Lloyd’s said it plans to re-open its London underwriting room and corporation offices on May 17.

The specialist insurance and reinsurance market explained in its Feb. 26 announcement that the opening will be designed with COVID19-safety in mind.

To manage capacity and ensure the market is COVID-secure, Lloyd’s said it will once again apply a class of business rota during the week. (In September, after Lloyd’s re-opened the underwriting room, it began operating on a staggered basis — for example, with direct property underwriters on one day, and specialty lines on another.)

“All being well, we will look to further relax restrictions and increase footfall in line with expected updated government guidance from 21 June,” the market bulletin noted.

Meanwhile, the market has opened a Virtual Room to all classes of business. “Since its launch in September with the first cohort of market users operating in U.S. property, we have undertaken extensive user testing to gather feedback on how we can enhance the user experience,” said the bulletin.

Initial improvements a team view and a “Meet Now / Meet Later” function, which will enable calendar integration between the Virtual Room and users’ own calendars. Users will be able to book a meeting from the Virtual Room, while syncing up with their work calendar.

More improvements are in the pipeline, including video and voice calling.

For further information, please contact virtualroom@lloyds.com.