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you are here: Homepage > Property Insurance > Commercial Building Insurance UK >   Are you in a hurry to get a UK commercial property insurance policy?... for a Competitive Deal and Instant Cover click below     Get Quote    Highhouse Insurance can provide you with a property owners no obligation instant quote... All types of UK Commercial Property Insurance Cover include; Shops, offices, warehouses, factories, trade premises , surgeries, pubs, clubs, takeaways. Difficult to Place Risks Commercial Landlords or Owner Occupied Commercial Property Package Policies available if required   The History of UK Property Insurance - Insurance for property in the United Kingdom has been developed over the last 350 years. Before the great fire of London in 1666, property insurance in the united kingdom did not exist. The only help you could obtain if you suffered a loss was the odd payout from private charitable trusts or s from church groups or craftsman's guilds. The fire was a major event in the history of our islands and the sheer scale of the destruction revealed that a  lack of  protection for property owners was not acceptable. Necessity is the mother of invention so they say and very soon after the event, the  first fire insurance companies began to appear. The very first was known as the fire office and it subsequently changed it's name to the Phoenix , a very apt and appropriate name which went on to to enjoy many centuries of service to Uk property owners before being taken over in the 1980s. These new fire insurance companies operated their own fire brigades and it became common practice to attach a plaque to the walls of insured property to show that a premium had been paid and that the fire brigade could deal with any occurrence. These plaques were known as fire marks , many still survive  to this day,  some are even  still in situ. Property insurance in the early days was very simplistic, there was practically no underwriting applied,  each risk, irrespective of the size or use of the building attracted the same insurance premium. As the industrial age in the Britain progressed, so did the need for more sophisticated forms of property insurance. Not only was insurance needed to cover private dwelling houses but also factories and places of work. Property owners were not only interested in insuring the building but other types of property as well such as equipment and machinery. The basic fire insurance policy began to evolve and soon it included additional perils such as earthquake, riot, civil commotion, storm, tempest, flood, other perils were added as time went by. These new perils were often referred to by insurers as special perils and the property insurance contracts became known as Fire & Special Perils insurance, a term that was widely used for hundreds of years until the advent of modern package insurance policies. It soon became clear to competing insurance companies that they had many common interests, especially when it came to risk prevention and the pricing structure for individual insurance risks. In 1832 common fire brigades were established to deal will all fires irrespective of which insurance company actually issued the policy. Just as the great fire of London, the largest fire in our counties history, precipitated the birth of the property insurance industry, the second largest fire in our history also help introduce some major changes. The Tooley street fire broke out of 23rd June 1861 in Scovells warehouse situated at Cottons wharf. It was a terrible occurrence and the fire raged for two days and it took a further two weeks for the embers to finally die down . The whole of the London fire brigade had to be mobilised, much property was destroyed and tragically, James Braidwood, head of the fire service was killed by a collapsing wall. Insurance companies as a result decided that they were not best placed to run the fire brigades and subsequently the metropolitan fire brigade act was passed. As well as this they decided that their rating of property insurance was too simple and that in future rates would apply to property insurance based on the degree of risk involved. Whilst in the early days, fire was considered the major peril, the ensuing years have seen property insurance policies develop to include perils that cause equal concern for property owners. Subsidence , landslip or heave is of major concern to property owners, particularly those whose properties are located on shrinkable soils and now that we are experiencing hotter dryer summers, this peril has become more pertinent. The extremities of weather are also demonstrated by the increased number of storm and flood claims and the modern Uk property insurance policy is designed to offer real protection for policyholders. Most policies follow a standard set of eventualities and the following perils would be found in a typical property insurance policy Fire Lightning Explosion Earthquake Storm Tempest Flood Impact Theft or attempted Theft Falling Trees Aircraft Subsidence, Landslip ,heave Damage to underground pipes & cables Riot & Civil Commotion Loss of Rent or Alternative accommodation Property owners liability Insurance Companies Information Requirements Standard Construction - When requesting a quotation for building insurance uk, you will be asked if your building is of standard construction and this term can be applied whether the property is a detached house, semi detached house, bungalow etc. Insurers consider standard construction to be built of brick stone or concrete and a pitched roof of slate and tiles. Some insurers extend this definition by also including roofed with metal or asphalt. If you have a flat roof on your building or an extension which is roofed with asphalt on timber, this is not considered to be standard construction and you should check what your insurers views are on this type of roof. The problem with flat roofs s far as insurers are concerned is that they usually have a maximum life of ten years and ideally they should be checked once every two years to make sure they are still waterproof. The age of the building - Insurers believe