Guided tour with C&W

The first round of best practice sharing included representatives of Provident, Uniqua and CMS. The offices selected for viewing included CCC at the Metropolitan building, Skanska in Spark and WeWork in Europejski.

“Each of the offices has its unique, modern style and feel. We showed our clients various solutions and amenities that help change the way employees think about their office – the office is no longer seen only as a workplace, but also as a place in which to rest and spend leisure time,” explains Aleksander Szybilski, a workplace strategy associate at Cushman & Wakefield.

As Aleksander Szybilski explains, the largest corporates usually begin looking for new offices 18 or 24 months before lease expiry. During this time, their teams tasked with finding new office space will consult advisory firms on available locations and prepare preliminary estimates of relocation costs. This is also a good opportunity to think about the new look and feel of your office. “Visualisations of innovative Activity Based Workplace solutions are sometimes not enough. So how can you explain how telephone booths or acoustic sofas work if tenants are new to them?” points out Aleksander Szybilski.

Those taking the Tour de Offices were interested in Wellness and the use and impact of greenery on indoor air quality. “Pot plants have been proven to improve a human’s productivity in an office by app. 15 pct. Greenery is important to our health and well-being. Edward O. Wilson, an American biologist and zoologist, writes in his book Biophilia that staying close to nature can restore our mental and emotional balance and well-being,” argues Aleksander Szybilski. New biophilic design is highly popular nowadays and office spaces are designed to be in harmony with nature, bring greenery indoors and to reflect nature in patterns, proportions and colours. “This does matter as plants have a positive effect on air quality. Not only do they eliminate toxins, but they also improve humidity and increase oxygen levels, which is particularly critical in winter. Indoor air quality is often much superior to that outdoors,” adds Aleksander Szybilski.

The people taking part in the meeting had the chance to see a variety of areas designed for leisure and creative work. “The visitors in particular appreciated the alignment of such space with corporate culture and structures. Before designing such areas, it is advisable to pinpoint the expectations of employees and match them closely with their individual activities,” explains Aleksander Szybilski. Well-designed furniture, a variety of walls and dividers can also help section off a private space or even bring diversity into the office. “The meeting also debunked some myths around noisy open space where your desk defines the boundaries of your privacy. Working in this requires sharing space with others. Open plan office layouts are ideal for improving employee communication, but securing privacy or the desired acoustic comfort can be a challenge for such office users,” he adds.

Warsaw’s Tour de Offices is aimed at providing inspiration and highlighting arrangements that could be used in planning a new or redesigned office fit-out or for implementation. The next tour is to be held before the end of this year.