Green Risk Management

Marsh Report: At Least One Professional Liability Insurer is Considering a LEED Project Coverage Endorsement

Thu

Sep

A green building project without sufficient insurance coverage will never get out of the ground, which is why the recent efforts of Marsh to review current trends in the marketplace with respect to green building insurance issues have been particularly insightful.

While I’ve talked extensively here at gbNYC about the potential for green design services rendered by architects and engineers to trigger exclusions in professional liability policies (in relation to the signing of credit submittal templates in connection with LEED projects) the Marsh report did not explicitly discuss this specific risk. However, the report did note the potential liability for design professionals who guarantee or warrant “an outcome without having complete control over things such as construction means and methods, and operation and maintenance” (such as credit submittals in support of a project’s recycled-content material or percentage of recycled construction debris, where means and methods outside of the design professional or LEED consultant’s control may contribute to an unanticipated outcome).

Green Building Statistics: Demand is High, Design Experience is Low

Thu

Aug

by Stephen Del Percio

1 comment

We'll be signing off today for the holiday weekend, but before we do that, I want to point out a couple of interesting green building statistics: one group collected by NAHB and the other which was mentioned during yesterday's Green Building Initiative webinar discussing insurance and surety issues for green construction projects. During the webinar, one panelist -- an employee of XL Specialty Insurance -- noted that only 20 percent of his company's insured design professionals consider themselves "very experienced" in green design. That's obviously a percentage to which XL is paying close attention in the context of green risk management.

Shaw Development v. Southern Builders: The Anatomy of America's First Green Building Litigation

Wed

Aug

by Stephen Del Percio

19 comments

We've written extensively here at gbNYC about the potential for litigation arising out of green construction projects. To date the issue has been on the radar screens of numerous industry authors, but real-life application of green legal theory has been relatively difficult to come by outside of a handful of green-related claims reported by insurance carriers. However, a (relatively) recent lawsuit that was filed on the eastern shore of Maryland demonstrates that green building risk is real- particularly in light of rapidly increasing regulatory activity at the state and local levels. The suit suggests the critical importance of clear contract language for each stakeholder on a green construction project and posits that the alternative could be massive exposure to unanticipated liability for every project participant.

Background to the Lawsuit

Construction Monthly New York Premiers with Green Building Issue

Thu

Jun

by Stephen Del Percio

0 comments

This coming October, a new construction and design magazine called Construction Monthly New York will officially launch. The magazine was unofficially introduced last month in connection with the Construction Expo held at the Javits Center here in Manhattan. This premier issue - which just recently became available online - is devoted exclusively to green building. Two articles that I wrote - one about green risk management and the other describing sick building syndrome - appear in the issue, along with a reprint of Josh Dorfman’s February 22, 2007 gbNYC guest post.