Meeting of the HR Club in Olivia. Who are you, HR specialist?

The HR Club is an initiative established in Olivia in June 2018. The mission of the Club is to support its members in shaping work patterns and in the development of soft skills based on modern solutions and trends. The club creates a space for conversations, exchange of professional experience and knowledge. Among the topics discussed were, m.in: the labour and investment market in the world, the region and the Tri-City; neurodiversity and supporting employee development; the role of the manager in team building, management of energy resources for the sake of efficiency, employee benefits, the limits of supporting co-workers; wise use of artificial intelligence or the phenomenon of mental burnout. We invite you to the next meeting of the HR Club on February 20.

 


We will try to answer the extremely important question: “Who are you an HR specialist, and where do your development paths lead you?”. Anna Karecka and Dagmara Nowicka will help with this

 

 

Anna Karecka
Executive coach and mentor in the field of leadership, career development and team effectiveness. A business practitioner with 25 years of managerial experience in the Coca-Cola system as HR Director and Development and Coaching Director. MBA lecturer at the Polish-American Management Center PAM Center. He works for international corporations and Polish business .
She has extensive experience and knowledge in a wide range of HR as well as building and implementing employee development strategies, team management, talent and organization development, and sales competences. She has created and implemented many development programs and projects. She is an ICF (International Coach Federation) certified coach at the MCC (Master) level and a team coach certified by TCI (Team Coachingng Institute). More…

 

Topic of the lecture: “HR in emotions”
Anna Karecka will talk about the need for greater awareness of oneself – one’s emotional reactions, as well as attention to others, their emotional sensitivity and needs. During the meeting, she will not present ready-made recipes for dealing with emotions. Instead, it will present a practical model that will allow HR to develop a psychological safety strategy holistically and pragmatically.

 

Remark!
There will be a voucher for a self-diagnosis test with individual feedback to be drawn.

 

 

Dagmara Nowicka
ACC ICF coach, HR manager, court mediator, business and personal development trainer. Licensed DISC D3 Consultant. Director of the ICF Poland Branch Mazovia. She comprehensively implements projects in the area of Humar Resources, from HR administration, HR and payroll administration, to human resources management, supporting managers and shareholders of companies in making strategic decisions in the organization. Coach and co-creator of the Coaching Academy project at the EY Academy of Business: an intensive and practical course of coaching skills in accordance with the ethical and competence standards of the International Coaching Federation. More…

 

The topic of the lecture: “Coaching – a tool for everyday work and a path of HR development”.
Dagmara Nowicka will talk about what skills are developed during coaching and how to verify the competence and validity of a coach certificate. He will reveal the pros and cons on the way to obtaining accreditation in the ICF and what coaching skills we already use in the daily work of an HR specialist. He will also reveal how to skillfully develop them.

 

 

20 February | 11:00 | Jupiter room at O4 Coworking
Sign up for a meeting!

 

 

 

NOTE: meeting for HR Club members

Join the HR Club.

 

 

 

Olivia Centre is a partner of the Gdańsk Community Foundation and the Oliwa Town Hall of Culture

Recently, we proudly informed about our partnership with LinkedIn Local Tricity, and today, with equally great joy and enthusiasm, we can say about another, extremely important partnership between Olivia and the Gdańsk Community Foundation.

 

– Our cooperation has been going on for many years, for example at the Viva Oliwa district festival or the Oliwa Neighbourhood Budget – says Bogusław Wieczorek, attorney-at-law at Olivia’s Management Board for PR. – But the agreement signed today takes us to a new level and officially Olivia Centre becomes a Partner of the Gdańsk Community Foundation, which runs the Oliwa Town Hall of Culture.

 

The agreement opens up even more opportunities for Olivia Residents to commune with culture and art. There are plans for joint new events and easier access for the centre’s tenants to the offer of the Oliwa Town Hall of Culture.

 

– We want to promote and support local initiatives even more actively, which is why some of the events of the Town Hall will soon be hosted in Olivia Centre – says Bogusław Wieczorek.We also hope that the residents of Oliwa and the regulars of the Oliwa Town Hall of Culture, who are always welcome in our spaces, will be even more frequent guests of Olivia Centre, which is not only a place of work, but also a place of meetings, inspiration and relaxation, e.g. in Olivia Garden or on the top floors of Olivia Star.

 

We are looking forward to new joint projects and invite you to follow the upcoming events.

 

 

The first LinkedIn Tri-City meeting is behind us! What a power it was!

I don’t think we had time to boast that this year Olivia Centre is the main partner of LinkedinLocal Tricity. And here we are after the first meeting in the new partnership formula. On the 34th floor of Olivia Star, with a view of the entire Tri-City metropolis, a crowd gathered and in our opinion it was phenomenal.

