Trent Williams: Yeah, look, we obviously early in the year, we have a look at the market, we look at sort of how we see right playing out as the year goes on. We've got a pretty good sample size. Now as we move into Q4 and and looking at how the rest of the year plays out, what are you seeing from sort of getting through the major renewal periods and, and, and projects that have come into London?
Ed Holland : Yeah, positivity I think is the is the key thing here. We are seeing new entrants into the market, new capacity, which is ultimately going to be turning positivity for our clients in terms of coverage, in terms of rate and, and yeah, it's a, it's a positive position here to be in London.
Trent Williams: So with carriers obviously looking at construction and, and wanting to be a, a, a factor in, in the construction world, how do you see how we can sort of separate our risks from, from everything else that's in the market at the moment? How can we and our clients and our, our projects separate themselves from the pack?
Ed Holland: So, it really does come down to project information trend. Ultimately, the quality of the contractors, the owners and all of the counterparties that were involved throughout the full lifetime of the construction project is, is really, really key. And it's not just about prior to construction, it's throughout the full lifetime, their ongoing risk management and and taking advice from various different sources, whether that be from carriers themselves, ourselves as brokers as well. Seeing that project through through the lifetime of construction and into operation is really going to differentiate and separate those high-quality risks aside
Trent Williams: Good advice from a market competition, market perspective, a lot of competition, a lot of people moving around in the market. You're saying that driving competition with new entrants coming in
Ed Holland: The new entrants are very aggressive in terms of their hiring, their hiring experience, underwriters from larger carriers. Importantly, these new entrants have got significant amount of capacity. So it's not just capacity on a follow market basis, but these carriers we'll have the ability to to lead new projects in the remaining quarter of this year and into 26 and beyond. So real positivity there from a competitive standpoint.
Trent Williams: Good, good technical capabilities is, is one thing isn't I guess looking at at at fast follow facilities for example, we've got our own that, that, that London's live with now. So that's that's important from a capacity point of view market soft now, but obviously we've got another cycle to go through. Do you do you see that that next cycle being close?
Ed Holland: Yeah, I, I think we are nearly already there. That definitely is the stability and we are starting to see in certain occupancies in certain regions rates starting to become more competitive.
The one point though that I would overlay is that project sizes continue to really increase significantly and therefore there is still that significant pressure on overall capacity need for each and every one of our types of projects that we're looking at.
Trent Williams: Yeah, yeah. The projects keep getting bigger in value and and more complex with each one that comes through. I guess if we're sort of tracking right and looking at sort of where you saw right early in the year and where we've sort of got to now, what sort of trend are you seeing on, on contractors or risky? Are you seeing further reductions or or is it kind of stabilizing?
Ed Holland: There's stability most definitely and in certain areas there is some reductions, but it's still heavily dependent upon the quality of risk and the amount of quality information that we are receiving right from the outset. There is a great awareness from the market as a whole that that competitiveness is there and there is eagerness across the market to support the the the high quality risk that we are seeing.
Trent Williams: Yeah. I guess coupled with that product innovation, I guess through a hard market, some coverage extensions and enhancements are the first things to start to come away. You're seeing some innovation around product.
Ed Holland: Yeah. So the the extensions as you say, the, the, the traditional coverages that we see, yes, there is obviously improvement there that is, is, is natural with a softening market, but really importantly in line with what the challenges that the construction industry face in terms of new, new materials, new methods of working. We are starting to see both from a broker perspective, but also being supported by our underwriter partners, innovation in certain clauses such as green clauses, the use of low carbon concrete, these real challenges which the insurance market as a whole is really embracing, which is a real positive note for our clients, both from the owner perspective and from our contractor base.
Trent Williams: Yeah, great to hear. We're seeing a lot more business coming back into London, I guess through a soft market. You see a lot of regions globally that are that are placing business within their own region. The expertise that we have in London is critical. We have a great team in London. You're key to that. Just talk to me perhaps about the need for, for, for making sure that London are engaged on, on some of our larger programs.
ED Holland: Yeah, I really do sort of echo that that specialist approach that London has historically had. We have a a huge wealth and and range of markets here that are ultimately headquartered, but ultimate that also have engineering expertise, not just from an underwriting standpoint, but from a risk consulting standpoint as well. And seeing the way in which they embrace our clients on a global perspective is really it continues to be really refreshing and supportive of our global portfolio as Willis.
Trent Williams: Yeah. And and sort of looking ahead to when the next sort of difficult market cycle does come that fast follow facility that I talked about before Gemini, the Willis fast follow facility that's going to be critical for construction projects as they get more, more complex. You maybe just want to touch on, on Gemini briefly.
Ed Holland: Yeah, so Gemini is, is in is in my view a real key differentiator that Willis can provide. Ultimately, there's, there's a cost saving there to the client, but having that certainty that, that follow capacity can be, can support the full portfolio of risk that we are seeing not only here in London, but globally as well as a real key differentiator, both for our our internal colleagues in, in regions, but also our network partners and and ultimately our clients on a global basis.
Trent Williams: Right. Really appreciate your insights today and we look forward to to checking back in, in the early part of next year to put the crystal ball into action and see what the the new year brings. But thanks for your time today, Ed much appreciated.
Ed Holland: Cheers, Trent. Thank you.
