Cushman & Wakefield moves to a new office

Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has consolidated its Warsaw offices in The Warsaw Hub, a newly-built complex near Daszyńskiego Roundabout. On 3 August, its employees gained access to all the amenities and creative workspaces on nearly 2,500 sq m of office space spread over two floors of the building. Cushman & Wakefield is also the property manager for the complex.

The Warsaw HUB is one of the largest commercial projects in Poland and consists of three high-rise buildings connected by a shared podium and an underground arcade with retail and service outlets. This innovative project, which is more than an ordinary office complex, is based on the concept of a communication and functional hub. It boasts a prime location in the Wola district, near Daszyńskiego Roundabout, a rapidly developing part of Warsaw called a new business centre of the city.

“As we have been working since the merger in two locations in Warsaw for the last six years, the key objective behind the relocation of our head office was to consolidate our business and to foster collaboration among our teams with complementary skill sets. It was also essential that our employees were provided with a top-quality modern office that would support building a true community around our key values. We also wanted to show some of our solutions in practice. I want to emphasize that the consolidation process began more than two years ago. Thanks to the commitment of many people and, first of all, thanks to the professionalism of our entire project team, we have successfully created and delivered an office that will meet all our current and future needs and that all of us can be proud of,” says Krzysztof Misiak, Head of Cushman & Wakefield Poland.

A critical part of the process that began long before the relocation to the new head office was the first stage of preparations — employee and manager workshops and gathering information on all business processes and needs of teams and individuals. The workplace strategy team organised many meetings with employees to identify key design expectations and workplace needs, for example requirements for height adjustable desks. Detailed space utilisation studies conducted in previous locations provided concrete information on the actual utilisation of desks that ranged between 59% and 79%. All the actions taken during the first stage helped define the specific needs of the entire organisation and indicate solutions to drive the business forward.

“The process that we offer our clients and consists in understanding internal organisational procedures and reviewing employee needs was the starting point for the design work on our new office space. Managers and employees took part in a series of workshops that helped us identify their expectations and develop the best solutions to support our business. Thanks to our studies and in-depth analysis of workstyles, we proposed functional and attractive solutions as guidelines for the entire project team,” says Aleksander Szybilski, Associate, Workplace Strategy, Cushman & Wakefield.

Knowing employees’ expectations and having data on the required office space, the tenant representation team of Cushman & Wakefield’s Office Agency was finally able to draw up a short list of buildings and commence negotiations with developers whose projects met the pre-determined brief.

The project also involved the participation of the firm’s Project & Development Services team, which was responsible for project and cost management, including a tender to select a design studio, as well as Administration, HR, Marketing and Communication, and IT.

“I had been warned that running a project ‘for yourself’ would be a huge challenge, but running a project during the pandemic… nobody would have thought of it. Supply delays, limited labour availability and sanitary restrictions at the construction site, acceptance limitations and budget cuts — all of these considerably complicated the whole process. But thanks to the experience and commitment of our entire team, we delivered a modern, functional and impressive office to our colleagues as planned,” says Mariola Bitner, Associate, Project & Development Services, Cushman & Wakefield.

The new head office of Cushman & Wakefield is one of the firm’s most modern offices in EMEA. It was designed and built to meet the requirements of WELL certification, with attention to every detail and top-quality materials and fit-out. It provides a Power Room, or a mini-gym, a Relax Room with a massage recliner chair, a Yoga Room, a parent and child room, and healthy food vending machines. Employees will also be able to enjoy a spacious bistro-like canteen and such amenities as showers and an iron. Modern workstations for individual work, spaces for project work with sit-stand desks, soundproof phone booths and more than 30 meeting rooms all make for great office comfort.

Cushman & Wakefield’s new office boasts a unique design. The meeting rooms in the employee-only section feature fit-out elements reflecting their nature-related names such as Spring, Summer, Volcano, Hurricane, and Forest. The design of the rooms in the client-dedicated section was inspired by Warsaw’s iconic landmarks selected by the employees during the project preparation — they are Wars, Sawa, Rotunda, Belweder, Victoria, and Bristol.

The new Warsaw office of Cushman & Wakefield has been designed in line with the Six Feet Office concept. Automated room booking systems, motion detectors and room occupancy indicators facilitate finding vacant space and help ensure employee safety. The office features modern audio and video systems and technologies for holding group meetings and making them available online. The ergonomics of workstations is ensured by height-adjustable electric desks with a choice of standing positions. Each has two large monitors.

Massive Design, which assisted Cushman & Wakefield during each stage of the development of one of the most awaited projects this year, was responsible for the preparation of the functional concept and architectural design of the new office.

“It is probably one of the biggest challenges to design an office for people who have been everywhere and seen everything that’s been happening on the office market. So we are more than pleased that we found a common language and got on well with each other right from the beginning. This space has been created for people and their modern workstyle and to foster creative collisions and collaboration. And it’s not only about centrally located, superb common zones with a beautiful view of the centre of Warsaw, but also smaller enclaves or rooms that can serve both introverts and extroverts. It’s just a space for everyone,” says Konrad Dowejko, Design Director, Massive Design.