Cinnamon Grand enhances facilities for staff with new lifestyle complex

Cinnamon Grand Colombo opened a new state-of-the-art building offering top notch facilities for the hotel’s 1,200 associates on Monday 19 October, as part of an overall capacity enhancement, which also saw the opening of a new entrance to the hotel’s main ballroom, Oak Room. 

Built along the lines of a lifestyle complex, the ‘Home of the Trendsetters’ goes beyond creating a conducive workplace environment and offers space for creativity and community.

As a hotel that preaches and practices the philosophy of ‘take care of your associates and they will in turn, take care of the customers’; the new building is vibrant from the word go and oozes creativity, with witty signage, bright use of colour and the pumping music that greets you as you walk it. Youthful and hip, the building instils a sense of pride, purpose and dedication in associates and enhances workplace engagement. 

Spanning 68,864 sq. ft., the lifestyle complex consists of floors dedicated to female and male associates with resting lounges, changing rooms, dormitory facilities and an associate pantry. Exclusive expat quarters, new and improved training facilities, PC labs and library for learning, a salon, a Mini Mart, an interactive social media wall, a rooftop terrace and ample space for creative and innovative thinking are all part of this new space.

The building is also installed with the latest sound systems, and has a dedicated area for an in-house radio jockey (RJ), sourced from within the pool of employees on a voluntary basis. 

The  lifestyle complex is connected to the Cinnamon Grand through a 150 m underground tunnel that runs under the hotel drive way. 

The complex was designed to take care of the needs of the associates in a well-thought-out manner, keeping to international best practices. Having accredited the success of the hotel to its associates; the new building is in a way, an extension of the management giving back to its employees.  “I firmly believe that the lifestyle environment we create for our associates is reflected on how they take care of our guests. If you want them to be the best, you must give them the best,” said JKH Vice President and Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Sector Head-City Hotels Rohan Karr.

This lifestyle complex will, he believes, do just that. “It is a unique project that utilises space and investment to tailor the workplace to meet and enhance the need of the key people-factor in our business – our employees.” Addressing the associates at the opening, Karr also thanked JKH Chairman Susantha Ratnayake and Deputy Chairman Ajit Gunawardena for their support extended towards the project.  With the construction of the new building, Cinnamon Grand also receives a new point of entry, from the Utharananda Road (Nawam Mawatha/Duplication Road area). This would facilitate easier access for associates as well as guests with the road continuing towards the Oak Room, giving direct entry to the ballroom. Sustainability is a key practice for Cinnamon Grand, and this has continued to be true in the new area as well. A system for grey water reuse is in place, along with an application for rainwater harvesting. The building is lit up with LED lighting and has an integrated air-conditioning system with energy efficient chiller systems. Professional Solutions Ltd. was the Project Manager of the lifestyle complex, while Project Services Ltd. acted as design consultants and Tudawe Brothers Ltd. as contractors.