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The winners of the CBRE Meeting Room of the Year are Google, IN-SPIRO and Air Bank

The winners of the CBRE Meeting Room of the Year are Google in the category of Meeting Room of the Year, IN-SPIRO in the category of Innovative Office Concept, and Air Bank, who wins the category of The Most Attractive Working Environment. 72 companies joined the competition, where the professional jury considered 23 finalists. The jurors visited some of the companies personally to get a comprehensive picture of the atmosphere and environment in the individual companies. The ceremonial announcement of the winners of the individual categories was held on 12 February 2015.

• Google was awarded the Meeting Room of the Year.
• The IN-SPIRO co-working community centre won the award for Innovative Office Concept.
• Air Bank won the award for The Most Attractive Working Environment.
• The professional jury chose from 23 finalists.
• The ceremonial announcement of the competition results was held on 12 February 2015. 

The world is changing and so is the working environment. The purpose of the CBRE Meeting Room of the Year competition was to introduce the most interesting working environments in companies operating in the Czech Republic and show how the companies live.

The jury, consisting of Richard Curran (CBRE), Tomáš Ervín Dombrovský (LMC), Tomáš Jindříšek (Dark Side), Pavel Mauer (Grand restaurant), Ivo Němeček (Cisco) and Marie Passburg (Skanska Property), professionally considered 23 companies from whom the jury chose winners in three categories.

Richard Curran, Managing Director CBRE, says: “The selection process wasn’t easy and the jury had a difficult task deciding. Nevertheless, these are the winners in individual categories that represent new trends in the area of office space. They managed to create the most attractive environment from the point of view of both the employers and employees. In the case of Google the multipurpose offices in particular were decisive, while IN-SPIRO inspires by their innovative elements and Air Bank became a winner due to their really friendly environment for the employees.”

Taťána le Moigne, Director at Google ČR (the winners of the Meeting Room of the Year category) says: “The environment in which people work greatly affects their creativity, innovative thinking and active cooperation. The decisive factor for us was plenty of daylight. On the one hand, our offices reflect the Google culture, which means simplicity, a wealth of colours and a relaxed atmosphere, while on the other hand, there are typical Czech elements. Our employees actively participated in designing our offices from the very beginning and the space that we’ve created is living its own life today. Our employees and partners like being in this space and that’s what pleases us most. I believe that other companies will also invest more energy in the quality of the environment where their employees work – this is a great challenge for Czech designers, architects and manufacturers.”

Stáňa Baslerová, Manager at IN-SPIRO Co-Working Centre Prague (the winners of the Innovative Office Concept category) says: “We’re extremely proud of winning the award. Our centre was built with the intention of creating an inspiring space using innovative elements and we’ve achieved that goal as you can see.”

Kateřina Baková, Marketing Communication at Air Bank (winners of the Most Attractive Working Environment category): “While thinking about new space we drew inspiration from a modern city with all its buildings, parks and squares. Similarly as in a real city, each place in our office has its specific atmosphere allowing you to do specific activities. For example, large meetings are held on the Square, creative brainstorming sessions at the Marketplace, meetings for two in the Cafe and if you want to work alone undisturbed, you can go to the Library.”

Office space in companies is changing due to the changing world and due to the changing needs of companies and their employees. Successful companies accentuate a pleasant and innovative working environment promoting cooperation, effectiveness and involvement of their employees.

Tomáš Jindříšek, Managing Director Dark Side, commenting on the conclusion of the competition: “I really visited a large number of meeting rooms and I must admit that I was surprised how well the winners were able to arrange their interiors to meet the needs of their employees to the greatest extent. In general, environments in companies are being innovated and improved and the reputation of the office space of the companies participating in the competition is very high. I’m very interested in what next year will bring.” 

Marie Passburg, CEO Skanska Property Czech Republic, personally visited some of the companies to gain a realistic idea of the space competing for the favour of the jurors. “The environment in the companies that I visited was very inspiring and I’m very happy that a competition like this is held on the Czech market, as it is becoming an inspiration for others. In addition to the winners, it was interesting to see how the elements applied in the CEMEX offices really match and correspond to the materials that the company produces and supplies on the market.”

Ivo Němeček, CEO Cisco Česká republika, says: “A modern meeting room must combine elegance with technological sophistication. Google, as I expected, is a top technological company with the highest standard of working space for its employees.” 

Tomáš Ervín Dombrovský, Head of the Analyses, Communication and External Relations LMC, says: “The Google company is considered to be one of the most sought-after employers, especially among graduates. This fact confirms the trend that says that not only a good salary and location are of key importance for job applicants; many people appreciate their working environment as well. And Google has succeeded in this - it offers a smartly designed corporate environment that thinks about their employees.”

Pavel Maurer, adds: “In addition to the quality of meals and service, interiors is one of the three categories that we’ve been assessing for 19 years in my Grand Restaurant guide book. The place where we work, think, eat or just “exist” affects our mood, performance and taste in a significant manner. I think that a person can’t have any great ideas in an ill-designed environment and won’t like returning there.”

The CBRE Meeting Room of the Year competition will be held again in 2015.

The great interest among companies and the number of registered participants in the competition exceeded the expectations of the organizers. Therefore, this year another CBRE competition Meeting Room of the Year is going to be held and all experience from the very successful first year will be reflected. The organizers of the CBRE competition Meeting Room of the Year are preparing a number of innovations and attractions for the new year of the competition.

The following companies were the partners of the first year of the competition: CBRE, Cisco, LMC, Skanska, Steelcase, Dark Side and Moser. The media partners of the projects were: Hospodářské noviny, Forbes, LMC (jobs.cz) and Kancelářsnů.cz. 

Please find more about the CBRE project Meeting Room of the Year at www.zasedackaroku.cz. 

Picture of the Award ceremony (from the left):