Deloitte LLP recently moved into Building and Land Technology”™s Financial Centre in Stamford, bolstering its commitment to add jobs in Connecticut and embracing an updated office design to encourage collaboration.
- Carl R. Kuehner III, CEO of Building and Land Technology; Kevin Richards, partner, Deloitte; Stamford Mayor David Martin; Gov. Dannel Malloy; and Steve Gallucci, New York managing partner for Deloitte, at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for Deloitte”™s new offices in BLT”™s Financial Centre. Photo by Crystal Kang
After signing a 15-year lease last January, Deloitte consolidated operations from its offices in Stamford and Wilton into the six-story BLT complex at 695 E. Main St., which is made up of two interconnected buildings. The professional services firm occupies 117,000 square feet on five floors in the “clock tower” building.
Deloitte in 2012 signed on to Connecticut”™s First Five program, which provides economic incentives for companies that relocate to or add jobs in the state. The international firm is eligible to receive between $9 million and $14.5 million in state grants if it reaches certain job-creation milestones by the end of 2018.
“We”™ve been enormously successful adding good-paying jobs to the state ”” we created 75,000 during our first term as we drove unemployment to a five-year low,” Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement on the relocation. “This is another step in that direction. We”™re turning our economy around, building for not just for the short term but for the long term. We should celebrate the jobs that are coming with this project.”
Malloy, Stamford Mayor David Martin, BLT CEO Carl R. Kuehner III and Steve Gallucci, New York managing partner for Deloitte, were among officials who attended a recent ribbon-cutting and tour of the offices. The space employs Deloitte”™s Next Generation Workplace concept, which company officials said hinges on open space and advanced technology.
“The Next Generation Workplace is a collaborative workspace that uses modern technology and isn”™t sequestered behind doors or cubicles,” said David Yampanis, real estate portfolio leader at Deloitte in Boston. “We”™re a huge company that could stay in silos, but when you”™re in an open environment there are lots of opportunities for people to bump into each other and collaborate.”
- The BLT Financial Centre at 695 E. Main St. in Stamford. Source: Building and Land Technology
The Next Generation Workplace embraces that idea by abandoning cubicles for work stations with lower walls and employing glass-encased offices instead of opaque barriers. There are also conference rooms available via reservation, equipped with technology for employees to share and present information.
Deloitte serves as the anchor tenant for the building, which was previously home to General Reinsurance Corp.”™s North American headquarters. BLT, the developer of Stamford”™s Harbor Point and other residential, commercial and mixed-use projects, bought the vacant 6.55-acre property in 2012 and has since redeveloped and renovated the office campus.
“This process was about identifying the fundamentally good qualities of the property and coming up with a plan for maximizing them,” BLT”™s Kuehner said in a statement. “Every building is of its era, and it”™s our job to make the necessary investment of time, money and intelligence to modernize ”” we have to give the market what it wants. We feel that the results speak for themselves. This is a better building than it was when we bought it.”
