Deloitte Canada finds a home in Spaces Granville

As one of Canada’s leading professional services firms, Deloitte Canada has built a reputation of unmatched expertise and forward-thinking mentality. As part of its national strategy to create a more inclusive, flexible and collaborative work environment— an approach they call Orbis — Deloitte Canada is temporarily moving 700 of its 800 Vancouver employees into a new coworking location in Vancouver, B.C., operated by Spaces. Deloitte Canada will be the sole tenant in Spaces Granville, occupying 78,000 square feet in Granville Street’s historic Tom Lee Music building, a mainstay of Vancouver’s entertainment district.

It’s an unprecedented move — and here’s why it makes perfect sense.

‘Work’ redefined: Deloitte Canada’s new approach

Deloitte Canada is constantly learning and disrupting itself. Since 2012, Canada’s largest professional services firm has been redefining what ‘work’ means for its employees and clients. Long gone are the days of stuffy offices, siloed workstations or generic open spaces.
Deloitte Canada prides itself on creating a fulsome talent and client experience by fostering flexibility, connectivity, innovation, high performance and a sense community and wellness.

To achieve this, Deloitte Canada is creating unique workspaces that push the limits of technology and leverage flexible design for increased organic collaboration and work styles. The early results are encouraging: Deloitte research reveals that agile workspaces lead to a 63 percent reduction in absenteeism, and that about two-thirds of employees show greater loyalty to companies that offer flexible work environments.

“We believe in barrier-free workspaces that encourage everyone to contribute their unique skills,” says Etienne Bruson, managing partner for Deloitte in British Columbia. “And it’s not only for the employees — this agile approach is shown to benefit our clients and the business community alike by becoming a destination for collaboration and innovation. It’s the future of work, and we’re proud to be leading the way.”

So when the time came for Deloitte Canada to move 700 of its Vancouver employees to a temporary workspace — while waiting for their permanent location to open — the choice was clear.

“Spaces Granville may not be an obvious location for a professional services firm” says Bruson, “but the initial excitement from our people about being in a non-traditional area which reflects the vision we have for our firm and the commitment we have on making an impact that matters in this province makes it the right choice for us. Partnering with Spaces is a major milestone in our approach to the future of work.”

Spaces Granville: the ‘flexible’ fit

2019 is shaping up to be yet another record-breaking year of expansion in Canada for IWG and Spaces, and this latest Vancouver destination promises to be a standout. By bringing a dose of dynamic coworking energy to a street known for its nightlife, Spaces Granville isn’t just breaking down walls in the office, it’s breaking down barriers in the city.

The introduction of coworking to Vancouver’s Granville Street is “going to change the street itself,” says Wayne Berger, CEO of IWG Canada and Latin America, which owns Spaces. “Spaces will be the first bridge of bringing workforce together with this entertainment district.”

And bringing people together is precisely what Spaces is all about.

By providing the innovative work culture that Deloitte Canada is looking for, in addition to the temporary lease that they require, Spaces is the ideal fit for a company in need of flexibility. And with Deloitte already having 15 offices set up in IWG workspaces around the world — including in the U.K., Brazil, Japan, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland and Vietnam — the company knows exactly what to expect by partnering with Spaces.

It’s a partnership that makes sense for both companies.

“We are proud to collaborate with Deloitte as they continue to lead in reimagining the workplace with their national strategy to build unique destinations that foster innovation,” says Berger. “There is a revolution happening in the way people work, and we are supporting enterprises like Deloitte to achieve their new workspace vision. The fact that Deloitte will become our sole tenant in Spaces Granville is further proof that some of the world’s leading companies are redefining the world of work at a growing rate.”