Deloitte moving Vancouver head office to 400W. Georgia development

Deloitte Canada will be moving its Vancouver headquarters to an innovative new office location at 400W. Georgia. The building will feature an open and collaborative office space design, extensive green spaces, cutting-edge energy efficiency, and a visually-arresting exterior consisting of stacked glass cubes.

Accounting and consulting firm Deloitte Canada will be moving its Vancouver headquarters to an upscale and architecturally stimulating new mixed-use office space at the at the corner of Georgia and Homer Streets in downtown Vancouver. The 400W. Georgia project, still in development, will include both retail and workspace tenants. Deloitte will be the anchor tenant, leasing the top 10 floors and 117,000 sq ft of space.

The building will be financed by Allied – a leading owner, manager, and developer of urban office developments – and developed by Westbank, a real estate development firm with offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, and Tokyo. 400W. Georgia was designed by Japanese architectural firm OSO, with support from local firm Merrick Architecture.

The building looks like a series of stacked glass cubes with a shrubbery growing up the side of them. “Multiple, small extrusions became weightless glass cubes haphazardly placed on top of each other,” commented Esteban Ochogavia, OSO. “In a typical office building, one does not expect to find glass floors overlooking the city, roof terraces under overhanging volumes, and vertical gardens framing views of the mountains. All this is achieved by rearranging – rather than abandoning – the conventional glass box."

The project, which strives to integrate nature into the urban environment, will include the largest rooftop amenity in Vancouver. 400W. Georgia will also utilize state-of-the-art design and technology, including a triple-paned curtain wall, operable windows, greenspaces, and LEED Platinum energy efficiency design criteria.

Deloitte’s move to the innovative office is part of its national strategy to revitalize and reimagine its offices across Canada. The firm wants to use inventive designs to remove physical barriers and strengthen connections in traditionally ‘segmented’ professional services offices. "The character of the work space at 400W. Georgia is designed to be open, fluid, flexible, but also diverse,” said Michael Sypkens, OSO. “This new, creative work environment elicits collaboration, creativity, and spontaneity.”

“We want to create unique, inclusive destinations for our people, clients, and community right across the country,” added Etienne Bruson, Managing Partner B.C., Deloitte Canada. “400W. Georgia pushes the traditional boundaries of office design to create something truly distinctive and innovative.”

The office will be located in an area of downtown that is seeing rapid evolution into a hub for the creative and tech industries, as these firms shift eastward and consolidate along Georgia Street. The surrounding area will also see the development of the new Vancouver Art Gallery, as well as the redevelopment of Canada Post.