 

From the very beginning, Olivia has been a business hub that is supposed to connect experts from various industries. LinkedIn Local plays exactly the same role. It’s the most natural collaboration you can imagine. And if you add a substantive program to it, there is nothing else to do but wait for the next edition.

 

Fantastic lectures have been given by Izabela Turczyńska-Buszan, a legal advisor who has been translating legal language into human language for entrepreneurs for 15 years, a Tedx speaker, a lecturer, and Agnieszka Wnuk, who deals with B2B marketing and cooperates with entrepreneurs on a daily basis in the field of consulting planning marketing and sales activities.

 

The networking sessions were led by Karolina Rymarczyk from O4 Coworking.

 

The hosts of the event were Wojciech Wołoszyk (organizer of Linkedin Local meetings in the Tri-City, Linkedin enthusiast and expert, lawyer and court expert) and Kacper Wołoszyk (co-organizer of the LinkedIn Local Tri-City event series since 2024). Congratulations!

 

 

First opinions:

 

“A phenomenal event, the bar jumped again, memories and impressions unforgettable. I will be happy to read the report. Thank you for an interesting conversation, great speeches and I am impatiently counting down the time until the next meeting.”
(Mrs. Julia).

 

“It was a great event done at the highest level!”
(Mrs. Ilona).

 

“Last night? Absolutely unique! I spent it, like many of you, on LinkedinLocal Tricity – an event that always combines content with a fantastic atmosphere. Meetings with you are always great energy, inspiring conversations and a specific dose of knowledge. It’s wonderful to see how our Tri-City community is growing stronger!”
(Ms. Aleksandra)

 

LinkedIn Local is a grassroots initiative that aims to bring virtual connections from the LinkedIn platform to the real world. During the events, you will listen to many interesting lectures, but above all, it will be a time to meet new people and build relationships.

 

There are already rumors that the next meeting will take place in April, so… See you!

 

Fig. Maciek Zieliński

Olivia Pulse – another investment of Olivia Home

Olivia Pulse – another investment carried out by the Olivia Home development company – offers turnkey apartments located at Olivia Centre. Poland’s largest business centre with its first residential premises will become a full mix-use project.

 

Olivia Pulse is a premium class apartment building with 245 apartments being prepared, designed for diverse groups of future residents. The facility is being built in the Gdańsk business hub, where several thousand people work on a daily basis, so the offer of long-term lease is largely addressed to employees of companies located in Olivia or visiting managers, supervising the work of teams of residents, as well as students of nearby universities and their academic staff. The premises will be available to managers delegated to branches for shorter contracts or implementing projects in the O4 Coworking space, as well as guests of conference spaces and participants of events in Olivia Star.

 

Olivia Pulse is being built not only near Olivia Centre, but also Alchemia and the university campus, a place where the most prestigious global brands have their offices, in a location distinguished by the resilience of business, the energy of young people working in the most dynamically developing enterprises, including those operating in coworking space, which is very popular.

 

The investment will be characterized by two zones: a four-storey part located directly at Grunwaldzka Avenue and a 13-storey tower rising above the podium, located in the background. Both parts will differ in their aesthetics. Part of the podium was designed based on inspirations from the architecture of Oliwa, and its external ceramic façade refers in its style to the expressionism of the brick Forest Sanatorium, located in the Naval Hospital complex in Oliwa. The upper part will be finished with a bright, noble material, allowing you to give the object lightness and freshness of style.

 

The areas of the premises range from 25 to 63 m.kw, and those on the ground floors have gardens with an area of 12 to 38 m.kw. On the fourth floor of the podium, there will be a public terrace, and most of the premises will have private loggias, balconies or terraces at their disposal. Each apartment is equipped with air conditioning, high-quality interiors (in 3 styles to choose from). On the ground floor of the building, there will be a space for meetings and joint work, as well as a service premises where services will be provided to the residents of Pulse, employees of Olivia Centre and residents of Oliwa. The investor is preparing the facility for BREEAM certification, which confirms the high quality of workmanship, the class of materials used and the construction process. The certification confirms the application of the highest standards of sustainable development and environmental protection in the facility and allows you to optimize running costs and fees.

