Category: a/e ProNet Member

2014 Engineering Excellence Awards in Wisconsin

By Lynda

All over the country this month, engineers participated in local competitions in honor of Engineering Week 2014. ACEC Wisconsin held one such contest and handed out a number of awards, and we want to recognize those achievements:

Drexel

R. A. Smith National, Inc.
Drexel Avenue Reconstruction & Oakbrook Center

“Drexel Avenue was in very poor condition. It was annually inundated with floodwaters, could not accommodate projected traffic volumes and did not have any provision for bicycle or pedestrian traffic. As a major connector of Oak Creek and Franklin, the roadway also needed to be updated to allow for redevelopment opportunities and new businesses. R.A. Smith National was chosen as the civil engineer for the project.” Read More

LaBahn

GRAEF
University of Wisconsin LaBahn Arena
& De Pere Riverwalk and Wildlife Viewing Pier

“The LaBahn Arena is located in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s downtown campus. Designed with the help of GRAEF, the 120,000-square-foot, four-level facility is adjacent to the Kohl Center Arena. The arena houses an ice sheet for men’s and women’s hockey practice and women’s hockey games, as well as team locker rooms for both home and visiting teams.” Read More Continue reading “2014 Engineering Excellence Awards in Wisconsin”

The Additional Insured Conundrum: A/E Firms Face a New and Potentially Growing Liability Exposure

By Lynda

PNN_1310So, you’ve scored a new project! This is a shining moment. The road before you vibrates with the potential for creativity and ingenuity. You receive the contract in your email. Double-click. All you have to do is sign on the dotted line. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Insurance Requirements?

Oh boy. You’d better send this one over to your insurance broker for a quick review.

At lunch, you sketch ideas on the back of your napkin, dying to get started. Buzz! Your phone trembles on the table. It’s your broker and, sadly, she didn’t just give you two big thumbs up. Nope. Turns out, the Insurance Requirements include the following line:

Client shall be named as Additional Insured under CG 20 10 (85) or equivalent.

No-can-do. This endorsement is obsolete. But your new client wants it!  And so you’re face-to-face with the eternal and confounding Additional Insured Conundrum.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? You’re not alone. The following excerpt from our October 2013 issue of ProNetwork News may be able to help:

The Issue

Recent court decisions and increasingly onerous client demands are creating substantial insurance related difficulties for design firms. This article will focus on the potentially hazardous and surprising consequences of adding clients and others as additional insureds to the A/E’s general liability insurance (CGL) policy(s).

A recent Illinois Appellate Court Decision illustrates this threat: Patrick Engineering Inc. (Patrick) v. Old Republic General Insurance Co (Old Republic). The basic facts are:

Patrick was retained by Commonwealth Edison (Com Ed) to provide engineering services in connection with relocation of utility poles. While working on the project, Com Ed smashed through an underground sewer in at least four separate locations. Subsequently, the local municipality, Village of Lombard, sued Com Ed alleging that it acted negligently. Continue reading “The Additional Insured Conundrum: A/E Firms Face a New and Potentially Growing Liability Exposure”

Engineering Inc. – 2013 Professional Liability Insurance Survey of Carriers

By Lynda

EngineeringInc_aeProNetad_2014

Incredibly, even the global economic crisis hasn’t hardened the Professional Liability Insurance market for Architects and Engineers. Today, there are more insurance companies offering A&E policies than ever. And, thanks to the increasing insurance savvy of Design Professionals (particularly those utilizing the services of specialist brokers), new Professional Liability insurers are offering more in the way of risk management and pre-claims assistance, too.

You’ll find all this information and more outlined in the The Hard Market That Never Came, an analysis of the 2013 Professional Liability Insurance Survey of Carriers, in the February 2014 issue of Engineering, Inc. Continue reading “Engineering Inc. – 2013 Professional Liability Insurance Survey of Carriers”

Blog Love: TLCD Architecture

By Lynda

TLCD_TodayArchitects and engineers already share their voices with the world through their designs and ideas, but we love it when this group gets proactive about amplifying their voices online, too. Today we want to highlight the blog of one a/e ProNet member’s client: TLCD Architecture in California.

TLCD Today is a fun, colorful blog that deals with issues relevant to the design industry in ways both focused and abstract. The blog’s multiple authors take time to interact with design colleagues at national conferences (Healthcare Design Conference Highlights), as well as with the firm’s local business community (Local Impact of the Affordable Care Act). It’s also inspiring to see architects use their specific skill set to give back to people in need (Habitat for Humanity Build Day). Well done, TLCD! Keep up the good work. We’ll be reading!

Does your architecture or engineering firm have a blog? Share it with us in the comments below. We’d love to follow you!

Shout-out Credit:

Leslie Pancoast, CIC, RPLU
Managing Partner
IOA Insurance Services – Pleasanton, CA
Email: Leslie.Pancoast@ioausa.com / Phone: 925-416-7862

Insurance 102: Property Coverages for Architects & Engineers

By Lynda

pronetworknews_august2013This issue of ProNetwork News is meant to serve as a basic reference guide to the property insurance coverages typically purchased by design firms. Last month we posted a companion piece, Insurance 101: The Things You Always Wanted to Know About Liability Coverage But Were Afraid to Ask.

We continue our overview of insurance products of interest to design professionals with this review of property coverages that may apply to the needs of your particular practice. As always, we encourage you to ask your broker what insurance is right for you.

BUSINESS PROPERTY INSURANCE

Whether you lease or own your office, you need to insure office equipment, furniture, fixtures, computer equipment, phone systems, fax/copiers, valuable papers and fine arts for fire, theft and water damage. Insuring these valuables for “replacement cost” on an “all-risk form” means that your business is most likely to be reimbursed properly for a covered loss. If you lease furniture and equipment, the lessor will require this coverage and will be designated as a “loss payee.” Landlords of rented property usually require their tenants to maintain property coverage for the rented space to cover improvements and betterments provided to the leaseholder.

