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Zurich's Claims function was short-listed in recognition of their major loss claims efforts and claims supply to Melton Borough Council, which suffered a catastrophic accidental fire in May 2008 that destroyed approximately two thirds of their main council offices.
As a local council with a statutory requirement to provide appropriate services within their local community this posed a major issue as the facilities to provide the vast majority of those services were located in the offices damaged in the fire. Without a rapid solution, the council would have been in breach of statutory duties and the local community could have suffered if services were stopped or disrupted.
The Solution
Zurich acted quickly and arranged for the adjusters to attend the site on the same day with a member of the dedicated Major Loss Team attending the site the next working day. It was quickly understood that the loss was going to require specialist input and an expert team including loss adjusters, surveyors, IT experts, forensic scientists and forensic accountants was immediately mobilised.
Zurich helped the council to utilise a data centre 20 miles away to enable the resumption of critical services within 48 hours of the fire. With the requirement to provide various services locally, it was decided that the only practical solution was to source and operate from a number of smaller premises within the town by implementing a multi-site operation. This presented a unique logistical and technical challenge that had never been faced within such a tight timescale by a Local Authority.
To facilitate multi-site operation, Zurich agreed with the council to fund the installation of a Wide Area Network which would allow services to be run from smaller office locations within Melton. This required the purchase of the latest networking and computer equipment as well as the involvement of BT to lay new data cables.
Zurich then agreed to convert the remaining third of the council offices into a standalone building to provide temporary office facilities, including altering the internal layout to accommodate more employees. This was carried out on an accelerated works basis to ensure that the building was ready in time for the employees to come out of the Nottingham temporary premises.
As a result of our actions, including relocating their employees to a temporary location and installing new technology, Melton Borough Council is successfully delivering ‘business as usual’ council services with a minimum of disruption to the public. Benefit services to the most needy have been unaffected.
