A win-win tournament

It was a day when new records were set. More than PLN 157,000 was raised at Warsaw’s La Playa club on the sweltering first day of August – over half as much again as in 2012. The event was attended by nearly 700 representatives of the commercial real estate industry in Poland and their families. A record number of teams were also competing – 25 (175 players), including Blackstone, CBRE, BNP Paribas Real Estate, Colliers International, Deloitte, Cushman & Wakefield, DTZ, ECE Polska, ECI Group, Ghelamco, Grupa Capital Park, Hochtief Development Poland, Jones Lang LaSalle, Knight Frank, Neinver, MGPA, MLP Group, Panattoni Europe, Portico Investments, Prologis, Savills, Segro, TriGranit/Valad, Skanska and Warbud. The weather did not disappoint either, which was very fitting for the beach setting on the banks of the Vistula. The best team, conquering both the competition and the sun, was Warbud, while the second and the third positions went to JLL (the organiser of the tournament) and MLP Group. But winning was only one of the goals of the event – the main aim was to raise money for the Our Children foundation of the oncology clinic at the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw. The excitement continued to build as an auction was held as part of the fund-raising for the charity. “I liked the charitable character of the event a lot, and that was why I was one of the bidders. I’m happy that the organiser managed to raise a record sum of money. And my wife is also happy with the bicycle I bought at the auction. She has already been riding around the Powiśle district on it,” enthused Robert Sztemberg, a developer at ECE Projektmanagement. It was not only fitness-improving items that were up for grabs, but there were also prizes to tickle the taste buds – such as a selection of fine wines. “The auction was not just about outbidding your rivals – it was mostly about having fun. I like fine wines and buying this turned out to be worth the effort. However, the most important thing was the reason for the meeting: raising money for charity. This is why it was a win-win situation, everyone involved and who benefited from it was happy,” remarked Agata Sekuła, the head of retail investment CEE at JLL. All the funds raised will go towards the purchase of specialist medical dressings and equipment. The cheque was presented to the chair of the foundation, Ewa Gorzelak-Dziduch, and to the deputy manager of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute’s oncology clinic, Prof. Bożenna Dembowska-Bagińska (MD, PhD), by Tomasz Trzósło, the managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle in Poland. It was by now early evening and the participants were still full of energy, so all the rivalry was finally put aside as the night-long party got underway...