Night of glory

And just to ensure that there could be no cheating (perish the thought!) the entire voting procedure was overseen by KPMG. The jurists were selected from a broad range of professions, from bankers and lawyers to real estate consultants and developers. (The full list can be found at www.eurobuildawards.com.) On the night of December 8th, with great suspense the decisions of the separate juries were announced for each category. The greatest astonishment of the night may have been Jones Lang LaSalle sweeping all the agency awards. Perhaps some of those who were nominated for an award may feel disappointed that they failed to take home a statuette, however it is impossible to recognise and acclaim all the good work that was done over 2011. But, awards are not everything and there is always 2012. As clichéd as it may sound, the night belonged to the winners. Eurobuild caught up with them after the presentations to find out exactly what being singled out by the awards meant to them.

Gleeds Polska
Building Consultancy of the Year, Poland
The award we have received is a great present for us before next year's 20th anniversary of Gleeds' operations in Poland and the 125th anniversary of Gleeds' operations in the world. It gives us the motivation to further develop and maintain the high quality of our services in the years to come. The award is even more precious for us as it was given to us at a time of a global economic recession, which has significantly affected the whole construction industry. Providing consultancy services in such a demanding and changing market requires addressing the much bigger and more complicated needs of clients while at the same time taking into consideration the much stronger competition in the field of specialist services. Therefore taking the first place in such a prestigious competition is a source of great satisfaction and confirms that we have been coping with the challenges in the best way. We would like to particularly thank our clients, who have placed their trust in us and used our professional help in the development of projects of varied character and complexity. As the director of the company, I would like to thank all the employees of Gleeds Polska who work in our offices in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Katowice, Poznań and Łódź, as well as those working in the field and all our partners - you are all the parents of this unquestionable success and each and all of you deserve to receive an award. Having top specialists in the industry with wide-ranging experience in various prestigious projects at our disposal, as well as the best clients, we can look boldly into the future and look forward to the new challenges it will bring us. The Eurobuild Awards gala, which we have had the pleasure of participating in, was a great event and an occasion to thank all the above-mentioned people, as well as a great opportunity to extend our circle of friends and contacts and to strengthen the existing ones. We are also planning to participate in it next year in an equally excellent mood.
Tadeusz Jachowicz, director at Gleeds Polska

Skanska
Real Estate Construction Company of the Year, Poland
The award is certainly a great honour for us. But it is not - and I hope this will not sound arrogant - a surprise. Whatever we do, we try to do the best for our clients. The fact that this has been recognised is not a coincidence. Building your credibility in this business is a long-term process, and not something that can be done in just one year. It is a continuing strategy based on delivering excellent products to our clients, but also on being fair towards our subcontractors, for whom we are credible partners (also in a financial sense).
Krzysztof Andrulewicz, president of the management board of Skanska

Skanska Property Poland
Green Developer of the Year, CEE
We accept this award with great pleasure. Skanska is currently building the highest number of environmentally-friendly facilities. We have been implementing ecological solutions for several years. So in our case it is not a matter of following the current fashion, but a continuing and deliberate strategy. We are able to use our Scandinavian experience of this kind of development in the process. The facilities constructed by us all acquire ecological certificates. I would like to emphasise that this also brings with it measurable commercial benefits. Big corporations are now looking for eco-friendly office buildings for their new head offices. Other tenants are also paying more and more attention to green solutions.
Katarzyna Unold, green business manager at Skanska Property Poland

Salans
Real Estate Law Firm of the Year, Poland
Winning the 'Real Estate Law Firm of the Year, Poland' prize at the Eurobuild Awards is a success for our whole team. On the one hand the award has a psychological significance - it is simply a very pleasant way to close the year. On the other hand it is worth emphasising that the composition of the jury - their number and prestige - increases the value of the award. It is worth mentioning here that last year we were unsure about yet another event of this type appearing on the market. The concerns originated from the fact that there is no shortage of such events. The emergence of another gala could have devalued them. However, the Eurobuild Awards have turned out to be a very successful event. I think it has already earned a good reputation. Why have we won? I think the success of our company derives from the fact that the core of our team has not changed for several years. We have created a tight team of top specialists. Furthermore, we have the biggest number of lawyers dealing with real estate. We have close to 30 people at this point.
Piotr Szafarz, partner and head of the real estate team in Salans

