From lithium batteries to photo voltaic panels and residing partitions, a brand new wave of green-technology dangers is altering how buildings catch fireplace — and the way they’re insured. This is what’s behind the headlines, and what it means to your cowl.
Should you personal, handle or let a constructing, you may know that danger often hides within the extraordinary: a lapsed electrical certificates, litter close to a hearth exit, a flat roof nobody has inspected in years. A current set of figures places numbers to that. Over twelve months throughout 2025, risk-management specialist RiskSTOP assessed 16,835 business properties within the UK and issued 27,238 enchancment necessities — and 88% of them have been accomplished, eradicating hazards earlier than they may flip into claims.
However alongside these on a regular basis fundamentals, the identical surveyors flagged a second checklist: the rising dangers they’re more and more being requested about. Nearly all of them are merchandise of the transfer to greener, extra energy-efficient buildings. And nearly all behave in ways in which conventional fireplace and property safety was by no means designed to deal with.
The short reply
The 5 rising constructing dangers insurers are watching most intently are lithium-ion batteries, photo voltaic (PV) panels, battery vitality storage techniques (BESS), electrical autos, and inexperienced partitions & blue roofs.
None of them is inherently harmful. The frequent thread is that every turns into an issue by poor set up, uncared for upkeep, or being added to a constructing with out telling the insurer. Get these proper, and the chance is manageable.
16,835
UK business dangers surveyed in 2025
27,238
Danger enhancements advisable
First, the unglamorous fundamentals nonetheless trigger most losses
It is tempting to imagine the basics are dealt with. The survey knowledge says in any other case. Essentially the most generally issued necessities are nearly fully the previous reliables: electrical testing, secure storage of combustibles, hot-work permits, fireplace danger assessments, fireplace and intruder alarms, health-and-safety danger assessments, extinguisher provision and upkeep, common housekeeping, and sprinklers.
There is not a single high-tech merchandise on that checklist — and that is the purpose. These controls prime the desk 12 months after 12 months as a result of they fail in the identical predictable methods. Additionally they matter enormously to your insurance coverage: lots of them seem as coverage circumstances, and a lacking electrical certificates or a propped-open fireplace door could be precisely what an insurer factors to when a declare is disputed.
The most affordable loss any constructing will ever undergo is the one a routine inspection prevents.
Why the fundamentals nonetheless come first
The 5 rising dangers — and what they imply for you
Fireplace danger
Lithium-ion batteries
That is the chance on the prime of just about everybody’s watch-list, and the info explains why. In line with insurer QBE, UK fireplace providers attended the equal of 4.8 lithium-ion battery fires daily in 2025 — roughly one each 5 hours — a 147% rise in simply three years. Whereas most occurred in houses, nearly 1 / 4 occurred in business premises.
The perpetrator is “thermal runaway”: a broken, overcharged or overheated cell can ignite quickly, burn fiercely, resist extinguishing and even reignite hours later. E-bikes and e-scooters — particularly low-cost, uncertified or transformed fashions — are a significant driver.
What to look at: charging and storage of e-bikes, scooters and energy instruments in communal areas, basements, outlets and workplaces. Designated charging factors away from escape routes, and a transparent coverage on uncertified gadgets, go a good distance.
UK fireplace providers are actually tackling a lithium-ion battery fireplace roughly as soon as each 5 hours.
QBE, 2025 knowledge
Fireplace & upkeep
Photo voltaic (PV) panels
Rooftop photo voltaic is fitted to make a constructing greener — but poorly maintained techniques are quietly elevating fireplace danger. QBE has reported fireplace providers tackling a solar-panel fireplace roughly each two days, with incidents rising at twice the speed of recent installations. Latest UK examples embody a grocery store warehouse, a block of flats and a major faculty whose fireplace prompted a council to disconnect panels throughout dozens of public buildings.
The standard causes are defective isolators, inverters and cabling — and the “fit-and-forget” mindset. Insurers more and more count on panels put in by an authorized (MCS-registered) installer, according to the RICS RC62 code of follow, and inspected and cleaned on a schedule.
What to look at: in case your constructing has photo voltaic, deal with it like some other electrical system — annual inspection, saved information, and a reliable contractor. Inform your insurer it is there.
