From the best 238 to the best 22

The jury was particularly large this year, being made up of 238 real estate professionals. We received many more applications to sit on the jury from across the real estate market, which is further confirmation that the opportunity to judge and be judged by the Eurobuild Awards has become a badge of honour in the sector. “Some companies have been with us from the very first event, while others keep on joining. This time most wanted to cast their votes in the New Office of the Year category – a total of 49. Other popular categories included the Investor of the Year and the Office Developer of the Year,” says Katarzyna Matejuk, the director of Eurobuild Conferences. She also claims to be particularly fond of the fact that more than 900 people gathered at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Warsaw on December 6th for the Gala ceremony. “The atmosphere on the evening in fact became rather tense as a record number of guests waited to hear who the winners were,” she adds. This year we also received a record number of telephone calls from people who wanted to know if their company had won. The gossip that bubbled up was quite interesting. But we had to be tough! We kept this confidential information to ourselves right until the very end, as was obvious from the fact that all eyes were fixed on the stage as the results were announced.

This year the jury selected the best projects in 22 categories. Statuettes were awarded to: West Station for New Office of the Year, Poland, with Business Garden Warszawa II and Ethos coming second and third; Posnania for New Shopping Centre of the Year, Poland, while the two runners up were Galeria Północna and Galeria Tomaszów; Puro Hotel Gdańsk for New Hotel of the Year, Poland, followed by Radisson Blu Resort Świnoujście and Royal Hotel & Spa with only slightly fewer votes; DC 16 (stages 1 and 2) of P3 Błonie Park for New Warehouse Building of the Year, Poland, while second and third places respectively went to 7R for a BTS centre for VelvetCare and to Panattoni Europe for a BTS centre for Amazon; CBRE for Office Agency Team of the Year, Poland, beating off Colliers International and JLL; JLL for Retail Agency Team of the Year, Poland, with JLL and CBRE also in the top three; Colliers International for Warehouse Agency Team of the Year, Poland, while JLL and CBRE took up second and third places; JLL for Investment Agency Team of the Year, Poland, with CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield also coming close to winning the prize; Dentons for Law Firm of the Year, Poland, while the other two places were taken by Greenberg Traurig Grzesiak and Crido Legal; Arcadis for Building Consultancy of the Year, Poland, closely followed by Gleeds and JLL; Spie Polska for Facility Management Company of the Year, Poland, with Sodexo and Apleona HSG Facility Management also being in the top three; JLL for Property Management Company of the Year, Poland, followed by CBRE and C&W; Crido Taxand for Tax & Financial Consultancy of the Year, Poland, pipping EY and KPMG to the award; Sweco Consulting for Green Services Provider of the Year, Poland, with the next two places going to Go4Energy and Arcadis; Skanska for Real Estate Construction Company of the Year, Poland, followed by CFE and Kajima; HB Reavis Poland for Office Developer of the Year, Poland, edging out Skanska Property Poland and Echo Investment; Unibail-Rodamco Poland for Retail Developer of the Year, Poland, ahead of Echo Investment and GTC; and Łódź for Most Investor-Friendly City, followed closely by Katowice and Warsaw. Each category was evaluated by its own jury according to different criteria. The jury members never met and the voting process was conducted electronically, with the votes being transmitted directly to KPMG, which oversaw the voting process – apart from the category KPMG was itself nominated for, which was overseen by Eurobuild CEE itself. In all the other categories Eurobuild CEE was excluded from the voting process.

Along with the presentation of the awards, the guests of the Gala once again made generous donations to the Iskierka Foundation for the seriously ill children and their families supported by the charity. A total of PLN 47,000 was raised. A painting donated by CFE was auctioned by TV personality Szymon Majewski for a winning bid of PLN 25,000 placed by Panattoni Europe. A bottle of wine kindly donated by Robert Mielżyński was also sold in the auction for PLN 20,000 to Roger Anderson. Another PLN 2,000 was raised in the lottery that was also held. Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this very worthy cause.

New Shopping Centre of the Year, Poland

Posnania

Benoît Charles, CEO, Apsys Polska

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

Our main asset is certainly our experience, which has been earned over the many years we have been present on the international market, as well as our rich development portfolio, which includes the completion of such unique projects as Beaugrenelle in Paris, Manufaktura in Łódź and Posnania in Poznań. We have the necessary know-how for the development of new concepts and for taking on innovative as well as tailor-made projects – those that break the mould while taking into account the specificity of a given location.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

I would wholeheartedly like to thank all the companies and people involved in the execution process for Posnania. Particularly the employees of Apsys, who embraced with some gusto the vision of creating a lifestyle centre that transcends the normal concept of shopping.

