on Pitts Bay Road.

The Bermuda insurance giant will hold an official opening of its new global headquarters in early May, as builders complete the last phases of the building.

Brian O'Hara, president and chief executive officer of the insurance company, said: "The construction of XL House not only makes good economic sense but will help to produce valuable administrative and operational efficiencies.'' The new modern building now houses all the XL units for the first time under one roof. These include XL Insurance Ltd, XL Investments Ltd, XL Re Ltd, Latin American Re Ltd, Element Ltd, XL Financial Assurance Ltd and XL Financial Solutions.

Mr. O'Hara said: "This will be the first time we have been able to have our Bermuda-based subsidiaries under one roof since we began to expand the XL group of companies in the mid 90s.'' The building is on the site of the former Bermudiana hotel and has as its neighbour its rival ACE's new building, which is also still in construction.

The XL building boasts a giant aquarium in the entrance hall which is yet to be unveiled and huge conference facilities for its group.

It also has a gym, underground parking and the executive top floor has floor to ceiling windows with views across Hamilton and the harbour.

XL staff make the move Mr. O'Hara has an executive bathroom with an ante-room, and the whole building has a high-tech water-based cooling system.

All the communication cables are sealed with steel pipes so no one can tap into the company's dealings.

The high-tech security system includes laser beams that will let you in and out of the lifts, and different staff is allowed access to different floors.

The floors are on a grid-system, so you can pop up a section to work on cables with minimum disturbance.

In the board room they have sound-proof booths to make phone calls and will have a vanishing point pool with whale tails coming out of the water.

The building was said to have the "wrong'' feng shui, and to counter balance it they painted the walls of the basement in different colours.

It is believed they will have a large black stone sign covered by a continuous stream of water with brass lettering which will be lit at night.

It is believed to have the capacity to house another few hundred employees, should the company expand.

The four floors of office space are completed, but the ground floor, entrance and landscaping are yet to be finished.

Boxes of documents are still being unloaded from the move from Cumberland House.