Harnessing the winds of opportunity for Correll Group

With uniquely demanding insurance needs, Correll Group enlisted Marsh Commercial’s Newcastle team to help them address three core issues in their bid to expand overseas.

Company overview

Specialising in the renewable energy sector, Correll Group is a global leader in the provision of electrical engineering, installation and maintenance services. Based in the UK, with additional operational bases across the world, the group offers extensive onshore and offshore wind capabilities across Europe, Asia and most recently the emerging US offshore market.

Insuring sustainable growth

For over two decades the Correll Group has been at the forefront of the wind power industry and in recent years has experienced fast-paced organic expansion.

“Industrialised nations around the world are accelerating their renewables agenda to secure a clean energy future. A move that is stimulating the deployment of wind farms that will enable these nations to achieve ambitious decarbonation targets,” explains Mike Senior, Commercial Director at Correll Group.

The scale of opportunity is significant. With an extensive presence in the UK, Europe and Asia, the Group is a £40 million business on the verge of capturing a substantial share of the wind projects currently underway on the US East Coast.

“We were poised to take advantage of a surge in demand for sustainable energy in the US market over the next decade. To achieve this goal and sustain our current speed of commercial growth elsewhere in the world, we needed to assess whether our existing business insurance arrangements were suitable for the Group’s evolving needs and risk profile,” says Mike Senior.

In particular, the Correll Group knew it would need bespoke coverage for its US operations.

Laying the foundations for future success

With uniquely demanding insurance needs, Correll Group began to evaluate whether its current regime represented a best fit for the operational complexity of its burgeoning business.

“The increasing scale, sophistication and sheer number of projects means tapping into specialist insurance expertise on an almost daily basis,” explains Mike. “We needed to work with a broker with a global presence, able to deliver access to a comprehensive choice of insurance products under one roof.”

Initial discussions proved highly productive as Correll Group began to explore its options.

“We quickly realised that Marsh Commercial represented a great fit for us on a variety of fronts. For example, through its network we could leverage the US coverage we needed through a single point of contact in the UK."

That wasn’t the only benefit of working with a company that offers such a breadth of global commercial insurance and risk management solutions. Drawing on its unique and deep relationships with a number of insurers, Marsh Commercial was able to resolve a longstanding issue that had created significant project management headaches for Correll Group’s operational teams.

“Previously, we could only secure a 60 day a year policy for vehicles travelling to Europe. Since many of our projects extend over a number of months, we had to constantly move vehicles back and forth to the UK. Marsh Commercial was able to negotiate a new policy for us that provides 120 days continuous cover on any one trip with the added bonus of unlimited overseas trips per vehicle per year. This represented a real win for us from both a risk management and an administrative perspective,” continues Mike Senior.

A responsive and value-adding strategic partnership

Making informed choices is important for a business that’s on a fast growth trajectory, and the Correll Group is now able to draw on the deep expertise and capabilities of Marsh Commercial to navigate complex insurance issues with ease.

“In our business, insurance can get complex fast especially when you’re dealing with the realities of the type of commercial contracts we typically engage in. From a professional perspective, I really value the highly responsive support that Marsh Commercial provides. Very quickly, they have become an extended arm of our business,” says Mike Senior.

That includes providing access to a dedicated private equity and mergers and acquisitions team to support the Correll Group as it prepares to welcome a new investor to help drive the business forward.

Every interaction with Marsh Commercial is streamlined and efficient. Whether that’s reviewing policy renewals, responding to specific project requirements or working with internal and external legal teams.

“No matter what I throw at them, our account management team is on it and at pains to minimise the administrative or input demands on our business, which I really appreciate,” continues Mike Senior.

Reviewing how the relationship has progressed over the past 12 months, Mike confirms some unexpected benefits.

“Our initial motivation was to find a global and professional partner to secure our journey to sustainable growth. Fortuitously, however, we’ve also achieved a significant reduction in premium costs across a number of insurance products – without sacrificing coverage. We can redirect these savings into the pursuit of our long term development plan.”