Latent defects insurance for data centres and technical facilities
Structural warranty cover for new build hyperscale and colocation halls, extensions, conversions and edge facilities - placed with specialist underwriters for developers, operators, investors and their funders.
- Instant response
- Insurer quotes usually within one working day of your proposal
- UK FCA Regulated Broker
- No broker fee to pay
- Specialist commercial underwriters
Fast answers
No more waiting weeks for a warranty quote
A slow broker holds up your site, your sales and your funding. We work to clear timescales.
1
Instant response
Send us your details and you get an instant reply by email with your reference and what we need next.
2
A call the same working day
We usually contact you the same working day to talk through your project and the providers likely to cover it.
3
Insurer quotes usually within one working day
Once we have your completed proposal and drawings, insurer quotes usually come back within one working day. Retrospective cover and unusual sites can take longer.
What are you building?
Latent defects cover for data centre projects of all sizes
A data centre is not an ordinary commercial shed. The building has to carry heavy plant, stay watertight over live equipment and hold its shape under dense floor loads. Choose the page that fits your project.
New data centres
Hyperscale campuses, colocation halls and single-tenant builds registered before work starts on site.
New data centre cover
Extensions and conversions
New halls on an existing campus, and warehouses or industrial buildings converted into data centres.
Extension and conversion cover
Roof and envelope
Water ingress, roof-mounted plant and the penetrations that go with it - where most worries start.
Roof and envelope cover
Edge and modular
Smaller facilities close to users, prefabricated data halls and factory-built systems.
Edge and modular cover
Investors and funders
Why investors, funders and tenants ask for latent defects insurance, and how it passes to them.
Cover for investors
Other technical facilities
Laboratories, telecoms and switch buildings, energy and battery storage buildings - each looked at on its merits.
Technical facilities coverWhy a specialist
Buildings that protect far more than their own value
In a data centre the structure shelters equipment and services worth many times the cost of the shell. A defect in the roof, the slab or the supports for the cooling plant is felt in downtime long before anyone counts the repair bill. That is why owners and funders take the building itself so seriously.
- Not every underwriter wants the risk. We place cover with specialist underwriters who understand technical buildings and know what they will ask for.
- The design review matters. Floor loading, slab flatness, roof plant and large spans all get looked at closely. We help you get the right information in front of the technical auditor early.
- Investors and funders want it. Cover can usually pass to later owners, and often to tenants or funders, under the policy's assignment terms - a large part of its value when the building is sold, let or refinanced.
- Timing matters. Cover should be registered before work starts on site. Later than that and there are fewer options, more evidence and a higher price.
Data centre latent defects insurance at a glance
How it works
From first enquiry to final certificate
Tell us about the project
The site, the facility, the build cost and where the programme is up to.
We approach underwriters
We go to specialist underwriters with an appetite for technical buildings.
Your quote
A clear breakdown of premium and fees, with the insurer named.
Technical audit
The design is reviewed and the work inspected at key stages of the build.
Certificate issued
A final certificate at completion, once the auditor is satisfied, and cover normally runs from there.
What it covers - and what it does not
Cover for the building, not the kit inside it
Commercial latent defects insurance is usually about the building: the cost of putting right damage caused by a hidden defect in the structure or the weatherproof envelope. Some insurers offer optional extensions, for example for mechanical and electrical plant or for loss of rent, on their own terms.
It is not cover for IT equipment, data or downtime, and nobody should tell you it is. The policy wording from the insurer named in your quotation sets out exactly what is and is not covered.
Questions
Common questions about data centre latent defects insurance
Is latent defects insurance a legal requirement for a data centre?
Usually not. It is a commercial choice rather than a legal one. In practice many funders, purchasers and tenants ask for it, or for collateral warranties, before they will commit to a building.
Does it cover downtime, data or IT equipment?
No, not as a rule. Latent defects insurance usually covers damage to the structure and the weatherproof envelope caused by a defect. Some insurers offer optional extensions, such as mechanical and electrical plant or loss of rent, but these are not standard and each has its own terms.
Can cover be arranged once work has started?
Sometimes, but it is harder. The insurer will want evidence of the work already done and the price is usually higher. For buildings that are already under way or finished, see our sister brand Retrospective Warranties.
Are you an insurer?
No. We are an insurance broker. We find and arrange cover for you, and the policy is provided by the insurer or warranty provider named in your quotation.
WARRANTYWIZARD
Got a quick question first?
Ask our Exclusive AI Powered WARRANTYWIZARD - how structural warranties work, what lenders usually expect or what documents to get ready.
WARRANTYWIZARD is AI powered and answers straight away, day or night. Like any AI it can occasionally make mistakes, and it gives general information about structural warranties, not advice or a price - so check anything important with our team, and for a quote use the project form or call us.
Warranty with WhatsApp
Do the whole thing on WhatsApp
You can handle the whole process on WhatsApp - questions, photos and drawings, your proposal, your quotes and arranging your cover.
A person on our team replies in UK working hours. Message us any time and we will pick it up as soon as we are back.
Tell us about your facility
Give us the basics and we will come back with the underwriters likely to cover it, what they will need from you and an idea of cost.
- Takes under a minute
- Instant reply by email with your reference
- Insurer quotes usually within one working day of your completed proposal
- Sites anywhere in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Free and no obligation
Already filled in a proposal form? Email it to us or send it on WhatsApp with any drawings you have and we will take it from there.