How will you celebrate the success?

As a family company we always celebrate our successes with our co-workers. It is thanks to their work that we win awards and distinctions and can constantly evolve. Every award is also a motivation for us to go further, to introduce new landmark solutions that support tenants’ sales and provide more variety for our customers. We will continue to come up with market innovations in different fields, including services, technology and events, and will be introducing these to Posnania.

New Warehouse of the Year, Poland

Warehouse DC 16 (phases 1 and 2), P3 Błonie Park

Andrzej Wroński, country head, P3 Logistic Parks in Poland

What’s the secret of your success?

The secret of P3’s success lies in our hard work and long-term development strategy. We have been working towards this success in Poland for ten years now. However, this last year has been exceptionally intensive for us. P3 completed app. 190,000 sqm of new buildings in Poland last year while another 88,000 sqm is under construction. One of these projects is warehouse no. 16 of P3 Błonie park, which we have won the award for. We are very pleased that the high quality of our buildings has been appreciated.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

The award is actually the crowning of the efforts of P3’s entire team in Poland and they deserve special thanks. It would not have been possible if it had not been for the trust we continue to receive from clients who want to grow together with us in our parks.

How will you celebrate the success?

Because what we do is not just work but also our passion – we always try to find a moment to celebrate what we manage to do well. I believe that you have to be able to enjoy the successes in your professional life – and the next occasion will most probably arise at our Christmas meeting. I also think that after such an intensive year everyone will appreciate the upcoming Christmas and New Year, when it will be possible to have some quality time with our family and friends.

New Office Building of the Year, Poland

West Station II

Kuba Stiller-Romanowski, development manager, HB Reavis Poland

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

From the perspective of someone who has managed the West Station project, I consider hard work and faith in what you do as well as a little bit of luck to be the key factors behind our success.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

West Station is a project that has been carried out with the involvement of a wide range of business partners – not only HB Reavis but also PKP and Xcity Investment. That is why I would like to thank all the people who have contributed to its ultimate success, from within our company and outside it. It is an award for all of us.

How did you celebrate the success?

We celebrated during the Eurobuild Gala and for a long time after that, but I think the details should remain our secret.

Yacine Diallo, head of development, HB Reavis Poland

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

The example of West Station shows that with an excellent location, quality workmanship as well as professionalism and the involvement of people, projects that were initially perceived as particularly unique can ultimately become some of the most eagerly sought after by clients. The fact that we know how to create such places results from our experience on the Warsaw and other markets.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

We would like to dedicate the award to all the people who were involved in the development of West Station: our partners – PKP and Xcity Investment – as well as the investors, project managers, architects, engineers and the building and finishing teams. It is their work that has made it possible for us to celebrate this success.

How did you celebrate?

Our celebrations were worthy of the occasion – during the Gala as well as on the next day at the office. However, we had to get back to reality quickly because we have further challenges ahead of us. The construction of Varso is in progress, while we are preparing for the construction of other interesting projects. We hope that they will also contribute to such celebrations in the future.

Real Estate Construction Company of the Year, Poland

Kamil Simka, executive vice-president, Skanska

What’s the secret of your success?

We always try to carefully take note of our clients’ needs as well as follow the changes taking place on the market while reacting to changing trends. The market provides us with many opportunities; however, you need to take care of the risk management. Winners are those who are able to draw conclusions from past experience and then boldly look into the future and use all the opportunities available.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

I am certainly not going to be original in this regard, as I am dedicating the award to all the employees of our company. The projects that we carry out are the result of our team work. We have been active in all the market segments – building offices, factories, roads, hospitals and apartments – so we set the standards and trends. Regardless of the economic situation, we operate a business based on security, ethics and innovation. And we are working with our partners for the benefit of society.

How will you celebrate?

We are happy with each success and receiving industry awards is very elevating. They reveal what we have managed to achieve and indicate the direction we need to be heading in. They are also an impulse for further solid work in order to maintain our market position.

Office Agency Team of the Year, Poland

CBRE

Łukasz Kałędkiewicz, head of advisory and transaction services, director of office agency, CBRE

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

I am convinced that the key to the success of our team is the fact that everyone enjoys what they do and they derive a great deal of joy from that. Thanks to this we can act flexibly and effectively as well as deliver high quality services. Our satisfied clients, who can see our involvement and appreciate the value of the cooperation, are the best confirmation of how well directed our activities are.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

I would like to thank our clients for their appreciation and trust, which mean a lot to us. Personally I would like to dedicate this award mostly to the employees on our team – this is a group of great professionals who are full of passion and the motivation to act. They are simply wonderful people who are worth working with.

