However, I was surprised that insurance considerations were not discussed. The property insurance market is extremely troublesome for businesses with less-than-compliant factories.

Contractors often hand over completed buildings expecting insurers to grant immediate cover. In some cases, the visiting insurer has insisted on immediate fire risk improvement measures such as better physical fire separation, improved fire detection and automatic sprinklers.

In contrast to traditional fire certificate requirements, your insurer will insist that fire engineering measures will protect not just the workers, but the premises and its contents.

Of course, it is significantly cheaper to incorporate fire protection measures during a build, rather than attempt to retro-fit at a later stage.

The important message, therefore, is to make sure your insurers are consulted at the planning stage and are allowed to have an active involvement throughout.

Your insurer will be happy to provide this advice free of charge. An added benefit of keeping your insurer happy could be a more fruitful negotiation on premium rates.