New, comprehensive insurance exhibit released in AIA 2017 contract document updates

The updated AIA 2017 project contract documents include a new, comprehensive insurance exhibit that will allow for easier, more frequent updates as conditions in the insurance market change.

The insurance exhibit is intended to be used in conjunction with the A101–2017, A102–2017, and A103–2017 contract documents. One goal of the document’s drafters was to make it easier for users to transmit the insurance exhibit to the user’s insurance advisor or broker for evaluation and completion. AIA says the new insurance exhibit will allow changes to be made without having to revise the General Conditions document.

The insurance exhibit requires either the owner or the contractor to purchase property insurance written on a builder's risk “all-risks” completed value or equivalent policy form. It should be of an amount that can cover the total value of the entire project on a replacement cost basis. If the project is a remodeling of an existing structure or addition to one, the property insurance must also cover the existing structure against physical loss or damage on a replacement cost basis.

The insurance must be maintained through substantial completion and continued or replaced through the contractor’s one-year period for correction of the work. The insurance must include the interests of the owner, contractor, subcontractors, and sub-subcontractors, and the interests of mortgagees as loss payees.

In addition to the required property coverage, the agreement may include optional extended property insurances that the owner will purchase and maintain. This could include

Ordinance or Law Insurance; Expediting Cost Insurance; and Loss of Use, Business Interruption, and Delay in Completion Insurance.

For more information, visit: www.aiacontracts.org.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.