How will you celebrate your success?

We’ve already had the proverbial glass of champagne and posted on social media. However, we are waiting for our summary of the year to put the official seal on it. I would like this to be a moment when we can relax and distance ourselves from our everyday challenges, but also a big celebration with our full team present.

Warehouse Agency Team of the Year, Poland

Maciej Chmielewski, partner, warehouse agency, Colliers International

What’s the secret of your success?

The secret is a fantastic team of highly motivated, dedicated people and loyal clients who are satisfied with our service and keep coming back to us with new projects. The secret also lies in the experience we have gained in the last twenty years of our presence on the industrial market in Poland.

Who would you like to dedicate the award to?

We would like to dedicate the award to our team without which we would never have been able to achieve such success – and also to our clients, who trust us and appreciate our efforts.

How will you celebrate?

We will definitely celebrate with our team, the more so that this is the 6th time we have been chosen as the Warehouse Agency Team of the Year! However, such an award not only requires a celebration. It motivates us to work even harder for the success of our clients.

Tax & financial consultancy of the Year, Poland

Crido Taxand

Paweł Toński, managing partner

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

I am not sure if it could be called a secret – we simply try to do something well that we are good at, we enjoy doing, and with people we respect. We know the sector and its goals; we know the regulations and their traps; we can think all these things through quickly – and combine all them in our work. We respect the client and ourselves. We build long-lasting and honest relations. We admit to our mistakes and embrace our successes. In short, we simply try to be absolutely normal people – and this has also been recognised.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

First of all, to our clients: intelligent people who know what’s what and ask us for advice. They want to work with us and this has been going on for years – this kind of satisfaction is a true privilege for us. The second ‘first of all’ is to the team: in the real estate department we have many cool-headed and clever people who form a well integrated and highly effective team that can operate under great pressure, from – among others – myself, and this has taught me humility as well as a great respect and liking for the team.

How will you celebrate?

This might sound uninteresting, but I am not planning to. We are all very happy about the distinction and will certainly publicise our success, but we are not planning any special events. But this will not prevent us from drinking one or two glasses of wine with the team...

New Hotel of the Year, Poland

Rune Askevold, managing director, Puro Hotels

What’s the secret of your success?

Attention to detail! And aiming high. We are not interested in 2nd place.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

There has been great teamwork from A to Z. So both our architect in Gdańsk, Marcin Kozikowski, and our interior designers, Desalles & Flint, who have done an amazing job with this project. The same goes for our own Puro team, and especially our construction team.

How do you plan to celebrate?

At the end of the day, it’s our hotel guests who will decide if this project is a success or not. So I assume we will prepare an awesome Christmas cake and celebrate together with them!

Law Firm of the Year, Poland

Monika Sitowicz, partner, Dentons

Piotr Szafarz, partner, Dentons

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

We believe that our success is due to several factors These include diligence, familiarity with the market and the issues we have to deal with, as well as our openness to our clients’ needs. Each contract is treated individually and we do not limit ourselves to a preconceived pattern of operations. From one contract to the next we try to optimise and improve the quality of our services. It is thanks to such an approach that we have earned this recognition from our clients and partners.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

We are dedicating the Eurobuild Award mostly to our real estate team – the more than 40 lawyers who have proven every day through their work that Dentons deserves the title of Law Office of the Year. Furthermore, we would like to dedicate it to our clients and colleagues on the wider market who we work with every day. We are happy that we have continued to fulfil their expectations and the challenges they put to us.

How will you celebrate?

We are happy with the award and very proud of it, but we do not think that we will be celebrating this success in any special way. We will use the chance for reflection at the end of the year and will enter the New Year with renewed energy.

Facility Management Company of the Year, Poland

Spie Polska

Artur Tomczyk, managing director, Spie Polska

What’s the secret of your success?

The pillars of our success are our relations with customers and co-workers, which have been built on a few basic values including engagement, honesty, flexibility and a passion for performing our work. These strong foundations as a result help us to develop our services and staff as well as integrate with new companies purchased by our owner in order to extend the scope of our activities.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

I dedicate it to those who have earned it and to whom it was awarded by the market: all the employees of Spie Polska – more than 430 people in 180 locations at present. It is an honour to lead such a highly motivated team, whose work is appreciated by customers and has been honoured with such a prestigious award.