Galeria Echo in Kielce
New Shopping Centre of the Year, Poland

Echo Investment
Retail Developer of the Year, CEE
The fact that the award for the best new shopping centre went to Galeria Echo has a symbolic significance for us, because this project is located in Kielce, the town where Echo Investment started out. After several years of an active presence on the Polish real estate market and after completing several dozen commercial projects, history has come full circle and we have developed the best project in Poland in our hometown. We have three large regional facilities currently under construction: Galeria Veneda in Łomża, Galeria Olimpia in Bełchatów and Outlet Park Szczecin. We are planning to start the development of two more soon: Galeria Amber in Kalisz and the extension of Pasaż Grunwaldzki in Wrocław. The total area of all the new projects amounts to over 120,000 sqm gla. I think it is the scale of our operations and the quality of our projects that convinced the jury members to award the Retail Developer of the Year title to us. I would like to wish determination and perseverance to all those who want to win this award in 2012, as it seems that next year is not going to be easy. One more time I would like to thank the whole Echo Investment team for the dedication and enthusiasm that they put into their work every day.
Marcin Materny (left), shopping centre department director, foreign projects at Echo Investment

Hochtief Facility Management Polska
Facility Management Company of the Year, Poland
For thirteen years Hochtief Facility Management Polska has continued to build a reputation for being an honest, professional and loyal partner to all the clients it has provided, is providing or is hoping to provide services to. The award we have received is proof of the high regard that our products and services are held in and the trust that our clients and business partners have placed in us. We accept the title of the Best Facility Management Company in Poland in 2011 with a great deal of pleasure. At the same time we have to treat it as a challenge for 2012. We feel responsible for setting the standards on the FM market, not only with regard to technical parameters in real estate services but also in fields such as social responsibility, fair play in competition, as well as in blue FM - activities aimed at minimising the impact of the real estate industry on the environment through the reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Małgorzata Wilczek, sales and marketing director at Hochtief Facility Management Polska

Lipiński Passage
RICS Regeneration Award, Poland
We are happy to see Lipiński Passage in Warsaw recognised for being the best regenerated building of 2011. This office and retail project represents a very special statement of Union Investment's differentiated approach to sustainability.
Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, member of the management board
of Union Investment Real Estate

Magnolia shopping centre in Wrocław
Investment deal of the Year, CEE
We are very glad that our presence on the Polish market has been recognised with this award. Poland is one of the most important countries in the CEE region with strong economic growth and good prospects for the further development of the retail real estate market. Our strategy is to work with our local management firm Master Management to maximise the potential of each shopping centre we acquire. This includes expanding the offer of each centre to deliver the best shopping experience to our customers. We want to enhance the tenant mix by adding further well-known and popular retail brands, both Polish and international. We will also consider expanding the shopping centres and increasing gross leasable areas if there is appropriate tenant and customer demand.
Paul Heller, principal at Blackstone

Jones Lang LaSalle
Office Agency Team of the Year, Poland Retail Agency Team of the Year, Poland Warehouse Agency Team of the Year, Poland Investment Agency Team of the Year, CEE
This was certainly a different year for us. It was without question one of the best, but also one of the most challenging. This makes the end of the year most welcome, but also very satisfying in terms of performance. Such emotions can only be achieved when you have a superb team around you and this is the key feature of the firm. From MDs to team leaders, to agents and the whole support platform, we have a wonderful team in place who work hard to keep our people well looked after, and our clients satisfied. In Poland the biggest challenge for us was digesting the King Sturge acquisition. It is only when you have gone through something like this that you realise that the firm and its individuals have such incredible depths of energy, perseverance and patience to complete such a task. I now see this and am hugely grateful for all of those involved, not least to the direct support team across the region, but also to many of the key leaders and staff at King Sturge who have now transitioned into JLL employees. As the French say "chapeau bas" to them, because after all it was harder for them than it was for us. Words for our competitors? I respect you all.
John Duckworth (second from left) , CEE managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle

