Deloitte Summit (410 W. Georgia St) | 92m | 23Fl |Completed

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Miller Thomson (law firm) just reverted back to conventional offices. I wonder how long Deloitte will last. I hear tax season can be a strain on open concept accountants' offices when everyone is in the office.

open offices have never been a good idea. they've always been a problem. they cause the issue they are meant to solve. thats the spin doctors putting a spin on "we want to save money on office space so lets make it seem like we are doing it for a real reason to make people happier."

Originally Posted by mcminsen

A few days ago I saw some black tread strips that had been applied on that questionable bit of repoured concrete (at the top of the steps) and it was coming off at the ends.

Today I tried to get some pics of it but... it's gone. And the plants are gone, too.

Stay tuned for next weeks instalment of the "Deloitte Steps" saga.

what is this questionable repourd concrete you mention? they look fine in the photos? but i am sure everything died fast without irrigation... this is all amusing in a sad way. brand new, over 100m development, and they cant even get the entrance steps right.

sounds about right.

[mcminsen]

Every time I look at the new poured concrete section at the top of the steps I have questions.

What is it about the new concrete that is better than the former aggregate?

Why did they make it so smooth that they ended up putting black traction strips on the new concrete?
The strips were there for just a couple of days and I didn't get a pic.

There seems to be a slight downward slope just before you would take the first step down.
Will there be a slip hazard when things get icy or snowy?

Why don't the hand railings extend up enough to be grabbable as you step on the new part before you go down the steps? Or down on your ass.

Why can't they do it right the first time?

How long before we see the final product so I can go obsess about something else?









Aug.13 '22, my pic


Aug.24 '22, my pics

[TwoFace]

Looks terrible, the whole thing needs to be redone.

[jollyburger]

And they literally had zero stairs in their initial landscape plans for that entrance. It seems if you have any sidewalk that isn't perfectly level it makes it impossible for someone to properly design an entrance.

[jollyburger]

Four floors of Deloitte Summit up for grabs. Floors 6-9

Main pages says it's 109,063 SF and not 60K something so maybe it's Regus/Spaces.

https://www.loopnet.ca/Listing/410-W...r-BC/25919452/

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Four floors of Deloitte Summit up for grabs. Floors 6-9

Main pages says it's 109,063 SF and not 60K something so maybe it's Regus/Spaces.

https://www.loopnet.ca/Listing/410-W...r-BC/25919452/

The 65,590 sq. ft. looks to be the correct space for four floors. Apple were supposed to take around 60,000 sq. ft., and there's no sign of them moving in, so maybe it's the space they were going to take?

[jollyburger]

Some random articles about Deloitte and their new offices.

Deloitte Canada would have moved into a newly opened Vancouver office sooner, if it wasn't for the pandemic.

But the delay gave the company some time to consider how that space should be used.

"We were able to really think about this 'next normal,'" said Jayara Darras, the company's culture and people leader, which at Deloitte involves supporting hybrid working arrangements.

For now, about one-fifth of Deloitte's regional workforce of 1,500 people is in the building on a typical workday.

"We're hitting about 275, 300 people [on a given day]," Darras said, noting fewer people choose to come in on Mondays and Fridays.

She predicts that number to rise this fall, but also doesn't expect Deloitte to mandate a return.

The pandemic upended long-entrenched office routines, prompting organizations to rethink how work can be done and embrace more flexible arrangements.

More people are being encouraged to physically return to work this fall, but it doesn't appear the work world will revert to its pre-pandemic state.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...emic-1.6570575

“Gone are the days where you have a bunch of cubicles and people are just heads down working because, really, if that’s what you need to be doing, at-home is probably the better spot,” said the culture people leader for Deloitte Canada’s B.C. office.

“But when you’re in the office, what do you want to get? You want to be running into people, you want to have that water-cooler chit-chat.”

Deloitte’s local team is moving into a new downtown Vancouver office at 410 Georgia Street West. Darras said the pause brought on by the pandemic allowed the company to throw out traditional office layouts and consider how people would be working in this COVID-19 era.

The new offices at the Deloitte Summit tower will be open concept and feature breakout rooms with phones and screens allowing remote workers to tap into meetings.

Stand-up desks will dot the floor, and one storey will be dedicated to employees who bring their dogs with them to work, an idea that, Darras acknowledged, “seems to be a little polarizing. You either love it or you hate it.”

