It all started with the sale in record time of the former UNICRE headquarters in the second half of 2020, at the heart of the pandemic, when the market was already suffering from some instability. At the same time, WORX was already searching for a new office that would also mark a process of profound change in the company's culture.
The search for offices fulfilled various stages such as market research, the preparation of short lists for choice, negotiation and simultaneous analysis of moving costs and finally the entire composition of fit&out with the support from the Worx architecture unit. Given the intention to access competitive rents with the maximum area on a single floor in the Lisbon area, the result was the Green Park.
DONE Design To Build (Worx Group's design and construction company) had the challenge of overcoming some barriers that existed in the initial phase due to the raw state of Green Park. The truth is that after the plan presented, UNICRE enthusiastically embraced the concepts that are trending in the market, such as the move to Open Space, the Hot Desking plan, and the introduction of ecological green materials.
Pedro Rutkowski, CEO of Worx Real Estate Consultants, commented that “There are really few projects with a story to tell like this because it was a real success and challenge, giving the opportunity to maximize all different and demanding business phases, with many multidisciplinary teams and processes involved, and all this during a pandemic. I am clearly happy with the final result and, above all, to feel that we were part of the turning point of a brand with as much history as UNICRE.” It was a process in which all entities were satisfied and with excellent results.
About this change, João Baptista Leite, President of UNICRE, adds: “I believe that the biggest challenge of this whole process was to design a space that, more than responding to the new work context, managed to add value to the design that ours employees already had from our office. The pandemic came to demonstrate the potential of telework, however, it was crucial for us to be able to re-demonstrate to our people the potential of face-to-face work and how a more collaborative workspace focused on their well-being can promote greater motivation and, by in turn, greater productivity and retention of our talent.”
