Road construction is one of the harder placements in UK construction insurance. Projects routinely run over schedule, sections open to traffic before formal handover, and extension costs have historically been disproportionate to the original premium. Marsh is now offering two facilities designed to address those specific problems.
The broker has launched Strada, a project-specific facility covering construction all risks (CAR) and third-party liability (TPL) for UK road and highway contractors, and Machina, a plant and equipment facility for standalone and annual construction programmes. Both are available immediately.
Strada’s clauses are written specifically for road and highway risks, covering extensions, open-to-traffic phases, and phased completions. Each can create prolonged and overlapping exposures that standard CAR wordings do not always address cleanly. The facility includes two months of free extension cover, a meaningful concession given that extension premiums have long been a friction point on road placements. Limits reach up to £1 billion for CAR and £1 million for TPL, underwritten by a panel of global reinsurers.
Machina takes a different approach to a different problem. Rather than product-specific clauses, it offers a single pre-agreed rating matrix for contractors’ plant and equipment, covering the full range of equipment needs across both standalone and annual programmes. Contractors and their brokers currently navigate pricing that can shift between placements without a clear basis. A fixed matrix removes that uncertainty.
“Road and highway projects sit at the heart of this ambition, but they remain one of the most complex risks to insure,” said Guy Fitzgibbon, head of global contractors at Marsh Risk. “Work periods are frequently extended, with structures and roads often open to traffic before the project is formally handed over. This results in prolonged exposures for construction contractors ahead of completion.”
The facilities arrive as the UK construction sector is entering a period of sustained activity. The UK construction industry is forecast to grow at 3.2% annually between 2027 and 2030, driven by investment in transport infrastructure, data centres and housing, according to GlobalData. Infrastructure is the dominant growth sector, and road and highway schemes are a central part of it.
The insurance market has capacity to support that pipeline. Marsh’s own Q1 2026 UK construction market review noted that UK construction insurance capacity was ample, supported by newer participants and expanded lines from incumbent insurers, with pricing trending downward. More capacity and softer pricing create the conditions in which product differentiation, rather than price alone, determines where business goes. Strada and Machina are both structured around that logic: faster placement, consistent pricing, and clauses built for how road projects actually run.
Fitzgibbon said the facilities were designed to give contractors greater pricing certainty and more consistent claims handling in areas of construction risk that have historically been difficult to place efficiently.