Darras said employers should still be inclusive towards those not coming in, because it could be for a range of reasons, including health concerns.

Deloitte has also been holding a “Welcome Wednesday” once a month for new workers, in which the event has an online component followed by some sort of in-office activity.

Darras said offices should also be prepared to deal with whatever the future holds for COVID-19.

“Right now with B.C., we seem to be OK. But in the fall, are we going to have more issues and more transmission? And so how do you balance that safety?” she said.

Like Berger, Darras believes the key to successfully bringing more people back into the office is to offer choice.

“And it’s how do you balance that choice, so you get what is best for individuals, what is best for the organization and what is best for stakeholders?” she said. “I don’t think anyone’s cracked it yet.”

https://biv.com/article/2022/09/back...yers-employees

Deloitte, which has about 11,000 employees in Canada, does not have a mandatory policy on time in the office. But Darras said if someone is not coming in at all, the firm wants to understand why and will try to accommodate them.

“As an employer, we’ll be flexible with you, but we also need you to be flexible with us,” she said in an interview Wednesday.

Deloitte opened a new office in Vancouver designed to facilitate hybrid work and Darras said when the doors opened in June, there was more demand from workers interested in coming in than the space could accommodate (they’ve since opened another floor).

“There’s no right answer. I don’t think we’ll go back to everybody at work. We’re also not going to go back to everybody fully remote,” she said, noting that her comments were contingent on health issues and new waves of COVID-19.

https://www.thestar.com/business/202...ice-plans.html

[TwoFace]

I suspect deep inside they are kind off freaking out, for a lack of a better word. Office space costs a fortune, when people don't show up, it's like burning money.
This goes for other companies as well.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The 65,590 sq. ft. looks to be the correct space for four floors. Apple were supposed to take around 60,000 sq. ft., and there's no sign of them moving in, so maybe it's the space they were going to take?

This Avison Young prelease for Deloitte Summit had Deloitte on 16-25 and Apple on 10-13

Maybe Spaces was up to the 10th floor and Northeastern's mailing address is on the 14th floor. Seems like they are only on that floor.

https://www.avisonyoung.ca/documents...ort_Summer2021







https://facilities.northeastern.edu/vancouver14floor/

And Colliers said Spaces still ended up with 40,000 square feet somewhere for Spaces Green Lamp opening January 2023. Regus listing says it opens mid-September.

Some listing showed Spaces as 1-9 originally.

https://www.spacesworks.com/vancouver/green-lamp/

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by TwoFace

I suspect deep inside they are kind off freaking out, for a lack of a better word. Office space costs a fortune, when people don't show up, it's like burning money.
This goes for other companies as well.

Companies aren't freaking out because they continue to rent office space that isn't fully utilized. The rent expense is the same whether a butt is in a chair or not, and it's not like companies are lowering prices because their employees work from home. So if productivity is the same for someone working from home vs. someone working in the office, profitability is not impacted by underutilized office space.

On the contrary, companies see this as an opportunity to cut back on overhead costs. It's a complex issue, because forecasting demand is tough. For example, my company sees much larger in-person attendance when there is an event in the office that offers free food and drink and on many of those days we are close to full capacity because their are fewer desks than employees. It was much easier when companies had to have as many desks as employees, but that was also more expensive.

If there is any concern among companies regarding work from home, they are as follows:

• Real estate companies are concerned because what if your anchor tenant only needs half of the space they initially committed to leasing?
• Managers are concerned about productivity because who knows what sorts of unproductive things you could be doing at home during work hours.
• Bosses are concerned about how much easier it is to switch jobs when you work from home, and how that makes retaining talent much more difficult (and expensive).
• Uncreative bosses are scared of what offering alternative perks might cost, since the espresso machine at reception and the gym in the lobby aren't the draws they used to be.

[TwoFace]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Companies aren't freaking out because they continue to rent office space that isn't fully utilized.

Got it. Leasing property you don't need is good business.

[officedweller]

I like my office with a door that I can close to use speakerphone. The office gave out headsets, but why would I use that when I can just close the door. It's also nice to come to a personalized space at the office where your hardcopy files with notes and mark-ups sit there at the ready if you get a random call from a client.
Otherwise, you wonder what the draw would be? social spaces?
There are high volume printers, scanners and photocopiers at the office that make life easier for document management.

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Every time I look at the new poured concrete section at the top of the steps I have questions.

What is it about the new concrete that is better than the former aggregate?

