Blenheim is planning further growth in its casualty and special risks segments in 2027, while its property direct and facultative book is increasingly shifting towards delegated business, CEO Peter Scales told The Insurer.
Scales said Blenheim is “right on” its business plan for 2026, which he said was a surprise after soft market pressures in 2025 meant income had come up slightly short.
He said the progress in 2026 reflected recent hires and the stickiness of business they brought with them. This was part of an effort to write more additive business, Scales said, rather than merely competing in areas where Blenheim was already trading.
Casualty is one area where Blenheim has seen growth after it hired Alex Stratton-Thomsett in January 2026.
Scales said Blenheim was in front of targets for casualty in 2026, with expected premium written of around £160 million ($216.81 million) for the year. He added that the casualty unit is expected to grow to £200 million under its three-year plan, which concludes at the end of 2027.
The offering is largely focused on niche segments, mostly in the U.S. but avoiding D&O and the large longer-tail segments.
Blenheim Underwriting’s growth will also be supported by its special risks unit, led by Ed Parker, alongside the hires of Geoff Pryor-White to launch a cyber unit and Ian Ritchie in contingency, Scales said.
Last month, The Insurer reported that Blenheim Syndicate 5886 is targeting a preliminary stamp capacity increase of around 12.5% for 2027.
D&F BOOK PIVOTS TOWARDS DELEGATED AUTHORITY
Scales said the property D&F book is expected to be around the same size in 2026 as the prior year at around £240 million in gross written premium.
Despite the consistent headline premium figure, Scales said there has been a shift in the proportion of open market and delegated authority business.
In 2023, Scales said Blenheim’s property D&F book was 80% open market, but this year that proportion would drop to 40% with delegated authority making up the remainder.
This shift, Scales said, was due to open market property falling much more rapidly than delegated business. He said the open market is off approaching 20%, while delegated business is only down mid-single digits.
In September 2025, Blenheim bolstered its direct property unit through the hires of Phil Lawson and Alex Hewlett from Scor. They started in their positions in February 2026.
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