Deloitte exits more London offices after setting out permanent work-from-home policy
Big Four accountancy firm Deloitte has cut the size of its London offices in another sign the firm is doubling down on remote working.
The office space cull comes after Deloitte told staff they are free to work-from-home as often as they want, in June of last year.
The auditor is now moving out of its 185,000 square foot Hill House building in Holborn, after choosing not to reopen four of its other London offices in New Street Square last year, according to the Financial Times.
The closures come after Deloitte extended the leases on the two biggest buildings in its New Street Square campus until 2036, despite having pulled out of much of the rest of its Canada campus.
In exiting the buildings, Deloitte is set to have abandoned 250,000 square foot of London office space since the start of the pandemic.
The closures will not have any impact on jobs and any employees that previously worked in Hill House will be moved to Deloitte’s other New Street Square offices in May of this year.
Deloitte’s decision to shutter its offices comes after a survey showed the majority of Deloitte employees would prefer to come into the office two days a week.
A Deloitte spokesperson said: “We’re reviewing our office space requirements to reflect changes to our ways of working and our sustainability objectives. As part of this, we’ve decided to exit our Hill House building on our London campus.”
“Teams that were previously based in Hill House will move to our 2 New Street Square office, alongside our 1 New Street Square office,” the spokesperson continued. “We continue to be a significant employer of Canada with long term lease commitments at our London campus.”