Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Edge of Warsaw, Poland

There are 25 kindergartens (including 15 private ones) in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, which are attended by 1,463 children. Moreover, 464 children attend “0” class for 6 years olds and kindergarten groups at primary schools. Grodzisk High Schools are divided into 3 groups: Group of Technical Colleges and High Schools Nr. 2 (Automotive Technical College, Vocational High School and Basic Vocational Schools); Group of Schools No. 1 (General Education High Schools and Vocational School of Food Industry and Technology); Basic Vocational School by Group of Schools named after H. Szczerkowski.

They educate young people in the areas of: mechanical engineering, motor vehicle engineering, catering, tailoring as well as preparing students for the entrance exams to institutes of higher education. Thanks to the opening of the local lecture theatre in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, a part of the Further Education Socio-Economics College of Warsaw, both young people and adults have the opportunity to obtain higher education degrees in Economics and Pedagogy in their home town.

The cultural life of the community mainly revolves around Grodzisk’s Cultural Centre, which offers various activities for children, young people and adults. They include: drama classes, modern and ballroom dance, fitness, art, photography classes, bridge section, music and vocal classes at the Children Choir, adult CANTATA Choir and Bogorya Choir.

Grodzisk residents also have at their disposal 3CLUB, a music club with a two-laned bowling alley and five billiard. There is also a coffee bar in the building, where the main attraction is encounters with different national cultures and cuisine. The Cultural Centre has become a focal point of Grodzisk Mazowiecki. As a uniquely representative place, it possesses modern infrastructure and a large cinema-performance auditorium. It has become the center for official environmental, diplomatic and business meetings with facilities at a very high standard. Complex and professional conferences, training and general meetings for businesses are organised here.

Thanks to the activities of the Cultural Centre, inhabitants of the municipality have access to various cultural events. The cinema offers premiers and the latest films, classical music concerts, theatre performances, author recitals, cabaret acts, multi-national cultural meetings and displays. Young people participate in parties organised especially for them. Concerts and outdoor events organised by the Cultural Centre have already become a tradition in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Concerts are organised a few times a month on the smaller stage in 3CLUB and this is music from jazz to rock and blues to oriental music. The Cultural Centre runs various activities during the whole week until late at night from singing workshops and drama clubs to yoga and dance and even chess or literature.

Inhabitants who are interested in the activities run at the Cultural Centre are kept informed via email and sms (text messages) about parties and events organised by the Cultural Centre. Thanks to this form of communication, the management can constantly update cultural offers according to the needs expressed by the residents.

Residents of Grodzisk Mazowiecki have many opportunities for actively spending their leisure time. They can take advantage of the following sports facilities:

• Swimming Pool “Wodnik 2000”
• Grodzisk Sports Hall, rewarded by the Chairman of the Office for Physical Education and Sports in 1998, it can be divided into three parts, which allow for simultaneous independent training sessions to take place
• Indoor and outdoor tennis courts
• Attractive city and housing
• Equestrian centres
• Fitness and aerobic sessions
• A football pitch and stadium.

Football is generally considered to be one of the most popular sports in the municipality. The Grodzisk Sports Club “Pogoñ”, whose team plays in the 3rd league, celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2012. Furthermore, there are as many as 11 local sports clubs where children and teenagers can fulfill their athletic ambitions.

Grodzisk Mazowiecki’s attractive location (30 km south west of Warsaw) provides ideal conditions for conducting business, for which fast and easy access to the capital of Poland is essential. It only takes 25 minutes to get to Warsaw’s Frederic Chopin Airport by car and just 40 minutes by train to Warsaw Central Station. Grodzisk Mazowiecki is also well connected with cities such as Łódź, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań and Gdańsk.

In this municipality of 41,000 inhabitants, with 107 sq km of surface area, there are over 5,000 micro-to-large companies registered. Main industry branches represented in Grodzisk Mazowiecki include: pharmaceutical, chemical and electromechanical production, food processing and construction. The Investor-friendly policy of the local authorities has resulted in the arrival of several dozen foreign-owned companies, which have created over 3,000 jobs. They include: measuring and control equipment manufacturer “Danfoss”, concern “Frito Lay” – producer of “Lays” potato chips, pharmaceutical factory “Gedeon Richter Polska”, transport and spedition company “Raben”, Swiss bakery “Hiestand” and animal food supplement producer “Trouw Nutrition”.

Grodzisk Mazowiecki is a municipality that can be trusted, is open to new business and investment and provides investors with a friendly and professional atmosphere of co-operation.

This has been proven by awards received from prestigious competitions such as: Teraz Polska (Poland’s turn now award), Mazowiecka Gmina Roku (Mazovian Municipality of the Year award), Gmina Fair Play (A Fair Play Municipality award), Samorząd Przyjazny Przedsiębiorczości (Friendly Self-Government Initiative award) and Najlepsza Gmina w Polsce (the Best Municipality and Town in Poland award) in “Rzeczpospolita” newspaper ranking in 2009.