 

Our offer is addressed to investors from Poland and abroad, whose intention is to supplement their investment portfolio with one of the best, strategic locations in Poland. Excellent location in the immediate vicinity of the largest multifunctional business centre in Poland hosting global brands, over 200 companies, the vicinity of an academic campus with the planned development of a rich sports infrastructure, excellent communication in the form of bus, tram, city and long-distance trains, and above all, synergy with Olivia Centre by providing all basic services located on site. The immediate vicinity is also a conference and restaurant center in Olivia Star, hosting 300,000 people a year, very often declaring their willingness to use the accommodation base. These advantages make the location unique not only for people looking for a reliable and maintenance-free product, but also for tenants as a place for long-term residence – says Ewa Nowicka, sales director and member of the management board of Olivia Home. We offer a premium product in the segment of investment apartments, a facility with access to a wide range of accompanying services, such as school, kindergarten, medical care, fitness center and many others, allowing not only to take full advantage of the comfort of living in the city center, but also of Olivia’s unique infrastructure. The residents of Olivia Pulse will have at their disposal, m.in. Olivia Garden, an observation deck with a panorama of the entire Tri-City, 12 restaurants and cafes, including the aforementioned restaurants awarded by the prestigious Michelin gastronomic guide, and parking facilities for over 2000 spaces.

 

Importantly, each apartment is offered for sale with full finishing and equipment. Buyers currently have three styles at their disposal: harmony, vital and life. Their design is the result of the work of architects of the award-winning architectural studio Design Anatomy in cooperation with the Olivia Home team. The studio’s portfolio includes over 200 thousand projects. m.kw. of offices, a viewing floor on the 32nd floor of Olivia Star, a conference space on the 34th floor, as well as numerous architectural and interior design projects located throughout the Tri-City. The price of the premises therefore includes not only the finishing of floors and bathrooms, but also their full furnishing with furniture, lamps and accessories in the rooms, as well as kitchen and bathroom furniture based on the design of recognized architects.

The premises are offered together with lease management agreements, run by a company from the Olivia Centre group, which will deal with their promotion, rental, administration and ongoing servicing, and its team will consist of experienced property management managers from the Tri-City market, Olivia Centre group and Olivia Home, which currently manages the PRS building in Gdańsk Zaspa developed with one of the world’s largest companies in the construction industry, Kajima Properties.

By offering turnkey apartments in the premium segment, we want to provide investors with the highest possible level of comfort, taking on the burdensome finishing works of all premises. Based on many years of experience of our staff in the field of commercial facility management, but also PRS, including our own Facility Management service and security department, we are able to provide the highest level of professional operator care. Our intention is to provide a maintenance-free product, hence all obligations related to the current lease, administration, maintenance and renovation and replacement works of the premises remain our responsibility. What is extremely important, we provide constant and direct access to a wide and diverse group of tenants, including, above all, business and conference tenants – says Ewa Nowicka.

 

The construction of Olivia Pulse has already begun, and the planned date of acceptance of the premises is the 3rd quarter of 2026. The new investment will ensure the comfort of living in a 5-minute city, where all the necessary functions will be available to residents in just 5 minutes. Living in the building at Olivia Centre, due to its central, strategic location, offers easy access to many attractions of the Tri-City, also thanks to easy public transport connections, including tram and bus stops, Fast Urban Railway and Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway. It is also close to the platforms of express, regional and Pendolino trains in Gdańsk Oliwa. A short distance away is also the Tri-City Landscape Park, loved by lovers of recreational and competitive sports, and Olivia Beach is only 2.5 km away in a straight line. No less important is the proximity of the University of Gdańsk campus, where 25,000 students are students. People. This represents an excellent location potential for investors who buy an apartment with a view to a future place to live for their children while studying, but also for those who are thinking about buying a long-term rental for students of a nearby university.

 

The direction of the project’s development is to create a place not only for work and quality leisure – emphasizes Bogusław Wieczorek, the representative of the management board of Olivia Centre. The construction of Olivia Pulse for our project means a completely new level of service that we provide to our residents and the closure of the buckle that signifies the fully multifunctional nature of Olivia. We want to be part of the city, a place to live, work, entertain and spend quality time in comfortable, perfectly designed and well-thought-out spaces. The idea of a 5-minute city where all services are available in one place is the next step we are taking, still thinking about bringing high value to the city and its residents. I am convinced that with this project we will once again prove that Olivia is an important part of the development plans of the city and the region, introducing a new quality to the services and quality of life of our agglomeration.

 

Start! Submit a project, a team, a person to the Olivia Prize competition!

Olivia Prize is a competition with traditions! For the fifth time, we will award companies, teams and individuals whose interesting ideas change the world. The near one and the one far. It has been known for a long time that Olivia employs creative people, full of passion, innovative ideas and a big heart, so important in social and charity campaigns. The Olivia Prize competition was created to appreciate and emphasize the outstanding activity of Residents who are involved in various fields. Seeing how much you are doing, we have changed our competition categories a bit. So now think back to 2024 and remember how much you have done. And, of course, submit your projects, your people, your companies to the competition! The form is simple!

