Proper Talk Birmingham24

JUNE 2024

Proper Talk Birmingham

The Old Library

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ABOUT THE EVENT

Proper Talk Birmingham 24

Our third Proper Talk was held on 12 June 2024 just outside Birmingham city centre, in The Old Library, a hidden gem of a Victorian building, built in 1866 and restored last century. Now a unique events venue, The Old Library was the ideal back-drop for a property panel discussion. In fact, there were two panels, zeroing on two of the most talked about (and stressed about) topics affecting those in the property management sector.

But first: breakfast, where our attendees were treated to a hearty start to the day and copious amounts of coffee. Colleagues and rivals caught up over the latest industry challenges, and eventually when we could persuade them to take their seats, Jack Seton, co-founder of Proper Talk, welcomed everyone to the third instalment, then handed over to Jonathan Channing, co-founder and moderator of today’s panels. Jonathan introduced our insurance panel, as below, and moderated a lively discussion that commenced with the implications on buildings insurance of the May 2024-enacted Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act.

Jonathan Channing
Proper Talk Moderator, JC Property Consultancy Ltd

James Paul
Director, EK Reinstatement Cost Assessment Ltd

John Batty
Director of Technical Services, Bridge Insurance Brokers Ltd and Board Director of the British Insurance Brokers Association

Annie McGrandles
Head of Portfolio & Block Management at Property Management Recruitment Ltd

Kevan Gough
Managing Director, Your Company Matters Ltd

Simon Sharpe
Health & Safety Manager, POD Management

Adam Sanders
Technical Director, RiskBase

Jonathan Bartle
Managing Director, Source Fire

Angus Reid
Head of Partnerships & Operations, Project Ark

Several other topics were debated, including the “false economy of desktop RCAs”, fair value assessments, insurance commission/fee remuneration, insurance regulation (FCA), years of high index linking and impact on premiums, contraction of the insurance underwriting market, the risk-pooling fire safety reinsurance facility launched in March 2024, terrorism cover, “who pays the escape of water excess”, and how long it takes to rebuild a block of flats!

Some interesting comments were aired concerning “bad actors” (brokers) undergoing investigation by the FCA – but the Chatham House Rule always applies at Proper Talk so it all stayed within the four walls of The Old Library. Questions from the audience were insightful and to the point – people come to Proper Talk for answers and for solutions to their problems.

After the coffee break, the second panel commenced – this time tackling the minefield that is the Building Safety Act 2022. A panel of health and safety experts were grilled by moderator Jonathan Channing, drilling down into the change of building safety culture brought about by Dame Judith Hackitt, including the introduction into the legislation of a building safety regulator. We discussed the misunderstandings about Accountable Persons and the ability of such persons (organisations) to delegate their responsibilities to so-called building safety directors. A good deal of the proceedings were devoted to the essential task of engaging with residents in blocks of flats – no easy feat. Golden thread data and documents have to be made available to people that need it, when they need it, thus we deliberated over fit-for-purpose software solutions. Other topics included PEEPS, secure information boxes, building assessment certificates, mandatory occurrence reporting, safety cases and safety case reporting. Once again, questions from the floor were searching and challenging – and that’s the way we like it.