High Street Underwriting Agency has introduced a new group structure in Australia, creating parent company 11th Avenue and separating its technology function into a standalone unit, ColumnZero.
Under the restructure, 11th Avenue becomes the holding company for High Street Underwriting Agency and ColumnZero. The new entity will sit above the underwriting business and house group-level functions, including operational support, shared services, and capital management. High Street said the move formalises its operations as a group of businesses rather than a single underwriting agency and is expected to provide a framework for any future acquisitions or equity interests in other agencies. Blair Whittle, founding group CEO and director of 11th Avenue, said the structure is intended to separate infrastructure from day-to-day underwriting. “Underwriting agencies win when they can spend more time on underwriting, product, and broker outcomes and less time on building infrastructure,” Whittle said.
The group has stressed that the change is organisational rather than transactional for the market. High Street said there will be no alteration to how brokers, clients, or capacity providers interact with the underwriting agency in their regular business. Existing underwriting teams, contact points for brokers, service standards, and decision-making processes will remain in place. Policies are expected to continue to be quoted, bound, and serviced through High Street as before. Internally, the group has described the move as a back-office and governance realignment, with the intention of consolidating support functions under 11th Avenue while maintaining existing processes for distribution partners and insureds.
Beyond its role as High Street’s parent company, 11th Avenue is being positioned as a shared services platform for other Australian underwriting agencies that may want to use common infrastructure. The company plans to engage with agencies that prefer to access centralised functions rather than develop their own systems. Possible arrangements include shared-services agreements or strategic equity stakes.
According to High Street, services to be provided through 11th Avenue will include claims support and oversight, human resources, compliance and legal support, marketing, finance and management reporting, capacity sourcing and management, and capital and investment support. Under this model, underwriting teams within the group or partner agencies would focus on underwriting and broker-facing activity, while 11th Avenue would manage administrative and operational tasks.
ColumnZero has been established as a separate technology business within the group, built from High Street’s existing in-house IT capability. The unit consists of 10 full-time, Australia-based full stack developers. Its remit is to design, build, and maintain systems that support underwriting and broker portal access. The technology has been developed in High Street’s live underwriting environment and underpins broker self-service, policy processing, and reporting and management information.
Initially, ColumnZero will continue to service High Street’s requirements, including the digital broker portal already in use. Over time, the group expects ColumnZero to make its technology available to other underwriting agencies that want to update their systems or use an external portal solution. High Street said it plans to continue investing in its technology function through the ColumnZero business as part of the new structure.
High Street Underwriting Agency was founded more than 20 years ago by Alan and Jan Whittle and remains a family-led enterprise, with their son Blair Whittle as CEO. The agency operates nationally with broker distribution and international capacity support. Its product range includes church and faith, commercial legal expenses, contractors’ plant and equipment, financial lines, leisure and abstract, market stalls, media, mining liability, personal accident, property, tech, trades-related covers, and voluntary workers. The agency places both what it describes as “hard-to-place” risks and more standard business through brokers. High Street uses an in-house digital platform that enables brokers to quote, bind, and renew policies online. Underwriters handle more complex or non-standard placements that fall outside automated pathways.
High Street has been recognised in recent broker surveys conducted by Insurance Business, receiving awards across categories such as public liability, product liability, hospitality, financial lines, and directors and officers. The agency has also been listed among Insurance Business’s 2025 Best Underwriting Agencies in Australia in the Brokers on Underwriting Agencies report.
The creation of 11th Avenue and ColumnZero indicates a shift by High Street toward a holding-company and platform model, separating underwriting, services, and technology into distinct business units. The short-term impact for existing broker partners is expected to be limited to internal changes, while the longer-term focus is on using the new structure to support potential agency partnerships, shared services, and technology provision within the Australian underwriting agency sector.
