Welsh insurance and health and safety specialists, Caerphilly-based Thomas, Carroll Group plc, has won the starring role of handling the insurance and risk management services of Wales Millennium Centre.

The contract win for Thomas, Carroll’s commercial insurance broking division, follows a
6-month, seven-way competitive tender mounted by Wales Millennium Centre to ensure best value for insurance and health and safety provisions at the Centre.

It represents a further success for Thomas, Carroll in providing risk management services to major Welsh institutions, with a portfolio of clients which includes The National Library of Wales, The National Botanic Garden of Wales and The Celtic Manor Resort.

Brynmor Williams, Group Director of Thomas, Carroll said: "With over 1.5  million visitors a year and the sheer scale and technical complexity of its operations in mounting the biggest shows, providing a range of insurance-based services for the Centre has got to be one of our greatest and most exciting challenges from a professional stand-point.’

‘Due to the excellent risk management measures in place at the Centre, a performance commended by our insurer partners, we have been able to reduce significantly its insurance premium overheads, a key factor for a national arts institution like Wales Millennium Centre, which receives an element of public subsidy’, he added.

Jonathon Poyner, Venue Operations Director of the Centre said: "Our need for health and safety provision is extensive and covers broad areas of operations, not least the stage management of large-scale productions in massive areas of the Centre, unseen by most of our visitors.  It also includes the day to day operations that we undertake 364 days a year for our many visitors and resident organisations.  Providing a safe and secure environment and managing risk is crucial to our whole business’. 

The Centre has undertaken extensive training and adopted a combined approach to areas such as business continuity planning, the environment, maintenance regimes, liaison with residents and statutory authorities, and also event management procedures. ‘We wanted this combined approach to risk management to be recognised by insurers, added Poyner and Thomas, Carroll has enabled us to achieve that,  delivering  benefits that include  reduced risk and hence reduced costs’.

Under the three-year contract, Thomas, Carroll will provide full technical and broking support.