Everyone's a winner

Many months of planning, analysis and assembling jury members - all to celebrate the symbolic end of another year for CEE real estate with the people working at the heart of the sector. The Eurobuild Awards gala, which was held in Warsaw's Hilton Hotel on December 8th 2011, actually turned into a holiday for the whole industry. What mattered most was the fun that was had and the thrill of anticipation as the winners were being announced in their particular categories. "It was a great night. In fact it's not all about the winning. Our intention was to create an event which would focus everything that happened over the last year like a lens. The nominations showed that despite the economic gloom there are extraordinary things taking place on the real estate market in the region, particularly in Poland," believes Richard Stephens, the director of the Eurobuild Awards. On the stage he was accompanied by famous television presenter and journalist Grażyna Torbicka.
To appreciate the scale of this enterprise, we need to take a look at some of the numbers involved: there were 177 jury members, 29 categories, 31 statuettes, 18 sponsors and 6 partners. Three bands performed on the night, as did one mime artist. The preparations took a total of 12 months and a record number of guests - 688 - attended the gala. We raised PLN 49,495, which has been donated to the Mam Marzenie foundation. As a result we can proudly claim that it was the biggest event of its kind in the CEE region.
The gala gathered together an extraordinary number of people from the market, a fact that has been appreciated by our sponsors. "We were one of the sponsors of the event and we are happy to have taken part in it. We were also pleasantly surprised by the number of guests, who included many of our clients," commented Monika Rajska, a managing partner of Colliers International. There was no shortage of applause for the winners, and neither were the spontaneous shouts and outbursts of joy from the winners in short supply. "We consider the award for the 'Best Manager in Poland 2011', which was picked up by our colleague Anna Sienkiewicz, to be our greatest success. It is a unique award because it is chosen by the voters, i.e. office tenants, including those of our Grunwaldzki Center project in Wrocław. We are also pleased by the successes of our clients, such as Union Investment, the owner of the Lipiński Passage project, Skanska Property Poland and finally by the winner of the 'Green Tenant' - Deloitte," said Monika Rajska.
This year we decided to actively involve gala participants for the first time - giving the public the opportunity to make their voices count in the voting process. As a result they chose the winners in the following categories: 'Architectural Design of the Year, Poland', 'Non-Business Achievement of the Year' and 'Business Achievement of the Year, CEE'. The winner of the first two categories was Ghelamco, who also won the 'Office Developer of the Year' title, dazzling the audience with the scale of the Warsaw Spire tower building, which is currently under construction. They also appreciated the fact that Ghelamco had helped to renovate and furnish a school in Nowe Worowo, Poland. However, it is worth mentioning that particularly in this category all the nominees were deserving of recognition. A ripple from the crisis could be felt when it came to the 'Business Achievement of the Year, CEE' category, as the audience handed the award to Orco Property Group for resuming construction work on the Złota 44 skyscraper in Warsaw. It is important that the sector can also show appreciation to those who are fighting for survival in these difficult times. "The audience vote was a good idea. Provided that the technology turns out to be reliable, I would extend the use of this method further," remarked Leszek Sikora, head of development at ECE Projektmanagement Polska. However, the gala was not simply about the awards - it also included a variety of top quality entertainment. Those attending were treated to performances by Kayah & the Royal Quartet and Sound'n'Grace during the event. Mime artist Ireneusz Krosny also entertained the audience with his show, while those in the foyer could enjoy the sounds of the All Jazz band.
The presentation of the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' provided the most moving moment of the evening. In 2010 it was David Mitzner, the founder of Apollo Rida, who received this honour. In 2011 it took on a symbolic dimension as it was awarded posthumously to Stefan Kuryłowicz, an outstanding architect who died tragically last year. The award was received by his son, Marek Kuryłowicz, who did not hide his feelings. Another extremely moving moment was the loud and heartfelt applause following the screening of a short film on Stefan Kuryłowicz's life, proving that people in the real estate business appreciate the vision and craftsmanship of an outstanding architect. "It really was the most touching element of the gala," comments Leszek Sikora. Still, it was not the end of all the emotion. Each year we hold a collection and donate the money to charity. During this gala we collected money for the Mam Marzenie foundation. A symbolic cheque was presented to famous Polish actress Małgorzata Kożuchowska, the ambassador of the organisation. Some people did not manage to donate money in time for this. But all was not yet lost - many of them were able to make their contributions after the cheque was officially presented. Thus the final amount donated to the foundation came to nearly PLN 50,000. With the gala now behind us, we can take a short breather before starting our preparations for the Eurobuild Awards 2012.