How did you celebrate the Eurobuild Award?

The end of the year is a very intensive period for us. We are closing the year internally while performing many of our everyday tasks and taking on a lot of additional orders from customers. Thus it is our custom to postpone the celebrations to our New Year’s meetings in January, during which we look back on the previous year and replenish the energy we need to pursue new goals. Of course, this happy piece of news was passed on to all our employees as soon as we received it.

Green Services Provider of the Year, Poland

Sweco Consulting

Marcin Gawroński, director of the BREEAM/LEED team, Sweco Consulting

What’s the secret of your success?

First of all we try to be a partner that is engaged and that understands clients’ needs while efficiently fulfilling the goals expected by the client. We also have long term experience, which is confirmed by our many successes and our genuinely strong and ambitious team, made up of people with open minds and the will to develop.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

First of all I would like to dedicate this award to the people in my team. It is thanks to their hard work and professional approach that we have such a strong position on the market and clients who like to cooperate with us.

How will you celebrate?

We are planning a special dinner. We will also send special thanks to our customers, without whom it would not have been possible to achieve this distinction.

Investment Agency Team of the Year, Poland

Jll

Agata Sekuła, head of CEE retail investment, JLL

Tomasz Puch, Poland head of office and industrial investment, JLL

What's the secret of your success?

Having a stable and the best/most experienced team on the market coupled with loyal clients who trust our advice.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

Naturally the award goes to all the members of capital markets team who have worked very hard with total dedication towards our clients throughout all the years they have been with us – and they are getting better and smarter every year.

How do you plan to celebrate?

We will celebrate with a team Christmas dinner followed by drinks.

Newcomer of The Year, Poland

Griffin Premium RE

Małgorzata Turek, CEO, Griffin Premium RE

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

We have entered the market at just the right time, precisely when there was the need for such a company – a REIT-type operation, investing in office real estate, and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. And we, as the first entity to do so, are fulfilling this demand. And if you add our solid, international investors, you will get the whole picture and so the Newcomer of the Year award shouldn’t be surprising.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the award to?

This is an award for all the people who have worked on the whole Griffin Premium RE project and its launch on the WSE. I wish to dedicate it to the whole team.

How do you plan to celebrate your success?

I think it’s still too early for such celebrations. I see the award for best newcomer as an incentive; as a sign of appreciation showing we are on the right track. Now is the time for more work and further expansion.

Retail Agency Team of the Year, Poland

JLL

Anna Wysocka, head of retail agency, JLL Poland

What’s the secret of your success?

The three Ts: teamwork, trust and transparency. No success is possible without long-term, close cooperation based not only on mutual understanding and honesty, but fun and passion as well.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the award to?

JLL’s clients and our team of course. Only our joint efforts have resulted in this success and recognition.

How do you plan to celebrate?

With some champagne – and after that by putting even more effort into the day-to-day work.

Office Developer of the Year, Poland

HB Reavis Poland

Karol Wyka, country leasing director, HB Reavis Poland

What’s the secret of your success?

Our success is created by people. The team at HB Reavis in Poland has more than 160 people already, including one of the largest leasing departments in Poland. Our people include specialists representing several industries – not only from real estate. It is an unusually creative and effective mix, which as you can see works perfectly.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

I would like to dedicate this year’s award to the entire team at HB Reavis. I am lucky to work with people who enjoy what they do – thus I can appreciate even more the fact that we have been recognised in one of the most important categories at the industry’s event of the year.

How will you celebrate?

I will personally devote myself to my private passion and let off steam on the racing track, applying the rule ‘braking is the enemy of fast driving’.

Sebastian Proć, business development director, HB Reavis Poland

What’s the secret of your success?

We have the best team on the market. It is experienced and dynamic. It enjoys challenges and is not afraid of taking a bold approach.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

It is undoubtedly an award for the entire HB Reavis team – people who have built up the company over many years as well as those who have joined us recently. I am glad that our joint work has been noted and also appreciated by professionals.

How will you celebrate?

We have been working intensively on other projects, which is why there is not much time for celebrations this time. However, thanks to this the Eurobuild publishing house will soon be able to expect the next instalment of interesting news from HB Reavis.

Property Management Company of the Year, Poland

JLL

Virginie de Baere, head of property and asset management, JLL

What’s the secret of your success?

To watch, listen and learn.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

My mum and dad. Just joking! Definitely – this success is a clear reflection of the efforts of JLL’s property management and client’s asset management teams.

