The rise was not evenly distributed across cost elements. Cos Kamasho, principal consultant at BCIS, said an average increase of 4.9% represented a sustained rise on the previous year, with kitchens and sanitaryware climbing 7.8% and 9.4% respectively, and aluminium and uPVC windows rising between 5.5% and 7.5%, both well above the headline figure.
According to the liquidators, from Kroll, Arena’s owner Richard Yeowart ran a scheme built on switched serial numbers: genuine identifying marks on the company’s broadcast equipment were swapped for fake ones, which let the same physical assets be offered up as security to lender after lender. A related company, Sentinel Broadcast, allegedly acted as the go-between – buying equipment from Arena that, in most instances, simply wasn’t there, borrowing against it from asset-based lenders, and funnelling the money back to Arena while keeping a small slice for itself.
Here, an insurer reversed its own prior assurance with no documented risk rationale offered to the customer, then stopped responding. That kind of gap can turn a routine modification query into a complaint, a media story, or an ombudsman referral, and the reputational and regulatory exposure lands on whoever placed the business, broker included.
The revised figures cut both ways. The Court of Appeal substituted £3,668,135 for the £7,114,167 the trial court had ordered specifically for trading losses. But it also removed a £2,847,038 credit the broker had been required to give for later selling parts of its business. The net effect was a £598,994 reduction, leaving the broker’s total award at £5,525,436.02. The separate damages awarded to the buyer were not affected, and the fraud findings themselves stand.
The urban tally sits inside a much bigger number. LexisNexis, which built its picture from satellite data captured by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (excluding industrial fires and low-confidence readings), counted 4,659 wildfire detections across the UK in 2025. That’s the highest annual figure across the decade of data LexisNexis analysed, comfortably ahead of the previous high of 3,305 in 2018, and almost five times the 951 logged in 2024.
The owner’s broker, Borland Insurance Limited, had arranged cover through a Luxembourg insurer, Builders Direct SA, starting December 7, 2020. The policy carried two conditions that would later matter. It was written on the basis that there were no composite or sandwich panels at the unit – yet the building, once a cold store, was lined with them almost from floor to ceiling. And fire cover depended on the electrical systems being inspected within two months, by February 7, 2021. That inspection never took place.
For brokers, that gap is the real story. It suggests underreporting or informal resolution of injuries outside the claims process, rather than genuinely low exposure. Separate reporting on the same underlying research found theatre workers were far less likely than screen workers to feel confident raising safety concerns, with only 4% saying they always feel safe to report an issue, compared with 11% in the screen sector, reinforcing the likelihood that injuries are going unrecorded rather than not happening.
“While the international wealth insurance market has grown strongly in recent years, it still represents only a small proportion of the global HNW market, highlighting the significant opportunity given the structural drivers among HNW and internationally mobile affluent families. Expanding global wealth, growing demand for succession planning and increased wealth mobility create a compelling backdrop to maintain, or accelerate, the industry momentum seen over recent years.”
Intact Insurance has appointed Fraser Edmond (pictured, left) as vice president, commercial sales, distribution and marketing, effective from August 1. The newly created role reports to Tovah Grosscurth, commercial lines managing director.
Taz Chowdhury (pictured, centre) joins as risk engineer for power, also based in London, with close to seven years of engineering experience across the UK, MENA, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Chowdhury will support the power line of business across the UK and MENA, performing risk appraisals and surveys and providing technical input on claims, also reporting to Lisulo.
© 2026 Next Employment. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Terms | Sitemap
