ECOLOGY – WITH HUMAN IN MIND – EDUCATION – three of the CSR pillars deeply rooted in our business strategy. They show both in the product field, and also in multiple business-related activities:
- Do Nasadzenia – tree-planting campaign;
- PlasticOver – removing plastics from the office;
- Rowerowelove –promotion and education within commuting to work by bike;
- Sponsoring local sport – multi-annual support of Torus Wybrzeże Gdańsk;
- Torus Triathlon In Da House – integrating business and employees’ communities on the ‘indoor’ triathlon competition platform, in the sports zone of the Alchemia compound;
- Responding to the current needs of local communities – e.g. financing the purchase of respirators for a local hospital in the face of the pandemic; providing children care for tenants’ employees during a teachers’ strike.
Sports ground with community in mind
On May 2023, we officially opened a multifunctional sports ground, built by our company, located at Format office building in Gdańsk. The facility is open to public – can be used by employees of respective companies which have their offices in the building, as well as by local residents. The modern, tartan-surfaced sports ground is intended for playing basketball, volleyball, football, or handball. As for handball, Torus has been closely tied to this sports discipline, as the company, for years, has been a sponsor of the local team – Wybrzeże Gdańsk. Moreover, the facility houses an outdoor gym and ping-pong table. It is yet another contribution we have made to the development of this part of Gdańsk, in which we are going to conduct further investments that are to enhance the inhabitants’ quality of life.
There is no time to waste, trees are ‘To be planted’
A few years ago we initiated the ‘Do nasadzenia’ campaign, which aimed at planting trees in the Lipusz forest district (Pomerania), hit hard by a hurricane wind that occurred back in 2017. Over two October Saturdays of 2019, nearly fifteen hundred people, employees of various Tricity companies and institutions, supported by foresters, restored eleven hectares of the forest. We planted close to 110,000 birches, larches, pines, and other tree species. On October 16, 2020, close to eight hundred fifty people took part in the successive edition, representing companies from outside of Tricity as well. We collectively planted 90,000 young trees which will give rise to a dense, soaring forest in dozens of years! Up to now, with the help of nearly 2,500 people, we have afforested twenty hectares of woods, while planting 200,000 saplings. And it is far from over as we are already planning further editions of the event.
The involvement of the business environment in the forest restoration is highly valuable, and it displays in multiple dimensions. The first one, as in this very case, is obvious – planting new trees, caring for the uncontaminated air, and compensation of carbon footprint. On top of that, our campaign – the fact which is underlined by foresters – for many ‘city-originating’ people also provides a wonderful opportunity to further explore the forest, and learn its functioning rules. Additionally, there is a chance to take a closer look at the foresters’ work, to integrate, and educate the young generations on how a forest emerges.
Sports centre in office building
MORE THAN SPACE – is a motto which has been accompanying us for many years. When over ten years ago we set off the construction of the first stage of Alchemia – an office building with the largest recreational-sports centre in Tricity (with swimming pools, saunas, fitness hall, sports arena with a full-size basketball/volleyball court, and climbing wall), the market looked on with a slight disbelief. Many people found that idea overly courageous for the market reality of that time. Nonetheless, several years upon building this facility, nobody gets surprised anymore with fitness centres, gyms, or yoga halls located directly in office buildings, or in their close vicinity. Indeed, it was a bold business decision, but it was also well-thought-through, and – what is equally important – it was in line with our paramount value – to build with humans in mind. To build in order to consider their comfort, needs, health, and the well-being in a workplace. The wellbeing trend within the office market proves to be the continuation and expansion of that approach. As a matter of fact, we might have been the precursors of this trend …
The greatest measure of our success actually comes in the way in which particular Alchemia facilities thrive while offering physical activities, in the number of people who utilize these facilities every day (alongside employees, also local residents, children, school goers), and in the form of particular events that are held within. However, Alchemia is not just sport and recreation; it is also a group of nearly twenty other gastronomical and commercial premises.