Since most design firms are heavily dependent on computer systems, it is important to properly inventory equipment and software.. For example, the cost to reproduce plans and specifications kept on computer files is significant when considering the insured value of valuable papers and records. However, no limit of insurance is a substitute for reliable backup procedures.

Stand-alone IT coverage packages, including security breach, are evolving almost daily. They can cover both first party losses (yours) and third-party losses (those for which you may be liable to others). Ask your broker what products may best apply to your needs.

VALUABLE PAPERS INSURANCE

A/E firms have in their possession valuable papers and documents whose destruction would prove very costly. Maps, plans, specifications and books are some examples. All-risk protection is generally available excluding wear and tear, gradual deterioration and vermin. Certain valuable papers may be insured specifically, or “scheduled.” More commonly, a blanket limit is established to cover all valuable papers. Articles insured on a blanket basis are covered for their replacement cost. Scheduled items are covered on a valued basis even though it is not possible to replace them with like kind and quality. Continue reading “Insurance 102: Property Coverages for Architects & Engineers”

Why should Architects & Engineers use a specialist Insurance Broker?

By Lynda

why do i need an insurance brokerAt our fall meeting last month, a panelist asked an important question:

Why is an insurance broker necessary for design professionals? Shouldn’t architects and engineers be able to access insurance companies and purchase Professional Liability policies directly?

Members of a/e ProNet are professional, independent brokers who serve the insurance needs of design professionals. Membership in our association is by invitation only, and members must be experienced and have a minimum number of design professional clients, as well as a minimum amount of premium volume. Our members must also provide their clients with services beyond the sale of a professional liability policy.

In addition to knowing the professional liability marketplace, they negotiate the best product at the best price for their clients. That negotiation happens every year at renewal time, and because our members are independent—not obligated to any one insurance company—they are in the best position to compare and contrast policies. Often, the time and expertise this process requires is underestimated by A/E clients. With a specialist broker, the A/E can rest assured that they have an advocate annually, both in relation to their bottom line and their exposure as a professional in a demanding and risky environment.

Most importantly, though, that advocacy doesn’t end when the renewal has been processed. The rest of the year, our members’ clients can count on their specialist brokers to provide services such as contract review, accredited continuing education, and other risk management services. Continue reading “Why should Architects & Engineers use a specialist Insurance Broker?”

Koning Eizenberg Wins at World Architecture Festival

By Lynda

We’d like to congratulate Santa Monica architecture firm Koning Eizenberg on their recent win at the 2013 World Architecture Festival! They received the prestigious Housing Award for their 28th Street Apartments project in Los Angeles, California.

koning_eizenberg

The World Architecture Festival, held in Singapore earlier this month, gathered over 1,750 architects from around the world to exchange ideas and inspiration for design. This year, only 15 of the 260 shortlisted projects were from the USA, and Koning Eizenberg was the only American firm to receive an award.

Referring to the 28th Street Apartments, the judges noted: “This project demonstrates architecture as an agent for social transformation. The architect was able to knit together historical continuity and something very new, something of high architectural value.”

Koning Eizenberg’s website describes the project this way: “The restoration and expansion of a landmark YMCA built in 1926 restores principal spaces, reconfigures original housing, and innovatively adds replacement units. The design re-establishes this building’s role as an important community focus and brings living quarters in compliance with contemporary standards.” Read more on their website.

It’s so exciting to see our members’ clients set themselves apart on the world stage this way. Well done, Koning Eizenberg!

Shout-Out Credit:

Alicia K. Igram, AAI, VP & Branch Rep
Design & Consulting Liability Specialist
IOA Insurance Services – Aliso Viejo, CA
Email: Alicia.Igram@ioausa.com / Phone: 949-680-1789

a/e ProNet Holds Annual Meeting in Chicago

By Lynda

Chicago, IL, October 01, 2013 –(PR.com)– This week, a/e ProNet will hold its annual fall meeting at the Embassy Suites Downtown/Lakefront in Chicago. a/e ProNet is a nationwide network of independent insurance brokers specializing in the professional liability needs of architects and engineers.Members from across the country will convene to meet with representatives from several top-tier professional liability insurance companies and discuss changes in the industry, as well as to participate in a number of smaller events.

Over the course of the three-day meeting (October 2—4, 2013), eleven professional liability insurance carriers are scheduled to make presentations: RLI, Travelers, Hanover, AXIS, Catlin, HCC, Liberty, Beazley, Navigators, AllRisk and Victor O. Schinnerer. Each presentation will include information about the insurance company’s products, policy forms and endorsements, claims, risk management offerings, etc.

On Thursday night, a/e ProNet will host a reception for its members and insurance company representatives, as well as members of the Risk Management Committees of NSPE, AIA and ACEC. The reception will be held at The Rookery in Chicago, a space designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Established in 1988, a/e ProNet’s member-brokers represent a combined annual professional liability premium volume exceeding $300 million. At this meeting, a/e ProNet will explore the possibility of extending its scope to include Lawyers Professional Liability insurance. To that end, five insurance companies (Beazley, AXIS Capital, Catlin, Travelers and Ironshore) will present on their lawyers’ professional liability insurance program offerings, as well.

Learn more about a/e ProNet

a/e ProNet offers a wide range of Risk Management resources to all design professionals via the a/e ProNet website including: Practice Notes, Guest Essays, ProNetwork News, Contract Concerns, Typical Coverages and Frequently Asked Questions. For relevant industry news and risk management information, you can also follow The ProNet Blog and/or follow a/e ProNet on Twitter.