Why did they make it so smooth that they ended up putting black traction strips on the new concrete?
The strips were there for just a couple of days and I didn't get a pic.

There seems to be a slight downward slope just before you would take the first step down.
Will there be a slip hazard when things get icy or snowy?

Why don't the hand railings extend up enough to be grabbable as you step on the new part before you go down the steps? Or down on your ass.

Why can't they do it right the first time?

How long before we see the final product so I can go obsess about something else?

Totally agree.
I think that they need to repour the street sidewalk area so that it has a slant more towards the street to eliminate that bump at the top of the steps, so that the area next to the steps is level or 'uphill' towards the steps. That may alternatively require redoing the steps with shorter rise to add a step or increasing the rise on each step.

You also wonder if those planters and steps limit egress from the building in an emergency.

I think the whole reason that the lobby has such a low ceiling height, and is below the Georgia sidewalk, is that the building height had to be squeezed in under the view cone - plus they wanted a Georgia address rather than Homer address. Easiest solution would have been to have the front door face Homer.

[jollyburger]

If they had more space I was thinking it might be easier to orient a narrow set of stairs next to the building (East/West). I doubt the city will let them change the sidewalk. Or Giovani's location should have been the main entrance with that corner entrance just leading to Homer.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Every time I look at the new poured concrete section at the top of the steps I have questions.

What is it about the new concrete that is better than the former aggregate?

Why did they make it so smooth that they ended up putting black traction strips on the new concrete?
The strips were there for just a couple of days and I didn't get a pic.

There seems to be a slight downward slope just before you would take the first step down.
Will there be a slip hazard when things get icy or snowy?

Why don't the hand railings extend up enough to be grabbable as you step on the new part before you go down the steps? Or down on your ass.

Why can't they do it right the first time?

How long before we see the final product so I can go obsess about something else?









Aug.13 '22, my pic


Aug.24 '22, my pics

stair-gate

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I like my office with a door that I can close to use speakerphone. The office gave out headsets, but why would I use that when I can just close the door. It's also nice to come to a personalized space at the office where your hardcopy files with notes and mark-ups sit there at the ready if you get a random call from a client.
Otherwise, you wonder what the draw would be? social spaces?
There are high volume printers, scanners and photocopiers at the office that make life easier for document management.

this is spot on. i agree with this.^^^

sadly my work made very tiny offices, very very few people, on the inside. they're quite terrible offices. . the "new school" of thought. the old offices were much nicer, along the outside and about 3x the size.

Originally Posted by jollyburger

If they had more space I was thinking it might be easier to orient a narrow set of stairs next to the building (East/West). I doubt the city will let them change the sidewalk. Or Giovani's location should have been the main entrance with that corner entrance just leading to Homer.

the city would never let them change the sidewalk. CoV is very strict on that. they give the building grades at 10-15m intervals along the P/L and it is the private side job to meet them. if there is an issue, it is the private side that needs to fix.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by TwoFace

Got it. Leasing property you don't need is good business.

That's not at all what I said.

If rent is an expense than underutilized space is an opportunity to cut costs without negatively impacting revenue. 99% of companies lease their office space, so for must companies this is an opportunity to take advantage of and not a reason to freak out.

The partners at my firm are grateful to the new starts who will happily pay for their own office equipment. Instead of expanding our office space as planned they can keep renting the same amount of square feet. As long as productivity isn't affected, remote work is a positive for a lot of employers.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Miller Thomson (law firm) just reverted back to conventional offices. I wonder how long Deloitte will last. I hear tax season can be a strain on open concept accountants' offices when everyone is in the office.

in the past (and maybe now), there were always "open concept" in accounting offices. It was called the Pit and it's where all the junior accountants/students slogged it out. The offices were for managers.

open concept does not work for tax but it's great for audit.

[officedweller]

Ah, yes, I've heard that accountants are at their clients' offices during audits, so their own offices aren't full.

Pic by me today:

There are perforations drilled into the new pavement.
You can definitely see the slope down towards the steps from the sidewalk.



... and the elevation at which I think the steps should start:

[Westbased]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Pic by me today:

There are perforations drilled into the new pavement.
You can definitely see the slope down towards the steps from the sidewalk.



... and the elevation at which I think the steps should start:

A couple workers were installing those non-slip metal brackets today. In person, the slope is significant...absolutely brutal design and execution.

[mcminsen]

Studs!

These will also deter skateboarders.




Sept.7 '22, my pics