A walk in the clouds

‘Eurobuild CEE’ and the ‘I Have a Dream’ foundation fulfil the dreams of children struggling with illness

“Swallow as if you were on a plane,” advised our guide, while the fast lift was speeding up to the top floor of the Warsaw Financial Center. Our blocked ears were just a foretaste of the incredible sensation of being at the top of the building.

It was a memorable day for five charges of the ‘I Have a Dream’ foundation, who could experience this extraordinary adventure thanks to an initiative by the ‘Eurobuild Central & Eastern Europe’ magazine as well as the owners and managers of a number of Warsaw’s skyscrapers. The charges were children who suffer from life-threatening diseases. Eurobuild, which has been supporting them in their fight to get back to full health, had this time decided to show Warsaw to the children from the tops of its tallest buildings. “Perhaps you will be working here one day,” said the guide as they entered the plush, spacious and yet at that time empty study of a company president. There was also time to see the technical rooms. “I will take you to places that are not even accessible to the tenants,” announced a representative of the administration. The most impressive was an electricity generator, a machine resembling a small diesel locomotive. “This could provide a constant supply of electricity to 1,500 homes or 800 residential buildings. In the Warsaw Financial Center it serves as an emergency back-up, which is always ready to work if needed. However, it has so far never been necessary to turn it on,” explained a member of the technical staff. And how much fuel does such a box of tricks use? About 100 litres of diesel per hour. “It is a shame you don’t have your business cards,” regretted 13-year old Paweł, who was hoping to win the main prize in a business card competition for collecting the most business cards by the end of the day. When it was time to say goodbye, each child received a Lego set from the building manager. “I will never forget this,” said a six-year-old, who was clearly very impressed by the trip to the Warsaw Financial Center.

In the afternoon it was time to see the sights in the tallest apartment building in the European Union: Złota 44. It started in the car park which the children entered in a melex buggy. Then there was the lift, which went up to the 52nd floor within 50 seconds. “It will be 30 seconds in the future. Only the lift in the Palace of Culture is faster,” explained a representative of the facility manager. The view from the top was even better than the previous one and the Palace of Culture seemed to be literally at your fingertips. However, not everyone remembered the view very well. Each bed and armchair in the show apartments was tried out thoroughly and things almost came to a pillow fight. “I liked the apartments best. The tea was also good,” was Paweł’s summary of the trip.

The last stop was the Marriott hotel. Our feeling that nothing else could surprise us at the end of the day turned out to be wrong. The culmination was when the party came to the Presidential Suite, where Barack Obama and Michael Jackson have previously stayed. At the end there was an excellent dinner in the Champion’s Sports Bar restaurant, which is part of the same complex, as well as another bag of presents – this time footballs and rugby balls.

“Together with the partners of the campaign we have given these children a great deal of joy. So I would like to particularly thank the owners of these buildings for their support. Among these I would like to mention the consortium of Allianz Real Estate and the Curzon Capital Partners III investment fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners, that is, the owner of the WFC, as well as Amstar and BBI Development, the owners of Złota 44, and LIM, which manages the office and hotel complex including the Marriott hotel,” says Katarzyna Matejuk, who runs the initiative.

Rafał Ostrowski