that the older the building, the more likely it is to suffer a loss, in some cases buildings over a certain age will attract a loading . Anything constructed within the last 10 years will have a guarantee and many insurers offer discounts for these types of building. If you own a listed building, either grade 1 or 2, you may find it harder to obtain insurance or your policy may be subject to a loading. Insurers believe that claims involving listed buildings may be more costly to settle as often there can be a delay whilst approval is sought for repairs to be carried out. Whilst this might not increase the cost of repairs, as polices also include cover for loss of rent or alternative accommodation as standard which provide a payment of up to 20% of the sum insured. The location of the building - Where your property stands will have a bearing on the price you pay for your insurance. Insurers make extensive use of the postcode system and they will have statistics for each area(and down to the individual sector) which alert them to the type of soil your property stands on ans whether it is situated within an area that is likely to flood. Insurers also use postcodes to profile the types of risk that they have on their books, over a period of time they can built up quite sophisticated statistics showing them amongst other things, which postcodes are producing Theft claims. The Sums Insured - To help calculate the amount of money you will be asked to pay for your building insurance, your insurance company will need to know it's rebuilding cost. That is the amount of money required to rebuild the property from the ground up. An allowance has to be made for site clearance, architects and surveyors fees etc etc. The rebuilding cost must not be confused with the market value to which it has no relationship. As well as the above questions, your insurers will want to know if you have made any previous claims under building insurance policies and will need to know the obvious answers such as your name, date of birth and occupation. Questions do vary between providers but it is of paramount importance that your answers are as accurate as possible. If you make a false declaration to obtain cheaper insurance or do not disclose all material facts, you may find that your insurance is null and void. INSURANCE NEWS - Home insurance premiums on the up. It is, after all, what everyone was expecting, home insurance premiums to rise after year of quite simply, extraordinary weather. Home insurance premiums in the last  three months have risen by an average of 1.4%, which added to the previous quarter amount of 3% leaves things looking pretty grim for Uk homeowners facing increased prices on practically everything. Some, many even be tempted to not renew, home insurance but with claims for flooding totalling in excess of 750 million pound last year and the cost of an average claim for flooding  being way in excess of £20,000, can anyone really afford to be without insurance. Unless you have experienced a flood first hand, it can be difficult to imagine the sheer devastation an occurrence can cause both inside and outside of the home.  Costs can escalate quite quickly and as well as having to clear up the mess and reinstate the damage, insurers have to find alternative accommodation to homeowners during the restoration period. Inevitably, this is going to lead to increased insurance costs and the nature of the insurance pooling system means that increases are shared across all policyholders, not just those that are located in flood areas. Despite the above, it is surprising to note that in a recent survey conducted by Nationwide Building Society, it was discovered  that many people still  have no insurance cover, while a quarter of those who do, do not know what their policy includes. Alarmingly, a further 14 per cent of people admitted to having no contents insurance at all, despite owning between £10,000 and £20,000 worth of goods. Although, at the present moment, the Uk insurance industry are being very supportive of peoples situations, it does seem that our weather is becoming more extreme. Anyone without building insurance should consider effecting cover as soon as possible. If insurers do stop accepting risks in certain areas of the country, it is likely that they will continue to cover risks that are already on the books.  You may not live in a flood area but in the last few years, parts of the United Kingdom have been hit by weather conditions that would be more at home in the American mid west. in 2005, 19 people from Kings Heath, a suburb of Birmingham were injured when a tornado struck without warning, up rooting trees and causing severe damage to hundreds of property. Following on from this, in December 2006, many people were injured and much property damaged when another Tornado ripped through a North London Street. These severe weather conditions, whilst blissfully far apart at the moment, may strike again at any time and in any area, anyone without adequate insurance  could be facing the possibility of a hefty bill for damages. Rather than going without insurance, there are a number of ways of trying to lower your insurance premium. Firstly though, on no circumstance, endeavour to insure your building on anything other than the correct basis. IF you take out a policy for less than the rebuilding cost, you may that you claim is not met in full, this may not be a problem on a small claim, but imagine you loose all of your roof. Legitimate ways to obtain cheaper building insurance include, phoning around, or trawling the internet. Much has been made in recent times of the rise of the insurance aggregators, but even they don't cover all of the market. Alas, there is no real substitute to phoning around. Accepting a bigger excess can also help, ( the first portion of the loss that you are prepared to pay yourself). If you speak to your insurance company, they may offer a discount. Some insurance companies are now even offering a no claims bonus on a home insurance, so think carefully before you try to make a small claim, it make effect your premium to the tune of more than the cost of the claim.       back to top