Panattoni Park Gliwice
New Warehouse of the Year, CEE

Panattoni Europe
Warehouse Developer of the Year, CEE
Obviously we are very happy to receive these awards. It is a confirmation of the soundness of our strategy, and I think it is recognition that we are still highly visible on the market despite the economic situation. Even in the worst year we were still developing and still are. Although times are changing and new developers are appearing on the scene, we are still sticking to the same strategy of developing and keeping vacancy low. The most important recognition for us is the tenants' award. We property manage all our facilities, and have four offices in Poland and one in the Czech Republic, which also supervises the Slovak market. As a result we stay close to our tenants from the signing of the contract until the end of the lease. Mysłowice is a perfect example of this - our regional office is inside the park, so we are just next door if the tenants have any problems.
Robert Dobrzycki, managing partner for Central Europe of Panattoni Europe

PwC
Real Estate Tax and Financial Consultancy of the Year, Poland
The Eurobuild Award is very important recognition for us as we strive to meet client expectations in an increasingly difficult market. Such an award is a true reflection that the efforts we have made over the past year supporting our clients with financial and tax advisory services are recognised by the real estate industry. We would like to thank our clients for trusting in us and choosing PwC as their preferred financial and tax advisor. Additionally, while the jury was made up of many of our clients and prospective clients, it also consisted of other service providers in the real estate industry. It is very comforting that both allies and competitors recognise our position in the market and voted for us. This is the second consecutive year this award has been won by PwC and we are truly grateful to Eurobuild for organising such a great event. It was a great night, well organised, and we are proud to have been involved.
Brian O'Brien, partner in the advisory department at PwC

Ghelamco Poland
Office Developer of the Year, CEE
Our success during this year's Eurobuild Awards is very important to us. The competition becomes more and more challenging every year, therefore winning is a great achievement. Ghelamco Poland realises exceptional projects and it is a matter of great satisfaction to us that they have been recognised by our peers, who voted during the Eurobuild Awards. Warsaw Spire, the winner in the category Architectural Design of the Year Poland, is our flagship investment for the near future and we are happy that it is visible and has received such unbelievably positive recognition, not only among potential tenants and market professionals but also by Warsaw's inhabitants. There are a number of significant current projects in Warsaw, but we anticipate that in 2014 ours will be the most recognisable office project in the capital. It is also of the utmost importance to us that our dynamic and dependable activities on the Polish office market, along with our operations in Russia and Ukraine, have been acknowledged with the granting to Ghelamco of the title of Office Developer of the Year CEE, which proves our leading position within the field. I would also like to congratulate Eurobuild for the excellent organisation of the gala and the entire contest, especially the live voting system, which gives new quality and undisputed objectivity to the final choice.
Jeroen van der Toolen, managing director of Ghelamco CEE

Mokotowska Square in Warsaw
New Office of the Year Award, Poland
The Eurobuild award has a unique value for us. We are proud that the Mokotowska Square office building has been recognised by industry experts because this project in particular embodies our greatest strength: quality, which is the key element of our long-term strategy. The award for the project is also a signal for us that we are going in the right direction.
Eric Dapoigny, the president of Yareal Polska

Deloitte
Green Tenant Award, CEE
We thank you for awarding the activities of Deloitte, as a firm that cares about environmental questions. Our pro-ecological activities have been for many years embedded in the strategy of our firm, so it is all the more pleasing that our work has met with the recognition of the real estate industry.
Bartosz Miszkurka, partner and head of real estate department at Deloitte Legal

I am very pleased that the award for companies that care for the environment and the health of their employees has gone to Deloitte. I fully agree with Richard Stephens, the Eurobuild CEE Awards director, who has said that it is not enough to work in a green building - one also has to know how to use the greenness. As Deloitte's administration director, I find ecology particularly important and make sure that all our purchases and actions are environmentally-friendly. I also expect the same standards of my team and encourage other people in our firm to follow our example. I am very proud and happy that we do. We have been recognised for being the best of the best.
Barbara Mogielnicka, administration director at Deloitte

Bank Pekao
Financing Provider of the Year, Poland
We have been financing the real estate market for twelve years now and are one of the biggest lenders to this sector in Poland. We can be active because we have one of the highest solvency ratios - Tier 1 at a level of over 17 pct as well as good financial results. Our main area of interest has continued to be financing new projects that add a real value to the Polish economy. The award granted to us by Eurobuild is a source of great satisfaction and honour for us. We have been cooperating with many clients from the real estate sector for many years. I am happy that the sector has appreciated the work of the Bank Pekao team.
Marek Koziarek, managing director of the commercial real estate finance department at Bank Pekao