Passageway and wave you can sit on
Between the Argon and Neon buildings (in the Neon’s ground floor parts), there are numerous commercial premises, including food-serving points, which collectively create a space in the open passage style. It is a spot for meet-ups, consumption, and relaxation, unique in densely developed city areas, located in a commuter passageway linking the railway station platform with Aleja Grunwaldzka. The passageway became a focal point of Alchemia, a space which blends paths of office building employees, students, local residents, and random passers-by. Therefore, we decided to carefully design this space, and fill it with elements of small architecture – with specially designed benches on which you can take a rest, with greenery, and small-sized trees.
Everything has been made of an exotic tree, Bangkirai, which grows in India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, among other places. In result, the passageway is resistant not only to weather changes, but also to the continuous human activity. Designers opted for a concept of a wave (ribbon) – uninterrupted and ever-changing in shape, making up a functional space. From the floor level, it morphs smoothly into benches, with them forming an inclined space which one can sit or lay down on.
From the very outset, the goal for the designers was to create an original and appealing public space, a friendly place you would like to go to. And the goal has been accomplished, as is best recognized on warm, sunny days.
Triathlon and indoor office building integration
In 2015, we initiated a triathlon competition, entirely held indoors – the first ever event of that nature in Poland. Over the successive years, for one day the sports-recreational part of the Alchemia compound became a rivalry stage, hosting primarily company relay race teams, daredevils facing the distance all by themselves, and even regular pros.
A swimmer, cyclist, and runner, optionally also a coach – such were the roles assigned to particular members of each company team that entered into competition. Additionally, the team had to comprise at least one woman. The contestants covered in succession: 750m swimming in the pool, 20km riding a bicycle mounted on a bike trainer, and 5km running on a treadmill. The athletes prepared for the competition individually, or in specially organized training workouts, which ramped up the sports level of the rivalry.
The popularity of the event was massive. Throughout six editions of the event, a few hundred contestants, in total, covered nearly eight thousand kilometres, cheered on by thousands of fans. Each event was accompanied with a charitable goal, to which we dedicated all the proceeds from the entry fees. Thus, we were churning out all the kilometres for people who needed our support. The competition was always capped off with an integration party, during which we handed out awards to the winners.
We certify our buildings
We originate from Gdańsk, and for years, we have specialised in erecting modern office buildings. In such an industry, it is not easy to achieve spectacular successes in the area of decarbonisation, i.e. limiting the CO2 emission into the atmosphere. It is a long-term process; however, we do not remain indifferent to the matter.
We have kept on certifying our buildings within the restrictive American LEED system for many years now. It means, among other things, the fulfilment of strict environmental norms, and high power and water efficiency, which lowers the maintenance costs. The application of high-quality building materials, with low content of volatile organic compounds, alongside great overall functionality, provides comfort and safety to the user. It is for this reason our office buildings come out on top in national ratings in the certification process point-scoring charts. As a matter of fact, we had been erecting buildings in line with this philosophy before the certification processes became popular in Poland. Additionally, we educate and initiate multiple actions, e.g. we promote the use of bicycles to commute to work, or campaign for the elimination of plastic bottles from the in-office circulation.
Our buildings have also received the ‘Obiekt bez Barier’ certificate (‘Facility without Barriers’), meaning they are fully adapted to the needs of people with disabilities, and of those with limited mobility, e.g. parents with small children in baby carriages.
Cycling to work
We have been supporting and campaigning for the use of alternative means of transportation, other than cars. Nevertheless, it is a proper and well-thought-out development of infrastructure that remains key. The infrastructure dedicated to cyclists, and encouraging people to use the bicycle as a means of transportation while commuting to work, constitutes a crucial element when planning our particular investments.
For example, we have set up more than fourteen hundred parking spots for cyclists in the Alchemia compound (several hundred more than for cars), with each building housing dedicated changing rooms with shower facilities. Each year in springtime, we have organized a free-of-charge bike service at the investment site, combined with an educational campaign, and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle (Rowerowelove).
