Location: London

Our building consulting team in the UK has summarised the key achievements over the last eighteen months and future plans onto a document available to download. The document covers topics such liker our areas of focus, a year recap in numbers, wet perils, resilience, quantity surveying and CAT work.

Our building consulting division in the UK is a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) regulated practice which has been established in the UK for over ten years. We work to the same standards and codes of practice as any private RICS surveying business found on the high street or in other corporate environments.

• Sergon-UK-Review-July-2018

LONDON, 26^thJuly 2018– Sedgwick, a leading global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits and integrated business solutions, is pleased to announce several key leadership appointments in its engineering, fire investigation, environmental health and safety and specialty services consulting division, EFI Global.

Aime Harrison has been appointed head of forensic investigations in the UK and will be responsible for enhancing the delivery of EFI Global’s services to UK clients, as well as supporting business development. Harrison is renowned as a geotechnical engineer and expert witness with more than 18 years of experience. She is a chartered engineer of the Institution of Civil Engineers (CEng, MICE) with a doctorate in geotechnical engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Warwick Business School.

Additionally, John Colquhoun and Mark Ian Ross will take up roles as UK forensic investigators at EFI Global. Colquhoun is an electrical engineer with specialist expertise in the investigation and analysis of fires and explosions, engineering failures and personal injuries. Ross is a fire and explosion investigator with expertise in determining the origin and cause of fires and explosions, examining physical evidence, and providing expert opinions.

“We look forward to driving Sedgwick’s growth in the UK market with these appointments,” said Sarah Civil, Sedgwick corporate risks and specialist practice groups director in London. “The team will play significant roles in maximising value for our existing and potential new clients by delivering high quality services and using their technical expertise to mitigate losses, reduce costs, and respond quickly.”

EFI Global is a well-established and respected multi-national brand as a market leader in environmental consulting, engineering failure analysis and origin-and-cause investigations.Complementing the global services of Sedgwick, the team will deliver expertise and services to meet the demands of clients in the UK market. It will operate across Sedgwick’s offices in the UK, led by the environmental solutions and building consultancy experts and specialists and supported by the company’s 1,600 colleagues.

For over 40 years, EFI Global has operated as a leading U.S. consultancy, offering the public and private sectors worldwide the widest range of environmental, engineering, fire investigation, failure analysis, accident reconstruction and laboratory testing services available from one provider.

“Our team’s technical expertise, combined with the latest technology and outstanding service for which EFI Global is well-known, will highlight our technical excellence and provide a new platform that will help us to grow our UK business,” Civil said.

LONDON – Following the finalisation of its strategic acquisition of Cunningham Lindsey, Sedgwick—a premier global provider of technology-enabled business solutions in the risk and benefits services space—has named Ian Muress, Stewart Steel and Paul White to leadership roles for its combined business operations in the UK.

Muress, Sedgwick’s CEO, international, based in London, provides executive oversight for all business operations outside the United States and Canada. Prior to joining Sedgwick, Muress served as CEO of international operations for a large global adjusting firm, where, over the course of his extended tenure, he ascended the company’s ranks to global executive leader.

Steel supports Muress in the management of the UK business as CEO, UK. Since 2009, Steel has had responsibility for the leadership and direction of the UK operations of Vericlaim, a Sedgwick company. With more than 35 years of experience in the loss adjusting business, Steel has served in various industry leadership roles.

Following nine years as chief operating officer of Cunningham Lindsey, White joins Sedgwick as COO, UK. He previously held a number of roles at a London-based insurance services firm, overseeing operations management, strategic planning and the due diligence and implementation planning related to two acquisitions.

“As we expand our global operations with a growing footprint, improved capabilities and broader technical resources, our focus remains clearly on our clients, and we are pleased to have veterans like Stewart and Paul leading our UK operations in delivering outstanding service to clients,” Muress said. “I look forward to working with them and the rest of the management team to ensure we capitalise on the opportunities in the market and enhance services and value for our customers and industry partners.”

About Sedgwick
Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. is a leading global provider of technology-enabled business solutions that include property, casualty and integrated risk services and benefits administration. At Sedgwick, caring counts®; through the dedication and exper¬tise of more than 21,000 colleagues across 65 countries, the company takes care of people and organisations by mitigating and reducing risks and losses, promoting health and productivity, protecting brand reputations, and containing costs that can impact the bottom line. Sedgwick’s majority shareholder is KKR; Stone Point Capital LLC, La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and other management investors are minority shareholders. For more, see www.sedgwick.com.

Cunningham Lindsey has launched EFI Global – Environmental, Engineering, and Fire Services consultancy service in the UK. As a standalone consultancy, EFI Global offers an independent and full-service environmental, engineering, fire investigation and failure analysis to public and private sectors clients in the UK insurance market.

For over 40 years EFI Global has operated in the US as an industry leader offering the widest range of environmental, engineering, fire investigation, failure analysis, accident reconstruction and laboratory testing services available in one company to the public and private sectors worldwide.

Sarah Civil, Corporate Risks and Specialist Practice Groups Director of Cunningham Lindsey, said: “EFI Global will be able to offer the technical expertise, latest technology and excellent service that we are well known for to maximise value to current and potential clients. These services will highlight our technical excellence and provide a new platform, which will help us to grow our business.”

Complementing Cunningham Lindsey’s service offering, EFI Global will deliver bespoke services to meet the demands of clients in the UK market and combine the national resources with local expertise to mitigate loss, reduce costs and respond quickly.

The EFI Global services will operate out of all Cunningham Lindsey offices in the UK, led by the environmental solutions and building consultancy experts and specialists, and supported by the company’s 1,600 staff.