How do you plan to celebrate?

By sharing our success story with clients, colleagues, family and friends.

Retail Developer of the Year, Poland

Unibail-Rodamco Poland

Jakub Skwarło, director of operations, Central Europe, Unibail-Rodamco, Unibail-Rodamco Poland

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

As a developer, investor and manager, the Unibail-Rodamco group does not build facilities to sell them on, but follows a long term strategy. We have continued to invest in our assets and thus increase their value and quality. One example of this is the Designer Gallery in Galeria Mokotów. We decided that the new zone should include the long-awaited fashion brands that have been unavailable in Poland until now, such as Uterqüe, &Other Stories and the country’s first Dior boutique. At the same time we want to extend the range of Polish designer fashion boutiques, which are becoming increasingly popular with customers. Arkadia in Warsaw has also pleasantly surprised its customers with its new Grand Kitchen restaurant area. This will eventually include twelve eateries, eleven of which are already in operation. Enthusiasts of global cuisine can find such new brands as Azia Concept, Black Burgers, Fenicja and Zielona in the new zone, as well as popular brands that have been given new concepts, such as Pizza Hut. Last year we also opened the Wroclavia shopping centre, which has been embraced by the people of Wrocław. In the first year of its operations alone the centre has been visited by a total of 1.25 mln people, while our tenants across Poland continue to enjoy high turnovers.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

First of all I would like to dedicate the award to the entire team working on creation of the Designer Gallery concept in Galeria Mokotów. Thanks to the efforts of our team we have created a unique place that combines fashion and art – and we are very proud of this.

How will you celebrate?

We have already celebrated. The entire team participated in a fantastic opening event for The Designer Gallery, which was followed by our celebrations during the after party.

Most Investor-Friendly City

Łódź

Adam Pustelnik, director of the investor services and international cooperation department, Łódź City Council

What’s the secret of the city’s success at the Eurobuild Awards?

I believe that the strength of our success mostly lies in a team consisting of fantastic people, who have made the development of our city their priority. The last few years have been a good time for Łódź. The publicity we have received from our application to host Expo 2022, the spectacular revitalisation project for the city centre – including the Nowe Centrum Łodzi project – and developers’ continuing interest in our city are all a great cause for satisfaction and have given us the drive we needed.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

To all the people who have contributed to the fact that Łódź has achieved its current status.

How will you celebrate?

First of all I would like to thank all the people who have made this success possible.

Real Estate Personality of the Year

Hadley Dean

Hadley Dean, CEO, Echo Polska Properties

What’s the secret of your success?

Creating high performing cultures. Lots of young managers believe they need to be the most frightening and intelligent person in the room. The managers who become leaders know they need to 1) always put their team first, 2) fiercely defend their team from internal attacks, and 3) hire people who are smarter than themselves! These three things make for a smart, fearless and close-knit team that will consistently out-perform their competition.

Who would you like to dedicate the Award to and why?

There are many people that spring to mind, but given the present circumstances this would be Przemysław Krych and Mikolaj Martynuska. The whole sector was dumbfounded by the manner of their detention and that they appear to be caught up in a political bunfight. Here are two hard-working, wonderful people who are great examples of the very people that have made Poland such a great country. I know that I speak on behalf of the entire industry in hoping for their speedy clearance and full vindication.

How did you celebrate winning the Award?

I heard the news just as I landed in Cape Town and celebrated by having a very cold beer.

Building Consultancy of the Year, Poland

Arcadis

Piotr Rusinek, operational director buildings business line, Arcadis

What’s the secret of your success?

The secret of our success is our people, as well as the close cooperation between our teams and business lines, which guarantees a full range of services for the clients, not only in terms of the buildings but also the environment and infrastructure.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

We would firstly like to dedicate the award to our CEO Marcin Klammer, who is an inspiration for Arcadis in Poland, and to our entire team.

How will you celebrate?

The first place where we celebrated our award was at the Eurobuild dinner. We are also planning to celebrate the success at our upcoming Christmas party. We wish the Eurobuild publishing house and all our customers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

OUTSTANDING NON-BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR, POLAND

The 8th Charity Real Estate Beach Volleyball Tournament

Tomasz Trzósło, managing director, JLL Poland

What’s the secret of your success?

I believe the most important feature is engaging the entire sector in this event. It’s a JLL organised event, but one for the entire industry and funded by the entire industry. In addition, by putting everyday rivalries aside, the event allows us not only to raise significant amounts of money for charity every year, but also – and importantly for some - to have some great fun in the middle of the summer.