 

This year, we will award prizes in three categories:

  • Olivia Impact – for economic or business undertakings carried out by the Resident’s company or entities from its group.
  • Olivia Harmony – for social or ecological projects carried out by the Resident’s company or entities from its group. This category is under the honorary patronage of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).
  • Olivia Everyday Hero – for an individual, employee or associate of a Resident, for social or ecological involvement.

 

There will also be two special prizes:

  • Olivia Connect – for business environment institutions influencing the Resident or entities from his group.
  • Olivia Hero of the Future – for a young scientist associated with a Tri-City university, who can demonstrate success in the field of R+D or commercialization of research results. This category was under the patronage of the Fahrenheit Union of Universities.

 

The Olivia Prize 2024 jury will consist of:

  • Moksa Marta (O4 Coworking),
  • Sylwia Mrozowska (Univentum Labs),
  • Jolanta Szydłowska (GFKM),
  • Grzegorz Borowski (Infoshare),
  • Paweł Jemioł (Nordea),
  • Mateusz Kusznierewicz,
  • Remigiusz Wojciechowski (Bayer).

 

The contest is exactly for you! Do you have doubts?
Check out the results of previous editions: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.

 

 

You have until March 16 to apply. Click and apply for the competition!
The official announcement of the results will take place on March 27 during a ceremonial gala.

 

The award ceremony will take place on March 27 on the 34th floor of Olivia Star. The gala program includes a lecture by Dr. Jacek Sokołowski, author of the book “Transnation” – a broad analysis of the evolution of the political system in Poland, with particular emphasis on the formation of a new middle class.

 

Jacek Sokołowski, PhD

Born in 1975, he graduated from the Jagiellonian University in 2000; in 2005 he defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Heidelberg, and since then he has been combining legal practice with academic work. Interests: economic analysis of law in the context of collective decisions in private and public law, law-making in empirical terms, behavior of parliamentary groups, judiciary as an element of the political system. Author of, among others: Selected aspects of the functioning of the Sejm in the years 1997-2007 and co-creator of the ISQAL database system for quantitative analysis of parliamentary votes.

Since 2013. Head of the Centre for Quantitative Policy Research at the Jagiellonian University

 

 

Competition form

 

Can a difficult year be good? Olivia sums up the 12 months of 2024

Olivia Centre, the largest business centre in Poland, benefits from market changes. It develops its offer, adapts to the dynamically changing reality and prepares new projects that allow it to open up to new markets and constantly increase its attractiveness.

 

The continuing model of remote and hybrid work causes companies to optimize their space. This leads to a difficult situation in facilities of a lower standard, from where tenants move to attractive areas vacated by the largest corporations. For them, this means an opportunity to move to representative facilities and expand business opportunities in a new environment.

 

In large and modern business centers, this allows for the creation of a larger mix of industries, and thus greater independence from temporary turbulence in individual sectors of the economy, stability and predictability of business. It also allows for the creation of more diverse business hubs, and therefore a better functioning business ecosystem for tenants. The suspension of construction of new office buildings creates a lot of opportunities for existing office centers and causes developing tenants to look for space in existing facilities. This is conducive to the commercialization of high-class building surfaces, the competitiveness of which has been growing in the eyes of smaller enterprises in recent years.

 

The above theses are confirmed by numbers.

  • Olivia Centre closed 2024 with commercialization agreements for nearly 35 thousand spaces. m.kw.
  • The agreements covered 9 new residents, including Navblue from the Airbus group, Adampol, Adar, Aker, Archer, Dac.Digital and Masterlease.
  • 4 large existing residents have also extended their existing contracts: EPAM, Capgemini, Lyreco and Arrow.
  • Olivia has also expanded its offer of services with new catering (Zachcianki) and entertainment establishments: the PIXEL XL play and integration center, loved by families and young people, which has moved into a vast premises in Olivia Prime.
  • The new agreement also covered the branch of one of the most popular banks in Poland, but this agreement remains under a confidentiality clause at this stage.

 

Olivia has also started a real green revolution in its area: the patio areas are gradually undergoing a metamorphosis, as part of which the pavements are being turned into pocket gardens, green areas and places of meeting and relaxation for Olivia’s resident employees. In the spring, a real attraction is also being prepared for them: two outdoor beach volleyball courts, which will be the next edition of the project of sports clubs and employee integration through sport.

 

– Year by year, Olivia is growing – it is becoming more and more friendly, open and attractive to everyone: from resident employees, through residents of the Tri-City, to tourists – says Maciej Kotarski, director of Olivia Centre. – Recent years have also allowed us to increase our flexibility and tenant mix, which has taught us a lot and also shown us new business paths. Once again, it turns out that flexibility is the key, and even difficult business conditions can be market opportunities that our team has learned to take advantage of.

