FM Global's Mary Rieck: Designing Out Property Loss Before Construction

FM Global's Case for Entering Construction Design Before It's Too Late

Most property losses are preventable if the right decisions are made early in a construction project's design, according to Mary Rieck, principal underwriter for renewable energy at FM Global. Rieck argues that by the time a design is finalised, the choices that shape a building's resilience for decades are already locked in — and correcting them later is far more expensive.

FM Global is responding by pushing further into construction insurance, aiming to be involved before those decisions are finalised. Rieck says the insurer combines historical claims data with physical research — including deliberately setting fires at its own facilities — to understand emerging risks such as liquid cooling systems now appearing inside data centre white space.

The most common problems are unglamorous: transformers placed too close to their backups, drainage that cannot cope, sprinkler heads sized incorrectly and materials not matched to the wind zone a site actually sits in. Each is cheap to fix during design and costly to fix after construction.

Rieck says the renewable energy sector has been unusually quick to absorb loss-prevention innovations, pointing to hail-resistant solar panels, improved equipment stowage and rapidly evolving battery management systems. The single biggest risk driver, she says, is location: once a site is chosen, the natural hazard profile is fixed for the life of the asset.

Why Equipment Placement, Site Choice and Insurance Wordings Drive Loss

Rieck's argument is an underwriting logic, not a prediction of specific claims. Her core point: the largest lever on future property losses is applied before a project breaks ground, and the construction industry habitually engages insurers too late. FM Global's expansion into construction insurance is the commercial expression of that view.

Where FM Global Sees Avoidable Losses

The examples Rieck cites are design-stage details — a spare transformer placed beside the unit it is meant to back up, undersized sprinkler heads, poor drainage, and materials unsuited to the site's wind zone. Individually minor, they are collectively what she describes as "pretty simple stuff" that becomes expensive only after construction makes changes difficult. Verified fact: she made these points in an interview; the scale of their impact is not quantified in the source.

Why Renewable Energy Is the Model

Rieck points to solar panels redesigned for hail and better stowage methods as innovations the renewable industry absorbed quickly. Battery management systems, she says, are evolving just as fast. Her interpretation is that renewables show the wider construction sector can adopt loss-prevention thinking if it is introduced early enough — a claim that is plausible but not backed by loss data in the article.

Location: The Risk That Cannot Be Changed

Developers choose sites for power access, customers, labour and tax incentives, but once chosen, the natural hazard profile is fixed. Rieck's phrase — "you're married to that natural hazard profile" — captures why site selection is, in her view, the single biggest determinant of future risk.

Same Hazards, Different Markets

Asked about the UK versus North America, Rieck argues the physical engineering risks are similar but the insurance built around them — policy structures, contract wordings and procurement practices — varies considerably. That distinction matters for any developer operating across jurisdictions: the underlying hazard may be the same, but the terms on which it is insured are not.

What Developers and Insurers Should Do at Design Stage

Rieck's comments translate into practical design-stage checks for construction clients, insurers and renewable-energy developers:

• Review equipment placement during design, especially redundancy setups — a backup transformer sited next to the unit it supports defeats the purpose and is cheap to relocate only before construction, not after.
• Check building materials against the site's actual wind zone and confirm drainage and sprinkler sizing before plans are locked; Rieck calls these recurring sources of avoidable loss.
• Treat site selection as a permanent risk decision: once the location is set, the natural hazard profile is fixed, so hazard due diligence should weigh as heavily as power access or tax incentives.
• For insurers, engage design teams before finalisation to apply loss-prevention data; FM Global's move into construction insurance shows earlier involvement is becoming a competitive strategy.
• Track emerging technologies — liquid cooling in data centres and evolving battery management systems — as underwriting still lacks loss history for them.