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

The award is really and truly for the entire real estate sector. Importantly, however, we would not be able to make it such a success without our business partners and sponsors, therefore a big thank you definitely goes to them.

How do you plan to celebrate?

We already celebrated at the Eurobuild Awards Gala, and now it’s back to work. In January we will already be starting in full the preparations for 2018 Charity Real Estate Beach Volleyball Tournament, and there is a lot to be done. We will keep you posted on this. Stay tuned!

Investment Deal of the Year, CEE

CPI’s acquisition of CBRE GI’s CEE retail portfolio – eleven shopping centres in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania

András Marton, Poland country manager, CPI Property Group

What’s the secret of your success?

CPI Property Group’s success lies in its team and top management. We have young and very hands-on teams in each of our operating countries, which enable the company to quickly assess situations and respond. CPI is striving to empower its teams and keep administration to a minimum so that efforts can be focused on the real estate and our tenants. This materialised with the CPI – CBRE GI transaction as well, where our company was able to underwrite eleven assets in four countries with top management leading the process to complete the acquisition within six months.

Who would you like to dedicate the Award to and why?

We would like to express our gratitude to the stakeholders in the transaction, CBRE Global Investors, Dentons, Helaba, CBRE, Sentient and KPMG. According to our CSR principles. we don’t wish to dedicate the Award to any specific person.

How did you celebrate winning the Award?

First of all at the Eurobuild Gala, where CPI PG has been a regular participant for the last three years. Secondly, each local platform that has been involved in the transaction has celebrated the Award. This is a milestone achievement for CPI PG, which demonstrated that our teams are capable of handling even the largest transactions across the CEE region and Germany.

Investor of the Year, CEE

Griffin Real Estate

Przemysław Krych, CEO and founder, Griffin Real Estate

Who would you like to dedicate the award to?

To my partners and co-workers. Without them, it wouldn’t have been possible to fulfil all our goals and hence to be appreciated and honoured in this way. It was all down to their dedication, knowledge and hard work. So the award goes to the whole team.

What’s the secret of your success?

It’s quite simple – to identify an opportunity and to seize it, even if it involves taking a calculated risk. Then you have to find the right people, with the necessary and complementary knowledge, and – last but not least – find the right way to motivate them.

How will you celebrate?

Nothing fancy – a bottle or two of good champagne shared with the whole team, some nice Christmas presents... and then it’s back to work, to take on new challenges.

Warehouse Developer of the Year, CEE

Panattoni Europe

Robert Dobrzycki, Europe CEO, Panattoni Europe

What’s the secret of your success?

Success is a combination of two things – your own approach to business and the team that you work with. In order to keep striving for success you have to be the best in what you do, meaning you have to be close to the market, understand the processes, observe the trends and economic ‘signals’, both domestically and internationally. On the other hand, there is your team, which needs a great deal of flexibility and that at the same time totally supports the common goal.

Who would you like to dedicate the Award to and why?

The Award is the achievement of all our teams in the region – although we are in different countries and there are different aspects to the way we do business, we are all experts in our field. And thanks to the common drive we have and the passion for what we do, we can celebrate such acknowledgements.

How will you celebrate winning the Award?

The good old fashioned way, with my team of course! I am very proud and really appreciate the award. Nevertheless, the next day will still be a working day and you cannot lose your focus.

Financing Provider of the Year, CEE

Bank Zachodni WBK

Celina Brzezińska, senior credit partner in charge of the structural and real estate credit department

Elżbieta Chmielowska, manager, real estate financing department

Brendan Long, director of real estate financing department

Michał Miecznicki, director of debt financing department

What’s the secret of your success at the Eurobuild Awards?

Our long term experience, strong competence and the involvement of the BZ WBK team responsible for financing the real estate sector. Added to that, giving priority to relations with our clients, the huge amount of work we have done, and having had a little bit of luck. Finally, we are sure that winning the same award in 2016 contributed towards us repeating the feat in 2017!

Is there anyone you would like to dedicate the Award to?

To the entire BZ WBK team working on our real estate portfolio, including our colleagues in the risk department and the bank’s clients who have continued to trust us and entrust us with the financing of their projects. We are confident that more will come to us. And, of course, to the management board of BZ WBK for determining our direction and deciding where our limits should be!

How will you celebrate this success?

Modestly, since bankers are very modest people. I think we will go to the Caribbean with the entire team and, in fact, we have already celebrated at the fantastic Eurobuild Gala!