Establishing a vast, shrewd, and friendly infrastructure yielded tangible results. According to the survey conducted by PBS Sp. z o.o. polling agency, as many as 40% of employees that work in Alchemia in Gdańsk commute to work by SKM, and those using a bike account for 21%, as compared to 23% using a car. It sets us apart against the background of other Gdańsk-based office centres, which are predominantly characterised by the car use. It also results from a fantastic location of our offices.
Tunnel shortened the way and enhanced safety
In May 2014, we solemnly opened a new underground passageway that leads from the SKM Przymorze-Uniwersytet train station onto the Alchemia area, toward the Gdańsk University premises. The investment, which also encompassed a new lift, built with the elderly, disabled, and parents with small kids in mind, enhanced comfort and safety for all the people who travel in this area. The whole investment, whose cost amounted to 2.8m PLN, was financed from our own financial resources.
It soon turned out that the new passageway made it so much easier, on a day-to-day basis, to commute to college, work, sports activities, or to move casually around the neighbourhood. It is curious to know that the idea to build an additional tunnel in this very place was born years before, at the outset of the Alchemia investment. Preparatory works, owing to the necessity for consultations with numerous entities, having formal and technical arrangements confirmed, took several years, which in fact was much less than the construction itself. At the end of May 2013, a final trilateral investment realization agreement was signed (Torus, SKM, PLK), with the construction works beginning two months later. The whole construction process was wrapped up at the end of April 2014.
We plan similar solutions at the Gdańsk Oliwa train station, although it will not be in the form of a tunnel, but a footbridge instead. In this particular case, the passageway is to connect the railway station and the Format office building area, thus shortening the way for both the respective employees, and local residents as well.
Employees with childcare – we responded to the need
In April 2019, for the duration of a teachers’ strike, we provided the tenants’ employees with immediate childcare. We responded spontaneously to an urgent need, sympathizing with the parents, many of whom work also in our company.
We organized help, within typical working hours, on the third floor of the Argon office building in Alchemia. Besides dedicating space and ensuring caretakers, we also organized games and plays for children under the supervision of animators. The respective information spread out rapidly among the compound employees, and as a result, dozens of parents from multiple companies residing in Alchemia responded in an immediate manner.
TORUS BEEZZZ - beehives on Alchemia rooftop
There are no vast populations of bees in cities, so it is easier to collect pollen and honey. Moreover, honey-yielding plants are not sprayed, which makes the entire process more straightforward. For these reasons, the city beekeeping took Polish agglomerations by storm. When we began our adventure with beehives on Alchemia rooftops, being amongst the pioneers of this solution in the Tricity, there were already hundreds of beehives in Warsaw alone.
This trend, like many others, came to Poland from the west. In comparison with other European capital cities, we still have a lot to catch up on, as in Berlin or London beehives come in thousands. Bee yards are also located in extraordinary sites of Paris, set up on the rooftops of the Paris Opera House, or in the vestry of Notre Dame, among other places.
Initially, in each of the three hives we set up on the Argon rooftop, there were 100,000 bees, peaking to 500,000 in some moments of time. The project quickly caught interest of the tenants, who started to establish their own hives next to ours. The bees that found home in the hives were of a specially raised species – Buckfast. They were not aggressive, yet extraordinarily strong and diligent, which resulted in an abundant harvest of delicious honey – as much as 70kg per annum! The honey, accommodated in small jars, was later handed out among our friends and partners. We plan to establish more bee yards on the rooftops of our successive investments in the future.
Operation RH
Back in 2012, in cooperation with the Regional Blood Donation and Haemotherapy Centre in Gdańsk, we launched a blood donating campaign among the people employed in our office buildings. We called it Operation Rh. A red, specially adapted bus regularly pulls up nearby our buildings, with those willing to donate blood never in short supply. This campaign ‘travels’ with us around our investments; we began in Arkońska Business Park, later moving to Alchemia, delivering new stages of the investment into use. And there are more places in which we are currently executing construction works: Gdańsk Wrzeszcz, Młode Miasto, and most likely Gdynia as well. Over the last 10 years, we have collected more than three hundred litres of blood, thus helping various people in need.