• Visit our EFI Global services page for more information

At Cunningham Lindsey we welcome the Government action to address the gender pay gap. We are committed to creating workplace diversity and we want everyone to be able to build a career with us. We believe that everyone has talent and can make a valuable contribution but we recognise the need for the insurance industry and our business to become more appealing to women. Specifically, we want to encourage women to not only embark on a career with us but to stay within the profession and progress to senior roles.

We are reporting on the gender pay gap but our approach to diversity includes colleagues of all backgrounds. Equality and diversity allows us to draw on the contribution of everyone as we develop our business to meet the needs of our clients and their customers in the future.

• Cunningham Lindsey Gender Pay Gap Report

After our recent spell of relatively mild weather, a mini ‘Beast from the East’ is forecast to hit the UK at the weekend, bringing back sub zero temperatures and snowy conditions for many.

The Met Office has put out a yellow warning for snow and ice for the east of the UK today, which extends to southern and central areas over the weekend. There’s an amber alert for snow and ice for parts of central England on Saturday and Sunday.

HelpLine
We’re increasing the customer support team manning our 24-hour Emergency HelpLine – from tonight, right through to Monday morning. We’re expecting to be busier than normal as a result of the recent freeze related claims, as well as the forecast for colder weather over the coming weekend.

Current position – Claims Centres
Incoming claims have settled to a little more than business as usual levels, following the last blast of icy conditions. We’ve now completed the vast majority of initial visits and claims are generally progressing well. Staff in our claims centres are continuing to work overtime and over the weekends, processing this previous surge in work.

Loss Adjusting Services & Invisio
Similarly, our field adjusters and building claims inspectors are still working overtime and at weekends. We don’t expect the forecast for snow and ice to materially impact on these plans.

Further updates
We will provide a further update if the predicted weather conditions should begin to show signs of creating another significant claims event.

Storm Eleanor is currently causing a few problems across the UK. The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of wind – which remains active until 7pm – for all of England and Wales, Northern Ireland and the Scottish borders. There are 64 flood warnings and 130 flood alerts in place, across England, Wales and Scotland.

WeatherNet reports that nearly half (48.9%) of all UK homes experienced winds in excess of 55mph at the peak of Storm Eleanor and, statistically, it’s the worst event since Storm Doris last February.

In the news, coastal areas in north Cornwall have been hit quite badly. A stretch of the harbour wall at Portreath has been washed away and high tides have breached sea walls on the north coast.

Around 2,500 homes in various areas across the UK have also been affected by power cuts. In Ireland, over 55,000 properties are without power, as well as a further 20,000 properties in Northern Ireland.

We are ready to respond across the UK.

Our 24-hour emergency HelpLine have increased staffing levels and we’re providing any immediate and urgent assistance that customers might need. Invisio – our validation service for low value building claims – is seeing an increase in new claims volumes and Building Claims Inspectors are already on site in the worst hit areas. Our emergency response team remains on standby to manage an increased number of visits as new claims volumes rise during the day and over the weekend.

An amber weather warning has been issued by the Met Office, as ex-hurricane Ophelia is expected to bring strong winds to the UK from midday today. With gusts of up to 80 mph, it’s predicted to peak across Northern Ireland and north and west Wales this afternoon. Following a northward track, the strong winds are then expected to hit southwest Scotland this evening.

The amber warning for wind applies to Northern Ireland, western Wales and southwest Scotland, with a yellow warning extending to many other western and northern areas of the UK – this runs into much of Tuesday.

Transport, power and communication services could be affected and some damage to buildings is highly possible.

24-Hour Emergency HelpLine
We’re increasing the resources for our 24-hour emergency HelpLine today, overnight and into tomorrow morning. We’re ready to provide any immediate and urgent support and assistance that your customers might require.

Ready to respond across the UK

Invisio – our Building Claims Inspectors have been briefed and we’re ready to relocate additional resources into those areas that are worst affected. We’re in a good position to respond to any increase in property damage claims right across the UK.

Loss Adjusting Services – we’ve also put our national network of loss adjusters and support teams on standby – including surveyors and structural engineers from Sergon.

We’re ready to respond at every level, should the current strong winds build into a significant claims event.

• Read the full Client Bulletin

Following the passage of Hurricane Irma, Cunningham Lindsey have been deploying adjusting and surveying staff to the affected islands in addition to adjusters also being deployed in Florida.

The situation on the ground in many of the eastern Caribbean islands is extremely challenging; as has been seen in the media, in many cases, extreme damage to infrastructure has been occassioned which is making access and sourcing accomodation difficult. Many of the islands are without power, water and fuel.

In addition to the mainland US, we have staff on the ground in St. Martin, St. Maarten, BVI, Bahamas and Antiuga and will have staff in place on USVI and Anguilla in the next 24 hours.

If we may assist you in any way, please contact either Ben Price in London or David Repinski or Phil Box in the US.

Click here to download the flyer

An earthquake described as the country’s strongest in a century has struck off the southern coast of Mexico, killing at least 33 people. The quake, which measured 8.2 on the Richter Scale, struck in the Pacific, south-west of the town of Pijijiapan at 23:50 local time on Thursday 7th September. Oaxaca and Chiapas states bore the brunt of the damage although some damage has been reported in Veracruz, Tabasco and Mexico states.

Damage is mainly to commercial and residential property and infrastructure, such as roads. The severely affected areas of Oaxaca and Chiapas are largely underdeveloped rural areas with little heavy industry. Our office in Mexico City has responded and we have adjusters on the ground attending losses in the cities of Oaxaca, Oaxaca state and Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas state.

If we may assist you in any way, please contact either Steve Clayton in Mexico City, Laura De Sordi in Miami or Neil Keeble in London.

Click here to download the flyer