Insurance group Hamilton yesterday opened their new offices in the Waterfront centre.

And group CEO Brian Duperreault said the new building underlined the firm’s commitment to Bermuda.

He added: “Bermuda is our home — we feel so much at home in Bermuda we named the company Hamilton.

He added: “our headquarters are here and we have a large contingent of Bermudians here.”

Industry veteran Mr Duperreault was speaking as Premier Michael Dunkley cut the ribbon at the new offices, in the Waterfront’s Wellesley House North.

And the hi-tech workplace features a mini-golf course, complete with obstacles, a games room, and an interactive globe of the world that can track weather events that could impact on the firm’s business.

Mr Duperreault said: “The office is designed to do a number of things — primarily, it’s where we come to work all day, so it has to promote communication and cooperation.

“We’re committed to going down a path of innovation and technology and we wanted to represent that with what we have here.”

He added: “The globe is a piece of technology that’s multifunctional. It will depict things like weather patterns, seawater temperatures, earthquakes and tsunamis and the effect of them.”

But Mr Duperreault said: “It’s a people business — with all the technology that’s out there and will be out there, it’s a people business and always will be.”

The firm, which opened its doors two years ago in Par-la-Ville Road, has grown rapidly to include not only Bermuda-based reinsurer Hamilton Re, but an arm in the USA and Hamilton at Lloyd’s of London and houses 35 staff in its new home on Pitts Bay Road.

Mr Duperreault said the putting area was “for fun”.

He added: “It’s important to have fun in life. We have a lot of brokers and clients who come through and a it’s a focal point, a place where people can enjoy themselves a little bit. The world is hard enough — you have to enjoy yourself once in a while.”

The office features a variety of meeting rooms, all named after famous inventors like Alan Turing, one of the pioneers of computing who decoded the WWII German Enigma code.

The new offices also feature sound-proofed pods at the edge of open plan areas and a boardroom equipped with the latest in information technology.

And the interior walls are removable to quickly change the layout if required — and insulated with recycled jeans for a green touch.

Mr Dunkley told the Hamilton staff: “I was very impressed with the environment you have created.

“We all know that business is tough and you have to take a great deal of risk in all you do.

“It impressed me because you have to create a work environment where people are happy and get things done and you have done that.

“Too often, we live in a world that’s way too negative — life is short and you have to get stuck in.”

Mr Dunkley added: “Bermuda is definitely on the road to back — it’s taking longer that we would have liked, but we will persevere.”