Heads of terms signed to become anchor tenant in new Bedford Square development, which includes the historic Ewart Warehouse

New offices will be able to accommodate more than 1,000 Deloitte people

Deloitte expected to move in to offices in 2021

Deloitte announced today that it has selected Bedford Square as the location of its new head office in Northern Ireland.

Deloitte will become the anchor tenant in McAleer & Rushe’s new development on Bedford Street, which is centred around the regeneration and refurbishment of the historic listed building formerly known as the Ewart Building.

Staff currently based at Deloitte’s other offices in the city will all move to Bedford Square and once completed the Belfast office will be Deloitte’s largest UK office by headcount outside of London.

Bedford Square, an £85m development project, is a 213,000 sq ft Prime Grade A office development to be delivered by McAleer & Rushe which will accommodate over 2,000 people upon completion. It includes a modern new office building which will be linked to the refurbished and extended Ewart building on Bedford Street, a prime city centre location which has been unoccupied for some time.

The new Belfast office will accommodate all of Deloitte’s core business areas, including audit, tax and consulting and will also see a new state-of-the-art Deloitte Digital and Greenhouse space created in the Ewart building.

The vacant four-storey sandstone warehouse building was designed by James Hamilton for the Bedford Street Weaving Company and completed in 1870. The new development aims to regenerate the old warehouse building, respecting its heritage and the character of the exterior, while completely redesigning the interior.

Jackie Henry, senior partner at Deloitte in Belfast, said: “After a long selection process we are delighted to be able to announce the choice of Bedford Square as our new home in Belfast.

“It is a symbol of Deloitte’s commitment to this city that we have chosen a development which will breathe life back into one of Belfast’s beautiful but neglected heritage buildings, contributing to the regeneration of the city centre while at the same time delivering an exciting and flexible modern work environment for our increasingly diverse and connected workforce.”

She added: “Deloitte’s operations have been growing rapidly over the past few years, driven by increased requirements for our services across traditional areas such as tax, audit and consulting, but also our wider expertise in exciting new areas such as digital analytics, cloud services, cyber security and robotics.

“This new office will bring Deloitte’s expertise in Belfast together under one roof, which will foster even greater collaboration between teams and enable us to create a campus environment that is ideally suited to the agile and augmented jobs of the future.

“This significant investment reflects our confidence in Belfast and its high-quality talent base. Based on our current growth projections we expect to have 1,000 staff in Belfast by 2022, over 400 of these new roles supported by the Department for the Economy through Assured Skills and Higher Level Apprenticeships. Given that growth trajectory we have also made sure we have the option to increase the space to accommodate up to 1,250.”

Deloitte will be taking up to 100,000 sq ft of space within the Bedford Square development.

Stephen Surphlis, Property Director in McAleer & Rushe said: “Securing Deloitte’s commitment is a significant milestone in the delivery of this strategic development which will bring further economic activity to the heart of the City and surrounding local businesses. We have already commenced works and upon completion the building will provide much needed grade A office accommodation for international and indigenous companies within Belfast’s prime office district.

“The development will include the comprehensive refurbishment and restoration of the iconic Ewart Building, returning it to its original splendour and giving Deloitte a high-quality office environment in this unique 150-year-old heritage building.

“Deloitte supports our vision for the project and the contribution it will make to the Linen Quarter and the wider city and we are looking forward to working closely with them to develop their new headquarters.”

The project will also aim to obtain the BREEAM excellent rating for sustainability.

Deloitte was advised on the transaction by Cushman & Wakefield, Belfast. McAleer & Rushe was advised by CBRE.

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For more information please contact Symon Ross at MCE Public Relations on 028 90 267 099 or email symon@mcepublicrelations.com.

Note to editors

About Deloitte

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Please see deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.

Deloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NWE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK's leading professional services firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

For more information, please visit www.deloitte.co.uk

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About McAleer & Rushe

Established in 1967, McAleer & Rushe is a privately owned, multi-award winning design & build construction, property development, investment and asset management firm.

www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk