Ironshore will cap a year of strong growth by moving into a new Front Street headquarters next month.

The insurer expects to write around $1.1 billion in premium this year — an increase of more than 40 percent from 2009. This after last year, when premium doubled from the year before.

The figures were revealed by Ironshore chief financial officer Mitch Blaser, who is also chief executive officer of the privately held company's Bermuda operations.

In an interview with The Royal Gazette, Mr. Blaser said the company's Bermuda 70-strong workforce was now looking forward to their move from the Swan Building in Victoria Street to Sir John Swan's new 10-story office building at 141 Front Street.

The move is expected to take place in mid-December and will bring a distinct improvement in working environment, Mr. Blaser said.

The company's staff are now spread over three floors of the Swan Building. At Seon Place, they will occupy the sixth and seventh floors, where the company will also have room to expand further.

"This move will give our employees a better work environment with good facilities," Mr. Blaser said. "It will help our employees to be productive and will support morale.

"It's a quality building, environmentally friendly with an efficient floor plan. It makes a statement for Bermuda and Ironshore is happy to be part of that."

The new building will also be beneficial to Ironshore's corporate image and provide more pleasant surroundings for clients and brokers to come and do business, Mr. Blaser said. Certainly, he is looking forward to exchanging his windowless office for one with a spectacular view over Hamilton harbour.

Since Ironshore was formed by the late Robert Clements and his son John in late 2006 with about $1 billion in initial capital, Ironshore has gone from strength to strength, having established a widespread international platform and built up a diversified book of business.

Ironshore is about to open its 15th office in the US and also has a presence in the Lloyd's of London market, in the form of the Pembroke Managing Agency. It also has an office in Toronto and plans to open another in Ireland.

Ironshore's fast-paced growth during its first four years has been all the more remarkable for having been achieved through the worst financial crisis in decades and an ongoing soft insurance market.

So how has Ironshore done it? Mr. Blaser put the company's vigorous growth down to several factors, but two in particular.

Firstly, one result of the crisis was that insurance buyers were looking to spread their risk by using more carriers, which had played into the hands of a new player like Ironshore with "clean capital".

Secondly, the struggles of some major insurers had led to an unprecedented availability of experienced executives that had bolstered Ironshore with their talent and their network of contacts.

Ironshore attracted a slew of executives from American International Group, including the company's CEO Kevin Kelley and CEO of US operations, Shaun Kelly.

"They and the top talent they have been able to attract would never have been available if there had not been a financial crisis," Mr. Blaser said.

"They've brought us their relationships, knowledge and expertise in the business. Ironshore is in 13 businesses and if you look at the leadership of those, we're talking about industry leaders."

Mr. Blaser said he saw no clear signs of an end to the soft market. "If you look at the market in layers, then the first layer is the global economy," he said. "When it's weak, it's like a wet blanket on the insurance industry. When the economy's not growing, people aren't buying more insurance.

"The second layer is the capacity. Some people say its overcapitalised by between $50 billion and $100 billion — I would say it's north of $75 billion. Supply and demand are realities."

The favourable development on reserves, which has been bolstering many insurers' underwriting results, should eventually dwindle, he added, putting more pressure on management to apply upward pressure to pricing.

In Bermuda, Ironshore writes property insurance and is also involved with Iron-Starr Excess Agency Ltd., a joint venture with Maurice (Hank) Greenberg's CV Starr & Co., which writes catastrophic excess casualty insurance.

Mr. Blaser is bullish about the Bermuda market's future, but he thinks the Island could learn something from Lloyd's.

"Bermuda has a great opportunity for growth," Mr Blaser said. "We think Bermuda is a great market for syndication and collaboration between participants.

"We can be much more efficient by working together. We could be like Lloyd's of London. We would like to work in that direction with other companies.

"The great advantage of Bermuda is that it's small — everybody you need to see is a short walk away — but it's also the third largest reinsurance market in the world."

Asked about the trend for companies to move holding companies and capital out of Bermuda, Mr. Blaser said the Island had to preserve the attractions that helped to create the Bermuda market in the first place — especially its speed to market and its lack of a "bureaucratic overhang". Other advantages were proximity to the US, concentrated knowledge of the industry, a sophisticated labour force and a history of sensible insurance regulation.

While the threat of changes to the US tax code was a factor, Mr. Blaser felt companies based their domicile decisions on a combination of factors that made up the social, political and economic environment.

"If the growth created the golden goose, then the question is how to keep feeding and nurturing it, as opposed to slowly choking it," Mr. Blaser said.