Public liability insurance

Public liability insurance—construction projects

Public liability insurance provides cover for personal injury, death or damage to third party property. It also provides cover for the claimant’s costs and the insured’s defence costs.

Most building contracts provide that the contractor will be liable for personal injury or death caused as a result of carrying out the works and for any loss or damage to third party property which it causes due to its negligent acts, errors and omissions. However, each of the standard form contracts is slightly different in its approach. If the building contract is oral, or if the written terms do not cover either liability or insurance obligations, then the common law provisions will prevail.

See Practice Note: Public liability in construction—analysis of common law provisions.

For a general overview of public liability insurance, see Practice Note: Public liability insurance—essentials.

JCT provisions

Under the JCT contracts, the contractor is liable for and indemnifies the employer against

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Latest Construction News

NHBC Buildmark Choice policies—cause of action accrues when the insured party ‘has to pay more’ to complete the building work as a result of contractor insolvency (NHBC v Peabody Trust)

Construction analysis: The Court of Appeal (CoA) confirmed that the cause of action under Option 1 of the National House Building Council (NHBC) Buildmark Choice policies does not accrue on contractor insolvency—the cause of action accrues when the insured party ‘has to pay more’ to complete the building work as a result of that insolvency. The moment in time at which the insured party should be considered to be in the position of ‘having to pay more’ has been left to be determined in future proceedings.

Construction weekly highlights—24 July 2025

This week's edition of Construction weekly highlights includes the Court of Appeal (CoAs)’s decision in relation to NHBC Buildmark Choice policies confirming that the cause of action accrues when the insured party ‘has to pay more’ to complete the building work as a result of contractor insolvency (National House Building Council v Peabody Trust), Construction Leadership Council (CLC) guidance on Building Control Approval Applications for new higher-risk buildings, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) guidance on the Building Safety Levy, MHCLG’s announcement of legal deadlines for landlords to remediate unsafe cladding in social housing, a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) consultation on it updated cladding valuation standard, a British Standards Institution (BSI) consultation on a new code of practice for bringing safe construction products to the market, a Technology and Construction Court (TCC) decision enforcing an adjudicator’s decision to award the responding party in the adjudication the notified sum (VMA Services v Project One), a CoA decision providing guidance on "costs directly incurred" in a waste management project agreement (Buckinghamshire Council v FCC Buckinghamshire Ltd), an update on the status of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill together with updated guidance from MHCLG on the same, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA)’s interactive Infrastructure Pipeline tool, and publication of the Welsh Government’s circular on updated building control profession standards and codes.

Senedd Research publishes analysis on Welsh building safety remediation progress

The Senedd Research has published an analysis of building safety remediation progress in Wales, eight years after the Grenfell tragedy. Although Aluminium Composite Material cladding has been removed from all affected Welsh buildings, broader safety concerns persist. The Building Safety (Wales) Bill, currently at Stage 1 of the Senedd’s legislative process, focuses on establishing future safety regimes rather than accelerating current remediation efforts. The Welsh Government’s Building Safety Programme has identified 461 buildings with safety issues, with 60% located in the private sector and 40% in social housing. To date, only 43% of these buildings have either completed or initiated remediation work. Progress is particularly slow for the 161 buildings under the responsibility of major developers, with only 30% having begun or completed the necessary work and only four fully remediated.

CLC publishes new guidance on Higher-Risk Building control approval applications

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has published new guidance on Building Control Approval Applications for new Higher-Risk Buildings (Gateway 2). Developed in collaboration with industry stakeholders and the Building Safety Regulator, the guidance outlines the baseline principles for both submitting and assessing applications. It provides practical recommendations on the approach and submission of relevant information for professionals involved in the building control approval process for higher-risk buildings.