Nic Gwynn BA(Hons) Dip CII. Managing Director
Nic has worked in the insurance industry for over 25 years, he started as a Property Underwriter at Eagle Star (Zurich) in 1996, moving over to Broking a few years later.
He has worked for both regional and international brokers, gaining vast experience in the construction and property sectors. He has placed and managed a number of large property portfolios, working with Property Managers, and property owners to ensure that they get a bespoke insurance portfolio.
On the development side he has worked with property developers, on ground up projects advising them from the early land acquisition stages, through the development stage, and then the final placement.
During this time has built up a large network in both the insurance & property industry helping him find the right people to create solutions for his clients.
In his spare time he is normally running around after his family, but he tries to keep fit by running and playing Hockey, and hopes to play a few more games of Ultimate Frisbee before his hip gives way!
Stuart Scobie. Director
Stuart, has over 20 years experience in the property industry, with a strong background in property and asset management.
He has spent the last few years using his entrepreneurial and commercial skills to provide a pan European service to his clients, by understanding their requirements and delivering creative solutions across Europe.
Stuart, has worked with numerous clients, varying from privately owned property portfolios, to large corporate property owners and asset managers, so has a good understand of their different needs.
He has worked as an insurance buyer for his clients, ensuring they were provided cost effective and comprehensive insurances from the market. So, Stuart, is bringing this expertise to GBS, to give a customers prospective to the business, ensuring we provide a truly holistic insurance offering.
Sam Gardam. Executive Assistant.
Sam, has over 10 years of experience working in the real estate business. In 2007 Sam started her career working as a PA for the CRE team at Deutsche Bank AG London where she later expanded her role into loan closing officer.
Sam, went on to work at companies such as Situs Asset Management and Solutus Advisors Limited where she also took on the role of Loan Manager looking after a number of clients around the UK and US for large Lenders and Investment firms.
She brings her expertise, and enthusiasm to the team, to ensure our customers get a market leading service.
Policy Checking
The danger of relying on a broker letter
Whilst carrying out policy checks on a European wide Insurance portfolio, we have seen a number of Broker Letters confirming that all required endorsement are in place. However, after reviewing the actual policy schedules, we could not find these endorsements noted anywhere.
In one case, after further investigation we discovered, due to Spanish law, the endorsement was not actually available, but this had not been highlighted to the lender.
We highlighted the discrepancy and are working with the Lender to amend the cover, to ensure that they get the protections that are required.
This highlights the importance of not just relying on the Broker Letter, and the actual insurance schedule should reviewed.
LPA Receiver / Administration Cover
Placement is available outside the main National Broker market
Many large brokers, have specific schemes for this type of risk, but usually this is expensive, and restrictive in its nature.
We have placed a number of Property risks, in both administration and in LPA Receivership, giving our clients a wider choice, and more flexibility. Cover can then often remain in force if the insured is taken out of the these arrangements, saving time in replacing cover.
German Property Portfolio
Placement of a challenging European Based unoccupied property portfolio
I was approached to help review a European based property portfolio as the premium was expensive at around 1.5m Euro, and the unoccupied warranty requiring the properties to be surveyed every 7 days was unworkable for the property managers.
The existing National Broker, had exhausted their panel of insurers, and so could not offer any further options.
Working closely with the Property Agent, we reviewed the wider market, and created a pan European programme, halving the premium, and reducing the onerous survey requirement to every 28 days.
New Visitor Attraction Development
Advice, design and placement of an insurance programme for a unique new visitor attraction
I worked closely with the founder of a new visitor attraction, who was in the process of setting up the project from scratch. I worked as an adviser to him and his team, supporting him through the development process. I attended development meetings, and advised on the insurance side of the development. I then designed a Principal Lead Contractors Insurance solution, including Future Loss of profits, to protect them against losses if the project was delayed following an insurable loss during the constructions phase.
As the visitor attraction was the first of its type in the UK, the insurance market was cautious in providing cover, however I created a programme covering both the standards risks facing the organisation, along with Engineering breakdown and loss of profits following failures in their specialist machinery, along with advising them on their Risk Management in running the lake and associated services.
Commercial Industrial Estate Portfolio
Design and placement of an insurance programme for a new portfolio of business parks
A new client came to me as he was creating a portfolio of rural industrial / commercial estates, and his current arrangements were not fit for purpose. I visited the site, and created a full broking presentation, highlighting both the risk management, and improvements that were being undertaken by the property owner. This created a ‘hunger’ for the portfolio in the market, creating a very competitively priced policy, with increased cover, and enhancements from the insurers standard cover.