Shortlisted – ‘Workplace Design of the Year’

Over the years, we at CBS have won a range of awards celebrating the success of the business, and the leadership of our CEO, Rachel. From winning Business Woman of the Year on multiple occasions, through to recognition as a Fast Growth 50 company, you could say we have our fair share of silverware! Now, adding to the list, we’ve been shortlisted for ‘Workplace Design of the Year’ at the Insider Media Wales Property Awards, and we’re chuffed!

Some of you will know the CBS journey and have seen how we’ve come from renting a small converted retail shop in Ynysybwl, through to renovating our modern, eco-friendly, sustainable office building in Abercynon. We’re thrilled with the results and are so pleased to have been shortlisted.

This isn’t just a building for us.  It’s a statement of who we are and what we’re about.

We believe in pursuing excellence in every area of our work and this undoubtedly has carried through to the building project. The office communicates that we go above and beyond.  We want to showcase who we are and evidence that we are always striving to be better. Our values state that we are smart, efficient, committed and creative, and these strengths are embedded into our culture and the core of CBS. The building project has communicated to our clients in ways we couldn’t have ourselves. It has demonstrated our values beyond us sharing them verbally.

Our social and environmental conscience drives all that we do at CBS. Here’s how the build was guided by these values:

We are Environmentally Aware:

Creating a workspace that was both sustainable and environmentally conscious AND modern, productive, and innovative was a priority. We are aiming to be carbon neutral by the end of 2020, so decision making was influenced by reducing energy usage. Everything from our lighting and windows, through to the ventilation system means we’re using 75% less energy in this building than we were in our last premises Being based within an ex-mining community where the effect of business operations on the environment were not appropriately considered historically, we believe it is especially important to raise awareness of this cause and do more for the planet.

We have a Social Conscience:

We are based in a socially-economically deprived area, with high rates of unemployment. When the business was started in Ynysybwl, this was as much out of convenience (proximity to home for our CEO) as it was anything else. In many ways, it could be argued that the better business decision would be to move towards Cardiff. However, the priority to remain in this location has become part of the lifeblood of who we are. Given the nature of these areas, suitable office space rarely becomes available. As such, we had to cling to this value, patiently waiting to find the right space that allowed us to remain in this location, providing sustainable employment in an area where it’s lacking. We believe in regeneration. We believe there is hope for these communities. We believe businesses here can not only survive, but thrive, and we’re here proving just that.

We have built an excellent, high quality office space, that pushes back the negativity spoken over communities like ours in every way. Where these communities are often written off and given second best, we have sought excellence in every area.

Check out these pictures of our gorgeous offices. They really are an environment we all enjoy working from and mean we are motivated and love being in the office.

Post COVID-19, we would love to invite you to visit so you can enjoy the full tour of our facilities, but in the meantime if we can help with any background screening requirements, or interior design tips for that matter! Please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01443 799900.