CMS’s new office in Varso Tower has become the first office fit-out in Poland to receive the WELL Platinum certificate. With this, CMS joins a prestigious group of just four other law firms in the world that can boast an office compliant with the highest standards of employee and associate wellbeing.
The WELL Standard is the world’s most prestigious and recognised system for certifying buildings and premises in terms of supporting the health and wellbeing of their occupants. It covers factors such as air quality, thermal comfort, acoustics and lighting. The International WELL Building Institute guidelines are backed by scientific research and the assessment process takes place under the watchful eye of independent auditors, verifying all aspects related to the project.
Andrzej Pośniak, Managing Partner of CMS Poland, said, “The WELL Platinum certificate is the crowning achievement of our efforts to create a unique place on the business map of Warsaw, which not only fosters inspiring meetings and the exchange of ideas, but also sets trends in terms of comfort for employees and clients visiting us.”
In CMS’s office, care was taken to create a maximally functional and sustainable working environment with plenty of eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient solutions and natural vegetation. One aim of the project was to strengthen the building of an organisational culture as part of the ‘cultureplace’ concept, according to which numerous spaces dedicated to building relationships, collaborative working and meetings were created. Beata Kępowicz, COO at CMS Poland, added, “When designing the new office, we set ourselves the goal of creating a space that is both employee and co-worker friendly as well as environmentally friendly. For us, the WELL certification is a milestone in the process of building an ESG-compliant business.”
Bartosz Trzop, President of Trzop Architekci, the studio that designed the office, commented, “We are particularly proud that CMS’s office has been awarded the WELL certification at such a high level. It is also confirmation that this is the most sustainable and healthiest work space for users that we have been able to design to date.”
JLL, Tétris and HB Reavis were responsible for the realisation of the CMS office.
Wojciech Tworek, ESG & Sustainability Consultant and WELL AP at JLL, said, “The WELL Certification process serves as an excellent framework to comprehensively analyse and improve the working conditions in an organisation; by not only applying good practices and technical and architectural solutions, but also operational improvements. Thanks to the CMS team’s strong commitment and determination to create an innovative office, we were able to achieve together the highest level of WELL certification.”
Magdalena Zawadzka, business development operations manager at Tétris, added, “Adapting our work to the needs of the certification required the selection of appropriate building materials, raw materials, furniture and other finishes that combine the highest quality and aesthetics with the reduction of embedded carbon footprint and emissions of harmful, volatile organic compounds.”
Previously, the CMS office received the first WELL Equity Rating in Poland, assessing the solutions implemented to support diversity and promote equal opportunities in the built environment. The CMS space is also one of only three office fit-outs in Poland to have been awarded a BREEAM Excellent certificate, confirming the firm’s commitment to delivering sustainable solutions.
The Varso Tower building, owned by HB Reavis and where the CMS law firm’s office is located, has also been certified under WELL Building Standard and achieved the Gold Certificate.
