Work on a huge new global headquarters for two Bermuda-based insurance giants could start within weeks -- on the site of the old Bermudiana Hotel.

ACE Limited, a holding company for a group of insurance firms, plan to open an office complex on the five-acre site by the year 2000.

ACE lodged their final plans for the four-storey office building earlier this week.

Co-developers EXEL Limited have already lodged their own plans for a second office complex on the site of the old hotel.

And their building is also earmarked as a worldwide headquarters.

The multi-million-dollar development will get the final go ahead if Planning officials approve the latest proposals, lodged on Wednesday.

Executives from the Development Applications Board have already granted planning permission in principle.

Now the project's backers are waiting to hear if there will be any last-minute objections to the new complex on Bermudiana Road.

ACE's Director of Corporate Communications, Wendy Davis Johnson, said: "We're hoping that our building can be open by the year 2000.

"This is a collaborative effort with EXEL but they are separate buildings and we're employing separate architects.

"The land has been prepared in the last six or eight weeks, the planning permission is now being sought and we are on target for building work to begin this Spring, hopefully in April.'' ACE and EXEL bought the site in a deal valued at around $18 million, after acquiring Winson Holdings through a Private Member's Bill in 1996.

Bulldozers moved onto the site last year to demolish the old hotel.

But the project was delayed because a rival developer, the Bermuda Financial Centre Ltd., lodged an appeal last year.

Environment Minister Irving Pearman threw out the appeal and now construction is finally set to start -- almost two years after the saga began.

Ms Davis Johnson added: "The plans aren't all finalised so it's almost impossible to put a cost on the project.

"But it's a massive scheme and we're hoping to get the go-ahead soon so work can begin.

"We should also have some more detailed plans soon.'' She said ACE Limited had expanded so much in recent years that it needed to move from its present headquarters on the top floor of the Rosebank Building.

The firm was set up in Bermuda in the mid-1980s and was registered in the Cayman Islands.

It now has subsidiary companies in the US, UK and Ireland -- with branch headquarters in Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, London and Dublin.

"This building will be able to accommodate our own staff,'' said Ms Davis Johnson.

"There are no present plans to relocate staff from abroad but we need to expand from our present base.

"We have grown so fast that we need a new global headquarters and hopefully this will fit the bill perfectly.

"It is also a big construction and design project so it should also mean a number of jobs are created in the short to medium term.'' If approved, ACE's four-storey building would have its own tower, roof storage area and two-floor underground car park.

EXEL Senior Vice President Gavin Arton said: "Our firm is similarly structured to ACE, we are Bermuda-based with a registry in the Cayman Islands.

"We have offices in London, Dublin, Sydney and Cologne and this will also be our global headquarters.'' He said staff would move from Cumberland House and Windsor Place and the building should be open by January 2001.