Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 8 July 2026
A specialist professional indemnity broker for designers, design-and-build contractors and construction consultants places cover that responds to collateral warranties, holds together under the extended limitation regime introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022, and understands where design responsibility passes down the supply chain. This is the segment of the PI market that has moved most since 2019, and the difference between a specialist placement and a generalist placement is the difference between a policy that pays and a policy that argues.
Designers, D&B contractors and design consultants operate under a mix of regulator and statute. Architects on the ARB register work under ARB Standard 8 and Chapter 8 of the Architects Code. Engineers on the Engineering Council register work under the Rules of Conduct of their licensed institution (ICE, IStructE, CIBSE and others). D&B contractors carrying design responsibility on a JCT DB or NEC engineering-and-construction contract carry that responsibility contractually, whether or not they employ in-house designers.
Section 135 of the Building Safety Act 2022 extended the limitation period for Defective Premises Act claims to 30 years for pre-completion accrued claims and 15 years for post-commencement claims. Section 132 of the same Act extended DPA duties to work on existing dwellings. Combined, these changes have rewritten the run-off exposure for anyone in the design chain, and the market's underwriting appetite has moved accordingly. A specialist broker treats BSA exposure as central to every placement in this segment.
The first difference is collateral warranty review. A specialist broker asks to see the warranties the firm has signed or is being asked to sign. Warranties that grant step-in rights, extend limitation, or accept net-contribution language change what the PI policy has to respond to. The wording review starts there.
The second difference is design-and-build wording alignment. Where a firm is a contractor with design obligations, the PI wording has to respond to design failure, not just to advisory negligence. Where a firm is a design consultant sub-contracted to the D&B contractor, the wording has to respond to the flow-down of client obligations. A specialist reads both sides and knows what the market is willing to write.
The third difference is submission structure. Under section 3 of the Insurance Act 2015 the firm owes a duty of fair presentation. A specialist broker structures the proposal around project mix by contract type (traditional, D&B, management contracting), project value distribution, higher-risk buildings under the BSA regime, cladding and facade involvement, collateral warranty portfolio, subcontracting arrangements, and historic circumstances by project. That is what a specialist construction PI underwriter needs to price.
Ask the broker how the wording responds to a claim brought under a collateral warranty by a subsequent purchaser rather than the original employer. Ask how it treats a fitness-for-purpose obligation that appears in a D&B contract even where the base PI wording is negligence-based. Ask what happens to run-off exposure given the extended limitation window under BSA s.135. Ask how it treats cladding, combustible materials and higher-risk buildings under BSA. Ask about the treatment of a net contribution clause included in a project appointment. Ask how the wording handles design responsibility assumed via a subcontract from a main contractor.
A broker who cannot answer these questions on the phone is not a specialist for this segment. A specialist broker in the design and construction market has negotiated on each of these points already this indemnity period.
Apex is a named-broker firm. A director-level broker owns the placement, reads the wording, reviews the collateral warranties the firm has issued or is being asked to issue, structures the submission for fair presentation, and represents the firm to the underwriter. Around 95 per cent of our clients renew with us year on year, which is our internal measure of whether the model works.
We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference number 724952) and hold professional indemnity cover in line with MIPRU 3. We place design and construction PI across Lloyd's syndicates and specialist company markets that continue to write this segment, matching limit and excess to the project profile, the collateral warranty exposure and the extended BSA limitation window. Terms come back with a written note on how the wording responds to warranties, design responsibility flow-down and fitness-for-purpose language.
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