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Insurance surgery: A call to action over construction costs

How can losses incurred from construction & engineering disputes be avoided, asks Paul Lowe

To practitioners specialising in the field of construction and engineering disputes it will come as no surprise that financial losses flowing from errors in construction projects in the UK remain high. To a great extent those losses are ultimately picked up by the industry’s insurers. What might be surprising is the sheer scale of these losses, which have recently been estimated at an annual total of between £10bn and £25bn. These sums unsurprisingly exceed the industry’s annual profit level.

Given that lawyers are often the beneficiaries of disputes that result from construction and engineering projects it may seem counter-intuitive for lawyers to be advocating a strategy aimed at reducing those errors. The scale of the losses in question is so significant to the construction industry and insurers that failing to act is not an option.

Strategy for change

The question then

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