Allianz loses bid to throw out £4.2 million claim over cladding and missing cavity barriers

Vivid owns Collins Place on Victoria Road North, a block more than 18 meters tall. Its housing warranty policy, issued by cover-holder Building LifePlans under authority from Allianz, ran from May 22, 2008, to May 21, 2020. A CBRE façade fire risk assessment in August 2019, 11 years into that term, gave the missing compartmentation its top red rating. Vivid notified the claim on or about May 19, 2020, two days before cover ran out.

The policy pays for repairs when a defect causes a "threat of imminent destruction or physical damage" that calls for immediate remedial work. Allianz argued that no fire was about to start, that Vivid wrote "N/A" on its claim form when asked about urgent repairs, and that the only measure taken was a waking watch. Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, with Lord Justice Phillips and Lord Justice Peter Jackson agreeing, held that Mrs Justice Jefford of the Technology and Construction Court applied the right test in December 2025. She asked whether the fire risk was serious enough and would arrive soon enough. He found CBRE's red rating more telling than the claim form and said a waking watch can arguably count as a remedial step, because it lowers the chance that a fire spreads.

The court did not decide whether Allianz has to pay. Four alleged defects now head to trial: the Rockpanel panels installed with combustible foam insulation, missing vertical cavity barriers, horizontal barriers missing or faulty around party walls, floor-slab edges and windows, and debris left in the cavities. A fifth defect is not part of the appeal. For this application only, Allianz set aside a policy exclusion that covers threats arising from fire.