Severity danger
Battery vitality storage techniques (BESS)
Grid- and site-scale battery storage is increasing quickly because the UK builds towards its clean-power objectives. Critical fires stay uncommon — solely a handful are documented within the UK — however when one happens, the focus of saved vitality makes it extreme and exhausting to battle.
The reassuring information is that steering has tightened. UK fireplace chiefs issued considerably expanded BESS steering in early 2026, with new necessities round emergency planning, explosion management and testing. For many property house owners it is a frontier danger fairly than a doorstep one — but it surely issues if storage is being added on or close to your web site.
What to look at: any plan to put in battery storage ought to contain the native fireplace service early and observe present nationwide steering.
Fireplace severity
Electrical autos (EVs)
This one is extensively misunderstood. The out there knowledge does not present that EVs catch fireplace extra usually than petrol or diesel vehicles — a number of car-park fires blamed on EVs turned out to contain standard autos. The real concern is the character of an EV fireplace: it tends to occur whereas parked or charging, burns scorching, and is troublesome to place out.
In enclosed, basement or multi-storey automobile parks — the place fashionable parking density already lets fireplace unfold between tightly packed autos — that challenges older sprinkler and air flow assumptions. The charging gear itself should additionally meet electrical-safety requirements and tie into the constructing’s fireplace techniques.
What to look at: when you handle parking with EV charging, overview the fireplace technique for that house fairly than assuming the unique design nonetheless matches.
Fireplace & water danger
Inexperienced partitions & blue roofs
These two sustainable options carry very totally different danger signatures. Inexperienced (residing) partitions can introduce a hearth pathway up a façade if planting dries out and flamable materials builds up — a delicate problem on exterior partitions since Grenfell. A well-irrigated, well-maintained residing wall needn’t be a hearth danger in any respect; a uncared for one is a special story.
Blue roofs intentionally retailer rainwater above the waterproofing layer and launch it slowly to ease drainage. That provides structural loading to think about and makes the constructing acutely depending on a sound waterproof membrane and clear shops — a blocked drain or failed membrane turns a flood-management characteristic right into a supply of water harm.
What to look at: each rely nearly fully on upkeep. Hold irrigation, drainage and waterproofing on a documented inspection schedule.
In almost each case, the hazard is not the expertise — it is set up and maintenance.
The thread operating by all 5
What this implies to your insurance coverage
Step again and the watch-list and the fundamentals aren’t actually totally different lists. The recurring fundamentals — competent contractors, certification, scheduled upkeep, good information — are precisely what determine whether or not a battery, a panel or a residing roof behaves as designed. The inexperienced transition hasn’t changed the previous self-discipline of taking care of a constructing; it has raised the stakes on getting it proper.
For house owners, landlords and people managing blocks, that factors to some sensible steps:
- Inform your insurer or dealer about any photo voltaic, battery storage or EV charging — these can have an effect on how a constructing is underwritten.
- Use licensed installers and hold the paperwork; uncertified work is a standard motive claims are challenged.
- Schedule and doc upkeep for panels, batteries, inexperienced partitions and roof drainage, not simply the boiler and the wiring.
- Verify your sum insured displays the complete rebuild value, together with added expertise — underinsurance is among the most typical gaps.
- Evaluate fireplace technique at any time when new expertise is bolted onto an present constructing.
Block, business and mixed-use buildings specifically are not often a match for the standard, one-size-fits-all coverage — particularly as soon as renewable expertise is concerned. The best cowl ought to replicate how the constructing is definitely used, maintained and outfitted immediately.
Unsure your coverage displays these dangers?
We will help you verify whether or not your buildings insurance coverage correctly accounts for photo voltaic, battery storage, EV charging and different fashionable options — and whether or not your sum insured nonetheless provides up.
Get a tailor-made quote
Or converse to a specialist dealer on 0800 085 3761
Sources & additional studying: figures and steering drawn from RiskSTOP’s 2026 Danger Administration Infographic (based mostly on 16,835 UK business dangers surveyed in 2025), QBE European Operations, AXA UK, the Nationwide Fireplace Chiefs Council, the Home of Commons Library and RICS. This text is common info, not a private advice or an announcement of coverage cowl; all the time verify your individual coverage wording and circumstances.