The British Insurance Brokers' Association has renewed its member scheme Renovation Plan, part of Howden, for properties undergoing renovation, construction or conversion work. The scheme covers both large and small projects across residential and commercial properties and is available to BIBA member brokers.
The renewal continues a relationship that stretches back to 2017, when Renovation Plan first launched under BIBA's endorsement through Aston Scott. Aston Scott merged with Lark that year to form Aston Lark, which Howden acquired in April 2022 and fully rebranded in 2023. The underlying scheme has run continuously through all three ownership transitions - a product durability that says as much about the practical utility of a genuinely useful specialist niche as it does about any individual party's commercial continuity.
Graeme Trudgill, BIBA chief executive, said renovation projects can create gaps in standard home insurance cover that most policyholders do not anticipate, particularly while building work is under way. That gap is the commercial reason the scheme exists - and it is a recurring issue in the market that brokers with renovation-active clients regularly encounter.
Many standard buildings and contents policies contain conditions that restrict or void cover during renovations without the policyholder being told so at the point the work begins. The most common triggers are unoccupied property conditions that apply once a home is vacant for an extended period during a major renovation, ongoing structural work exclusions that remove cover for loss or damage caused by the building process itself, and unsecured site conditions where cover falls away if the property is left open or accessible overnight. A homeowner or landlord who simply carries on with a renovation project under an unmodified standard policy may believe they are covered until a claim demonstrates otherwise.
The scheme is designed to travel with the client through the project from start to completion, providing cover that adjusts to the property's changing status rather than requiring a broker to re-broker mid-renovation when a standard policy condition is triggered.
Dean Wright, divisional director for schemes at Howden, said the renewal reflects the strength of the relationship built with BIBA over many years and the firm's commitment to supporting brokers whose clients are undertaking renovation, extension and refurbishment work.
For brokers, the renewal is a practical prompt. A client mentioning planned building work at renewal - whether a loft conversion, extension, full structural renovation, or commercial fit-out - is the trigger for checking whether their existing buildings policy actually covers the project, and whether a dedicated scheme is the cleaner solution than attempting to notify and modify an existing arrangement mid-way through construction.
