telephone 0117 325 0027 or email info@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk.
Apex Insurance Brokers Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference 724952. Registered at Companies House, company number 07014570. Registered office: 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol, BS1 4HQ. Page last reviewed May 2026.
Apex Insurance Brokers serves UK professional services firms and commercial businesses. Call 0117 325 0027, email hello@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk, or request a quotation.
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