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Composite Panel Building Insurance — Specialist UK Cover
Property, business interruption and liability cover for factories, cold stores, warehouses and industrial units built with insulated sandwich panels — including buildings other insurers have loaded, restricted or refused.
Composite panel building insurance is property and business interruption cover for buildings whose walls, roofs or internal partitions are made from insulated sandwich panels: two metal skins bonded to an insulating core. The core is what insurers care about. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) and older polyurethane (PUR) cores can feed a fire and spread it through hidden voids, while mineral wool and insurer-approved PIR panels perform far better. Because many owners and occupiers cannot prove what is in their walls, insurers often assume the worst: quotes are loaded, excesses rise, conditions are added or cover is declined outright, especially for food factories, cold stores and large distribution buildings. Miller & Partner places composite panel risks with Lloyd's syndicates and specialist markets, building the evidence that turns a decline into a priced risk.
Key facts at a glance
- The core decides the terms. EPS and PUR panels are treated as combustible; mineral wool and certified PIR panels are viewed far more favourably.
- Unknown means worst case. If you cannot evidence the panel type, most underwriters will rate the building as if it were EPS.
- Certification matters. Panels tested and approved to LPCB LPS 1181 or FM Approvals standards open up more of the market.
- Food and cold storage are the hardest. Cooking, frying and refrigeration plant next to combustible panels is the classic loss scenario.
- Panels are a material fact. Under the Insurance Act 2015, failing to present them fairly can reduce what a claim pays.
- Management can move the price. Hot work controls, panel repairs, fire stopping and good housekeeping are what underwriters reward.
What are composite panels and why do insurers care?
Insulated panels are everywhere in commercial property: factories, food plants, cold stores, distribution warehouses, retail parks, agricultural buildings and modern office units. From the outside, a panel with a polystyrene core looks almost identical to one with a stone wool core. The difference only shows in a fire. Combustible cores can melt, drip and burn inside the skins, panels can delaminate and collapse, and fire services may be unable to go inside safely. Large losses involving panel buildings, many in the food sector, are why insurers rate them so carefully.
For an insurer, the questions are simple: what is the core, how much of the building uses it, what could set it alight, and what happens if it does? If the answers are vague, the price reflects the worst version of the building. The same principle drives our work on other non-standard construction, from timber frame and mass timber buildings to PRC and other non-standard construction.
How do insurers treat different panel cores?
| Panel core | Where you find it | How the market sees it |
|---|---|---|
| EPS (expanded polystyrene) | Older food factories, cold stores, chilled rooms and internal partitions | The hardest category. Treated as highly combustible; many insurers decline or impose heavy loadings and conditions. |
| PUR (polyurethane) | Older industrial and cold storage buildings | Viewed as combustible. Terms depend heavily on occupancy and fire protection. |
| PIR (polyisocyanurate) | Most modern industrial and warehouse buildings | Better fire performance than PUR or EPS, and much better again where the system carries LPCB or FM approval. |
| Mineral wool / stone wool | Fire walls, high-hazard areas, modern specifications | Non-combustible core; generally treated close to standard construction. |
| Unknown | Any building without specifications or records | Usually rated as EPS until proved otherwise. |
Certification is the second filter. Panels tested to the Loss Prevention Certification Board's LPS 1181 standard, or approved by FM Approvals, have shown how the whole system behaves in a large-scale fire test, which is what underwriters want to see.
For a detailed comparison of each core, the certification marks that matter and how to prove what you have, read our guide to EPS v PIR v mineral wool panels.
What cover does a composite panel building need?
- Buildings at full reinstatement value, costed for rebuilding with compliant panels or non-combustible construction. Get this wrong and the condition of average cuts every claim.
- Stock, plant and machinery, including refrigeration plant, production lines and stock that can be lost to smoke even when the fire is contained.
- Business interruption with an indemnity period that allows for clearing a collapsed panel building, redesign and specialist fit-out. 24 to 36 months is common for food production sites. See our business interruption guide.
- Day one reinstatement to protect against build-cost inflation during a long rebuild; see day one reinstatement.
- Employers' and public liability, including product liability for manufacturers.
- Terms for empty buildings if a unit sits vacant between tenants; see unoccupied property insurance.
Food producers and cold stores face the toughest panel questions of all, with cooking, frying and refrigeration risks inside panel-built rooms. Our food factory & cold store panel insurance guide covers the conditions those sites usually face.
