Giving back to the city
Creating opportunities in Belfast with Catalyst and NOW Group
Inside Belfast’s iconic Ewart Building, you’ll find the Loaf Café.
Open to the public and run by social enterprise NOW Group, the café provides training to young people who are neurodiverse, autistic or have a learning difficulty, giving them the skills to secure meaningful jobs.
Also in the building is a lively co-working space we’ve launched with Catalyst, a non-profit innovation organisation, which attracts entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups collaborating to tackle some of the biggest issues facing Belfast today.
Both are especially vibrant parts of Deloitte’s Belfast HQ, which has been home to our 1,300 people in the region since 2024.
It’s a next-generation workspace shaped to help Deloitte give back to Belfast.
A café with a difference
When Deloitte made the shift to hybrid working, it allowed us to rethink how much space we need at The Ewart, and how we could use part of it to benefit the city.
That’s what led to the idea for the Loaf Café and our co-working space.
“Over my 20-year career with Deloitte, the expectation that businesses should operate responsibly has increased significantly,” says Marie Doyle, Deloitte Belfast’s office senior partner.
“Today, as society grapples with increasingly complex challenges, there is an even greater need for corporate organisations to respond with purpose and a clear intent to make a positive impact in their communities.”
Having previously supported NOW Group and Catalyst, we knew both organisations would be our perfect partners to bring this sentiment to life. And there’s nothing quite like seeing the results firsthand in our own HQ.
“In the café, there’s a buzz with people from across our city.” Marie continues.
“We’ll often see comments and videos on social media about it, and it’s amazing – we’re able to help create opportunities for people and give back to the city.”
Every £1 invested in NOW Group generates £23 in social value. The space is not just a café but home to a training academy for people who are neurodiverse, have autism or a learning difficulty to learn skills and build confidence to find permanent employment. So far, over 100 people have come through this academy and moved into employment.
We’re proud to have contributed to NOW Group’s funding directly, thanks to the support of our incredible people who together, in the last year, raised £23k for our Belfast office’s chosen charity partner through endeavours like marathon running, abseiling and cake baking.
“In this new space, Deloitte works alongside Catalyst, a non-profit innovation organisation and NOW Group, a third-sector enterprise known for social impact. Coming together enables us to draw on the strengths of all three of our organisations.”
Marie Doyle, Belfast Office Senior Partner
Co-working sparks conversation
Our co-working space is an innovation hub, established by our drive to help start-up companies and entrepreneurs who fuel Northern Ireland’s economy and drive social value.
Across more than 90 desks, open-plan working areas, private studios and event spaces, people are connecting, and Catalyst programmes and initiatives are turning the space into an incubator for innovators.
To celebrate the launch of the hub, Catalyst and Deloitte facilitated a Housing Grand Challenge event, with like minds coming together to explore how to tackle the region’s housing crisis.
We also collaborated on a joint Hackathon in January, which had over 80 people participate in an AI-themed competition with a £2,000 prize fund.
From idea to innovation
Across the UK, we’ve invested in high-spec, industry-leading office space around the country to ensure our people have the best working environments in which to collaborate with one another and serve clients.
Our HQ’s location in Belfast’s Linen Quarter was never meant to be a typical corporate environment. Instead, the ambition is for a thriving hub of energy and invention that will help drive the next chapter of growth and prosperity in Belfast.
Illuminated in different colours, the building has lit up the sky to mark important dates on the calendar, like Pride. It’s a visible statement of Deloitte’s commitment to the community.
Having launched the region’s first Assured Skills Academy and first Higher Level 6 apprenticeship, Deloitte Northern Ireland has a track record for entrepreneurship that makes a difference to people’s lives.
“Our award-winning higher apprenticeship scheme, BrightStart, and the Academies we run in partnership with government departments create pathways into work for people who are retraining or switching careers,” Marie continues.
BrightStart is a fully funded earn as you learn programme enabling school leavers to work full time in areas like consulting, audit and technology while gaining a degree qualification from Ulster University, setting young people on a career path equivalent to university graduates.
The programme has helped Deloitte to tap into a new vein of talent from different backgrounds, and we’ve seen encouraging examples of BrightStart apprentices being promoted multiple times, right through to director level.
“With such a track record, we always wanted to do something different that reflected our purpose and, by joining forces with Catalyst, NOW Group, government and academia, we’ve created the perfect environment to do that.
“I’m so proud of what we’ve already achieved together,” concludes Marie. “This venture shows what you can do when you bring the private, public and third sectors together.”
Contact
Diane Murphy
Associate Director
Email: dmurphy@deloitte.co.uk
Tel: +44 2890 19 5469