 

O4 Coworking operating in Olivia can boast of great successes. In three of the four buildings in which it offers offices, it has 100% leased space. In 2024, as many as 35 companies joined O4, expanding the O4 community by another 180 people. In this way, coworking maintains its dominant position on the Tri-City market and continues to develop its business.

 

As Marta Moksa, director of O4, emphasizes, integration, support for internal processes and response to the needs of O4 residents are also priorities for the coming years: “Our experience in working with our tenants has taught us to respond perfectly to their changing needs. We focus on the offer that allows them to develop dynamically, we relieve them of the need for active and often difficult recruitment, as well as integrate and develop competences. This trend allows us to attract more and more companies that feel measurable benefits from choosing O4. On top of that, there is the opportunity to collaborate with creative and dynamic start-ups, and something that, in these times of remote work, is hard to overestimate: we have an active, ever-present community that attracts people to work in the office. Working at O4, employees are always assured to come into a bustling office, be part of a vibrant community, and feel like the good old days when offices were bustling every day.

 

O4 focuses on the organization of a number of events that make the event calendar of coworking filled to the brim with meetings, trainings and integrations, as well as special projects. O4 closed 2024 with 15 networking meetings, a large LeadWell conference, aimed at resident management and external guests, attended by 120 people. Recruitment support was provided to 20 companies, for which speed recruitment dates were organized in cooperation with local universities. Speed dating at O4 is not only a chance for employees and employers to get to know each other during intensive personal meetings, but also training and workshops preparing young people to enter the labour market. In 2024, 100 students and almost the same number of students from schools in the Pomeranian Voivodeship took part in them.

 

Olivia expands its offer and improves the quality of space every year, thanks to which it welcomes new residents every year – says Bogusław Wieczorek, representative of the management board of Olivia Centre. The success of our projects in recent years shows that this is the right direction and will continue in the coming years. We want to develop our offer for residents, be part of a dynamically developing, open city and increase the attractiveness of Gdańsk for investors and employees.

LeadWell Meetup “Leadership without bullshit” on January 30!

Several hours filled with workshops, discussions, lectures and networking. The LeadWell 2024 conference organized by O4 Coworking attracted a hundred managers and team leaders who wanted to expand their competences in the area of management and leadership. The event was aimed not only at providing practical knowledge, but also at creating a space for the exchange of experiences, mutual inspiration and the development of skills necessary for effective team management in a dynamically changing world.

 

LeadWell’s great strength was the workshops conducted by practitioners. Among the twelve proposals, there was a space to talk about building a team based on shared values, time for training in providing effective feedback, for advice on building your own brand on LinkedIn or taking care of your well-being.

 

In addition to the substantive sessions, the conference also offered a number of opportunities to establish new contacts. The final networking meeting in Olivia Garden fostered a relaxed atmosphere. Such decompression after a day full of inspiration was an ideal opportunity to exchange impressions, establish relationships and informal conversations.

 

“When I read Leadwell’s agenda, I grabbed my head. Three rooms, and in each of them not one, nor two, nor three, but four (after all, O4!) workshop sessions, plus two lectures and two discussions, networking and afterparty. It is probably impossible that it will work. And yet! Diversity, relaxed atmosphere and many, many smiling people, drawing value by the handfuls are the best proof of this.” – Natalia Florek from Personal Branding sums up the conference.

 

Welcome to LeadWell Meetup

 

The LeadWell conference will return in the fall of 2025. In the meantime, we invite you to open a NEW LEADWELL CHAPTER with Olivia and O4 Coworking.We invite you to free LEADWELL MEETUP events! If you want to be a better leader and be effective on a daily basis, join! The January unique meeting is addressed to team leaders, managers and people responsible for team building.

 

Why?

  • You will gain practical knowledge directly from leaders.
  • You will learn new tools and ways of management.
  • You will take part in debates and workshop sessions.
  • You will meet representatives of many companies and different industries.
  • You will exchange experiences in a community of managers facing similar challenges as you.
  • In the worst case, you will learn something interesting and meet great people.
  • At best – you will become part of a great community and join the process of building leadership competences.

 

What’s on the agenda of the meeting?

  • 3 lessons from LeadWell: key takeaways from Marta Moxa from O4 Coworking that every leader should know and a few words about the LeadWell Academy.
  • Debate “Do leaders suck?”: a conversation about authentic leadership, focused on responsibility, communication, self-awareness and relationships. The challenges of a modern leader will be discussed without unnecessary sugarcoating by Ewa Sowińska, ESO Audit Partner, ESG Mentor; Ewa Szabuniewicz, Human Capital Expert; Bartłomiej Brach, Founder Brighlight and Paweł Korycki, Vice President of SprzedajFirmę.com
  • BYOP Workshop – Bring Your Own Problem: talk, integrate and develop your network in the form of thematic and networking tables.