What will underwriters ask about a panel building?
- Which parts of the building use panels — external walls, roof, internal partitions, chilled rooms — and roughly what percentage of the total.
- The core type and any certification, from drawings, O&M manuals, manufacturer labels or a survey.
- The occupancy: cooking, frying, baking, drying, refrigeration, battery charging or anything else that brings heat near panels.
- Fire protection: detection, sprinklers, fire walls and compartmentation between processes.
- Hot work permits for contractors, cable management through panels and fire stopping of penetrations.
- Condition: damaged, holed or delaminated panels and how quickly they are repaired.
- Claims history and any previous declinatures, loadings or non-renewals.
Refused, loaded or restricted because of panels?
This is where the Insurability Framework™ does its work: we pin down the panel types and locations, gather the fire protection and management evidence, address any previous decline directly, and present the risk once to markets that write composite panel buildings deliberately. On larger sites the cover may be split across several insurers, each taking a share. If you have been refused outright, see insurance after being refused cover; if a previous fire or claim is the problem, see property insurance after a claim.
If you have already had a decline, non-renewal or heavy loading, our guide to composite panel building insurance after a refusal explains what each insurer response means and how to turn it into a priced quote.
How do you get better terms on a panel building?
- Find out what the panels are. Check drawings, specifications, O&M manuals and manufacturer labels; if nothing exists, a survey can identify the core.
- Map them. Mark panel types and locations on a site plan, separating external walls, roof, internal partitions and chilled areas.
- Control ignition sources. Keep heat-producing processes away from combustible panels, protect cabling and fire-stop every penetration.
- Repair and replace. Fix damaged panels promptly, and replace with non-combustible or certified panels during refurbishment.
- Write it down. A panel management plan covering hot work, inspections and repairs gives underwriters a reason to price the risk fairly.
The single most effective improvement is usually evidence. Our guide to composite panel surveys and cutting loadings explains what a good survey and panel management plan include, and how to use them at renewal.
Landlords, tenants and portfolios
A panel unit let to a storage business is a very different risk from the same unit let to a bakery or a vehicle repairer. Landlords should keep tenant schedules up to date, notify changes of occupation, and make sure leases require tenants to follow hot work and fire safety rules. Portfolios of industrial units with mixed panel types can often be placed on one policy with terms set unit by unit. See our commercial property insurance page for wider landlord cover.
Frequently asked questions
Because some panel cores, particularly EPS and older PUR, are combustible and can spread fire inside the panels where it is hard to fight. Insurers have seen large losses in panel buildings, and many will not write them without clear evidence of the panel type and good fire controls.
Start with the building's drawings, specifications and O&M manual, and look for manufacturer labels on the panels. If no records exist, a building surveyor can identify the core. Recording the results on a site plan makes future renewals much easier.
LPS 1181 is a Loss Prevention Certification Board standard for panel and cladding systems tested in large-scale fire tests. Certified panels give insurers confidence in how the building will behave in a fire, and generally lead to better terms than uncertified or unknown panels.
No. PIR panels generally perform better in fire than EPS, and certified PIR systems are viewed far more favourably. The problem is proof: if the core cannot be evidenced, insurers may assume EPS.
Yes. Sprinklers reduce the chance of a fire reaching the scale where panels become involved, and are one of the strongest arguments for better terms on high-value or high-hazard panel buildings.
Tell them now. Under the Insurance Act 2015 the insurer can reduce a claim in proportion to the premium it would have charged, or refuse it where the omission was deliberate or reckless. Correcting the description mid-term is far better than discovering the problem after a fire.
Often, yes, but it takes specialist markets and strong evidence: where the panels are, how cooking and heat processes are separated from them, the fire protection in place, and a plan to replace the worst areas over time.
Yes. A panel-based decline narrows the market but does not close it. We document the construction and controls, address the decline directly and present the building to underwriters who write composite panel risks deliberately.
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MEET THE Director
Hey, I'm John!
I started Miller & Partner with the aim to bring back personable, approachable broking to UK businesses who were tired of large corporate brokers and feeling like they were just another number.
I have built this brokerage up with no pushy sales techniques or big business tactics, just honest, approachable and professional relationships with my clients.
Over 13 years experience in business insurance
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