Owners of London's ExCel centre sue their insurers for £16m

Owners of London’s ExCel centre sue their insurers for £16m in compensation over lost profits after it was turned into Nightingale hospital during pandemic

London International Exhibition Centre plc have filed a claim in the High Court
Company says they are due compensation under business interruption cover
Insurers including Aviva, Allianz and Zurich thought to be contesting the claim

The owners of London’s ExCeL centre have sued insurers for £16million in compensation after the venue was closed and used as a Nightingale hospital during the pandemic.

London International Exhibition Centre plc say the losses they suffered from not being able to host events during the Covid outbreak should be covered by their insurers.

The company argues this money is due under their business interruption cover, although insurers Royal & Sun Alliance, Allianz, CNA Insurance, Aviva, Zurich and Chubb European are thought to be contesting the claim.

ExCeL’s owners took out business interruption insurance on May 31, 2019. This included an indemnity against any human contagious or infectious disease apart from Aids, according to the claim,

London International Exhibition Centre plc say the losses they suffered from not being able to host events during the Covid outbreak should be covered by their insurers

The court documents say insurance was limited to a £15m pay-out, as well as an additional £1m to pay for costs. This produces a total of ‘approximately £16m,’ the papers claim.

The first reported cases of Covid in the UK were on January 23, 2020 and the condition became a notifiable disease in England on March 5 2020, shortly before Prime Minister Boris Johnson instructed public venues to close and not reopen, the claim says.

ExCeL was turned into a Nightingale Hospital to provide 4,000 hospital beds for the wave of people who were expected to be hospitalised with the disease.

The exhibition centre is one of the largest in the UK, with more than 87,000 sq metres of events space as well as other meeting rooms and suites.

Most years it holds more than 400 events for more than 4m visitors.

The centre, which reopened on July 10 2021, claimed under its insurance policy on May 5, 2020, and says it is entitled to the insurance payout as a result of its business losses during the first three months of the outbreak.

ExCeL was turned into a Nightingale Hospital to provide 4,000 hospital beds for the wave of people who were expected to be hospitalised with the disease

The papers say that the gross profit for the three month between March and June 2019 was about £22.1m and that the anticipated profit for the same period in 2020 had been forecast at £21.4m.

However, they say that as a result of the pandemic the actual profit for that period was £3.1m and they say the losses should be covered by the insurers.

When it emerged the ExCeL Centre would be turned into a Nightingale hospital, its CEO, Jeremy Rees, said he was ‘proud’ to accommodate the request.

‘Our country is facing the largest national emergency for a generation and our thoughts and sympathies are with those who are personally affected by this situation,’ he said.

‘It is crucial that everyone plays their part in the national effort, working with the government to combat the spread of the coronavirus and save lives.’

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