 

By attending the event, you also have a chance to win a seat at the LeadWell Academy and Conference.

 

Check the agenda of the meeting

Join the event

 

 

Bayer’s office in Olivia, designed by Design Anatomy, among the most interesting office projects in Poland in 2024

The Bayer Group’s office in Olivia Centre in Gdańsk has been recognized by the editors of Property Design as one of the most interesting and modern in Poland.

 

The design by Design Anatomy combines a modern approach to workspace with local heritage. Not only does it functionally support the work of teams, but it also tells the story of Oliwa – one of the most beautiful districts of Gdańsk. The colors of the office refer to the greenery of the Tri-City Landscape Park, surrounding the Olivia office center, and to the reddish red brick tiles of Oliwa tenement houses. What is more, the entire project was created in the spirit of less waste, perfectly fitting into the new strategy of friendly workplaces (Bayer Next Normal Office Concept), which Bayer is implementing globally.

 

Office in the Spirit of Less Waste

The implementation of the project in the spirit of less waste allowed not only to optimize the costs of office modernization, but also to minimize the negative impact of the entire rearrangement process on the environment. What distinguishes this type of project? Maximum focus on reducing resource waste, the use of modular structural elements, precise space planning, multifunctionality of rooms or optimal use of existing infrastructure, e.g. partition walls, ceilings, ventilation systems.

 

Flexible and Welcoming Spaces

In the Bayer office, the open space has been divided into smaller, intimate zones, which is conducive to effective communication and cooperation. Private offices have given way to flexible, public rooms that allow you to meet a variety of needs – from intense work to moments of relaxation. The following were designed, m.in:ilent rooms – for focused work in silence,elax rooms – places of regeneration, and even snooze rooms – where you can, just like that, take a nap.

 

Comfort and Functionality

Design Anatomy has introduced numerous amenities to improve the comfort of work, m.in. wall panels and openwork partitions separating individual zones or carpets with high acoustic parameters. The restaurant has become more flexible and user-friendly. Greenery was also taken care of; Numerous plants appeared in the office – in pots and even… phone booths.

 

Learn more about this project

 

Fig. Tom Kurek
Fig. Tom Kurek

 

See other inspiring office projects in Poland

 

 

Lighting in the office – how to design to increase comfort and efficiency of work

Lighting in the office space is an issue that is often assigned secondary importance, limiting its role almost exclusively to aesthetics. Meanwhile, it has a direct impact on ergonomics, atmosphere, as well as employee comfort and productivity, not to mention the impact on the aesthetics of the office space.

 

Daylight – still an absolute “must have”

Daylight is the main factor supporting the natural circadian rhythm of humans. Ensuring the right amount of it in the workplace translates into improved efficiency, reduces eye fatigue and has a positive effect on overall well-being. It is also important that a large amount of natural light in the office space significantly reduces energy consumption.

 

Workplace lighting is regulated by relevant standards and regulations Health and safety – says Anna Branicka, Leading Architect at Design Anatomy. In the light of these regulations, it is necessary to provide natural lighting for each workstation for a permanent work station of more than 4 hours. Studies show that employees with access to natural light are 15% more productive and experience less eye strain. It is also worth noting that the Daylight Factor index, which describes how well natural light reaches the interior of a building, is one of the criteria for BRREAM certification. All this means that nowadays, when designing offices, the aim is to maximize access to natural light.

 

Functionality and comfort

In most offices, the comfort of daylight cannot be ensured, so more and less commonly available solutions come to the rescue, which can also be helpful in ensuring healthy and comfortable working conditions. The choice of light colour and intensity should primarily take into account the type of tasks performed by employees and the time of their implementation.

 

The selection of optimal lighting requires a skilful combination of several types of light, such as general, task and decorative lighting – says Magdalena Kluba, Senior Team Leader, Interior Design Department at Iliard Architecture & Interior Design. It is important to provide the right amount of light at the worker’s workstation, which can prevent eye strain and improve concentration and productivity. The choice of light color is also important. Lighting that is too cold can cause a feeling of coldness and distance, while lighting that is too warm can reduce concentration. Neutral light, with a color temperature between 4000K and 5000K, is ideal, providing comfort and adequate brightness of the space.

 

Due to the diverse needs of employees, the time of day or the amount of daylight resulting from a given season of the year, the most commonly used solution in office spaces is the implementation of systems that allow for the regulation of the color and intensity of light. As Anna Branicka notes: Adjustable office lighting offers a wide range of adaptability options to meet a wide range of needs. We are eager to reach for solutions that allow us to change the color temperature, thus referring to the natural change in the color of natural light, which calms or stimulates the body. The solutions should be intuitive and easy to use, and allow users to individually adjust the lighting conditions at their workstations. Improperly selected or placed lighting can cause both physical discomfort (eye pain, tearing) and mental discomfort (drowsiness, irritability or fatigue).

 

Properly designed lighting carries an important aspect, which is shaping the atmosphere in the office space, which directly affects both the well-being of employees and the perception of the workplace itself.

 

Properly selected light can make the office be perceived as friendly, modern, dynamic, or on the contrary – calm and conducive to concentration – says Magdalena Kluba. Na przykład, oświetlenie z możliwością regulacji intensywności pozwala na dostosowanie nastroju przestrzeni do pory dnia czy charakteru spotkania. Coraz popularniejsze są również biura, które korzystają z dynamicznych systemów oświetleniowych, symulujących naturalny cykl światła dziennego – od ciepłego światła poranka po chłodniejsze odcienie popołudnia, co pozytywnie wpływa na rytm pracy i samopoczucie pracowników.

 

The latest technical solutions allow the lamps to be used for one more function: influencing the acoustics of rooms. When designing the office in Olivia Centre for Just Join IT, Design Anatomy used lamps with increased acoustic parameters, which, combined with spray acoustic plaster, ceilings with appropriate parameters, as well as panels hung over workstations, allowed for a significant reduction in the level of noise and reverberation in the rooms.

 

Design and style

When talking about lighting in office spaces, its aesthetic function cannot be overlooked. The right choice of lighting is able to create a space that, in addition to the aforementioned improvement in efficiency and well-being, is attractive to the eye and in which you simply want to be. For this purpose, architects use a number of treatments and types of lighting systems.

 

Interior designers more and more often put emphasis on the appropriate selection of lighting fixtures, which not only provide appropriate working conditions, but also complement the whole,” says Anna Branicka. Lampy, jako elementy dekoracyjne, mogą być wykonane z różnorodnych materiałów, które dodatkowo wzbogacają estetykę wnętrza. W nowoczesnych biurach często spotykamy oświetlenie wykonane z metalu, szkła, betonu czy drewna. Każdy z tych materiałów wnosi do przestrzeni inną energię – metal i szkło dodają wnętrzu industrialnego, nowoczesnego charakteru, podczas gdy drewno i tkaniny mogą ocieplić przestrzeń i nadać jej bardziej organiczny, naturalny wygląd. Warto również pamiętać, że odpowiednio dobrane oświetlenie może subtelnie nawiązywać do stylu wnętrza – od minimalistycznych, geometrycznych form, przez klasyczne, eleganckie żyrandole, aż po ekstrawaganckie, artystyczne instalacje.

 

Magdalena Kluba also draws attention to the important role of additional lighting: An important complement to the interior can be spot lighting – directional lights, such as table or floor lamps, allowing for more precise illumination of specific work areas. It adds coziness to the interior and creates a more personal atmosphere. Currently, LED technologies have also become a standard in offices, not only because of their energy efficiency, but also because of their ability to adapt to various needs. LED lamps allow you to create interesting visual effects, such as hidden light sources that optically enlarge the space, or colorful accents that introduce dynamics to the interior.

Trends in office lighting

Modern offices are increasingly focusing on an innovative approach to lighting, which is designed to both improve working conditions and emphasize the unique character of the space. Currently, three strengthening trends can be observed on the office market. As Magdalena Kluba notes: Human-Centric Lighting are lighting systems that adjust the color and intensity of light to the natural biological rhythms of humans. This type of lighting supports employee productivity, improves their well-being and affects better sleep. At the same time, in the era of increasing environmental awareness, lighting is becoming an important element of sustainable office design. Energy-saving technologies such as LED, as well as the use of natural daylight through large glazing, are becoming standard. A popular trend is also the integration of lighting with smart building systems, which automatically adjust the intensity of light depending on the amount of natural light.

Mateusz Szczeciński, architect at Design Anatomy, also draws attention to the ever-growing popularity of the DALI (Digital Additive Lighting Interface) system, which was created in cooperation with companies such as m.in. Philips, Helvar, Osram and Tridonic at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The main advantage of DALI is the central management of the lighting of the space, along with the integration with natural light to save energy. The system increases safety and convenience, but also enables the detection of the presence of people and allows for the integration of lighting with other building systems, including BMS. Thanks to the wide possibilities of individual adjustment of lighting parameters to the requirements and preferences of the user, it gives the possibility of freely arranging lighting scenes depending on the needs. This means that we can have several lighting options prepared in one room – strong light for a meeting at the top, dimmed light for presentations on a projector or atmospheric light for watching movies or relaxing in free time.

LeadWell. Conference for Team Leaders on November 7!

Business centers are most often associated with big business, daily rush and quarterly, semi-annual and annual plans. Centers are also associated with professionals who must be able to find themselves perfectly in these realities and achieve their goals. None other than team leaders are responsible for the company’s results, so they are the ones who have the greatest pressure: superiors on the one hand, and subordinates on the other, who also constitute a very diverse environment, and a manager should have the competence to manage such diverse groups of employees.

 

Team leaders are the most important group in any organization. They create its culture, it depends on them how those who actually perform tasks work and how they feel. According to recent research – a relationship with a boss is more important for mental health than a relationship with friends!

 

Still, many studies related to mental health and workplace sentiment focus on employees and much less on managers. The available data shows that being a boss is significantly physically exhausting and mentally taxing. Managing people is often overwhelming and can be a source of great stress. The research also shows that as many as 30% of people quit their jobs within 3 months of being promoted.

 

Meanwhile, happy leaders are a prerequisite for building teams consisting of happy subordinates. This means only one thing – leaders need and should be given time, it is worth developing, training and making them aware. Business centers, being a kind of hubs, gathering not only employees, but also numerous managerial staff, are an excellent environment for the exchange of experiences, skills and cooperation for the development of both professional groups. Just as employees share their insights, experiences, and ideas on how to deal with the realities of working in corporations on Internet forums or trainings, managers can also think about cooperation and exchange knowledge in the field of managing teams of employees. However, this happens much less often than in the case of employees.

 

“Like many areas of life, team management has undergone a major transformation in recent years ,” emphasizes Remigiusz Wojciechowski, Enterprise Support Solutions Leader at Bayer GBS. Founder of Bayer GBS Gdańsk. – This is due to the changes in the work model from strictly office to hybrid, as well as in connection with the entry of a new generation into the labor market – Genration Z, which has a fundamentally different approach to work than previous generations. These are challenges that managers must be able to meet, and they should also be accompanied by the volatility of the economic situation, as well as new challenges that we have not faced before, such as the greater use of artificial intelligence at work. These challenges require managers to constantly adapt their tasks to the changing reality and training to help develop new competences. In my opinion, it is very important to base your own development on interesting examples and experiences of other managers, also during workshops, where you have the opportunity to work side by side with leaders facing similar challenges.

 

Olivia Centre Gdańsk is the largest and most modern business centre in Poland. Its area is currently 175 thousand m.kw, and ultimately it will significantly exceed 200 thousand m.kw. Olivia’s largest residents are Amazon, Bayer, Capgemini, Energa, EPAM, Fujifilm, Lyreco, Medicover, Nike, Nordea, PwC, Ricoh, Sii, thyssenkrupp, which is why it is a unique community of practitioners who can cooperate for self-development and mutual competence support. It was only a matter of time until such a forum for the exchange of knowledge was created in Gdańsk.

 

– With this in mind, the idea of a new conference called LEADWELL, prepared by the O4 coworking team with Olivia Centre, was created – says Martyna Czarnobaj-Borowska, from the O4 Coworking team. – On the wave of the ubiquitous discussion about well-being, we decided to move away from the recurring free fruit, benefits or integration trips and focus on what is really important. On leaders and leadershiptags.

 

Olivia Centre is also the seat of the organizer of InfoShare and Infoshare Academy: Both of our projects give us access to a huge resource of knowledge about the current situation of managers, the challenges they have to face, as well as the changes that are sweeping through the industry – says Grzegorz Borowski, co-founder of InfoShare. Thanks to this, I am aware of the unique moment in which we all find ourselves and I am glad that a forum for the exchange of experiences between representatives of different environments and the possibility of cooperation is being created. I believe that such exchange and activity will allow each participant to build new competences and develop interesting methods of dealing with current challenges .

 

The project is an opportunity to use the knowledge of many practitioners and an opportunity to exchange experiences in the form of joint workshops. Perhaps it will also be a hint on how to build a community in the business center, not only at the level of employees, but also of the management staff, who benefit from being present in this or that facility. Such initiatives can also benefit employees, whose supervisors will gain new competences and will be more aware of market transformations and their related needs in the field of personal development.

 

Olivia residents have a whopping 33% discount on tickets! You can ask for a discount code here: eventowniao4@oliviacentre.com

The conference will take place on November 7, and all the details can be found on the leadwell.pl website

See the conference program