Colliers Poland: a VR + 3D tool for the Define. Design. Deliver. platform
Colliers Poland. VR + 3D + AR. 3 flagship projects. A tool for C-level meetings.
Virtual tour, furniture configurator, AR mockup, integration with Power BI.
The decision is made during the meeting, not a week later
Colliers Define markets its “Define. Design. Deliver.” process—from strategy through design to execution. Since clients are purchasing a multi-phase contract, the decision-making process is slow. Company executives planning expansion, COOs looking for a new headquarters—they come to the Colliers conference room and receive a PDF with renderings. They go back to their offices. The competition also sends a PDF. The decision comes a month later, in an email saying, “Thanks for the proposal, we’ve chosen [the competition].”
The problem wasn't with the quality of the Colliers Define designs—it was with a layer that wasn't included in the PDF presentation: The customer couldn't get a sense of the space. He didn’t know if the 80-square-meter room in the photo would “feel” like 80 square meters when you stood inside it. Would the windows really let in that much light? Would the kitchen’s location relative to the living area be too noisy?
What we built for Colliers Define
Six modules on a single domain, each serving a different purpose in the „Define. Design. Deliver.” process. Architects publish designs, consultants present the strategy, and the client explores the results.
- Interactive Portfolio: 3 flagship projects (Colliers Poland Warsaw — Colliers’ own office, Ecco — Scandinavian minimalism, PepsiCo — Instagram-friendly office). Each features a “SHOW 360 VIEW” option.
- Immersive 360° VR: The customer puts on the Meta Quest headset and finds themselves in the middle of the space. Looking up = ceiling. Looking down = floor. Scale 1:1.
- AR Mockup: superimposing 3D renderings of furniture onto photos of the actual building. This is helpful when a client is renovating an existing space (on-site).
- Analytical Tools (Power BI): The Colliers project team manages BIM (Building Information Modeling) data, and the client’s CFO can view optimization costs alongside the design in a single view.
- Reports: Generating PDF reports based on the selected configuration + online sharing.
- Virtual Design Lab: a real-time furniture configurator. Customers can change the layout of rooms, desks, and lighting—and see the results instantly.
Sales at Colliers Define — Before and After
Before
- Meeting with a client in the Colliers conference room
- PDF presentation with renderings and a project description
- The customer takes the materials back to the office
- The decision will be made a week or so after the meeting
- The competition sends similar PDFs—it’s the price that makes the difference
After implementing the tool
- The customer puts on the Meta Quest headset OR watches on a 4K TV in the room
- It explores the space in 360° and rearranges the furniture
- The CFO views costs in Power BI in real time
- The decision is made during the meeting—emotions and data combined
- The wow factor — it’s all about the experience, not the price
Behind the scenes: what does “interactive conference room” mean?
This isn't a VR demo—it's a sales tool that works simultaneously on a desktop with a 4K monitor, a smart TV in a conference room, and Meta Quest headsets. Each mode serves a different purpose.
- 3D Virtual Tour: a browser-based 3D engine. Users can explore the environment without any installation or plugins. It works on any desktop browser that supports WebGL.
- Immersive 360° VR: Meta Quest headset; the user experiences a 1:1 scale. VR sessions held in the Colliers conference room — “try before you decide.”
- AR Mockup: overlaying furniture designs onto actual photos of the building. This is helpful when a client is renovating an existing space.
- Furniture Configurator: in real time. The customer changes the layout, color, or supplier—and sees the result and cost immediately.
- Power BI integration: BIM design data → dashboards. The client’s CFO can see the ROI in a single view alongside the design.
- Mobile NOT supported: an informed decision, a tool for in-person C-level meetings.
Implementation: A multi-phase project — we start with the most frequently used module and develop the rest iteratively with the client’s team.
Office design in VR: how to show clients a space before it's built
An article for consulting firms, interior architects, developers, and commercial property managers who sell space that doesn't exist yet. We answer when designing offices in VR makes sense as a sales tool, which modules are needed, and which technical decisions need to be made at the start.
Why PDF renderings don’t sell a space
A render shows what the office will look like. It doesn't show what it will be like to work in. The client looks at a photo of an 80 m² room and doesn't know whether the space inside “feels” that big. They don't know how much light the windows let in or whether the kitchen next to the meeting area will be distracting.
On top of that, there's a sales problem. The client leaves the meeting with a file, goes back to the office, and compares it with similar files from competitors. When all the offers look alike, price decides. In the implementation for Colliers Poland described above, this was the starting point: decisions were made a week or a month after the meeting, once the excitement had faded.
Designing offices in VR: what the client actually gains
The most important change is the 1:1 scale. The client puts on a headset, looks around, looks up at the ceiling and down at the floor. They judge distances, ceiling heights, and the layout of zones just as they would on site. Questions that stay unspoken with a rendering come up right away in the conference room and can be answered on the spot.
As a result, designing offices in VR moves some decisions from “let's revisit this” to the meeting itself. That was exactly the goal of the tool for Colliers: for the client to make a decision during the conversation, with both the space and the data in front of them, rather than a week later based on memory and a price comparison.
Virtual office layout and furniture configurator
A walkthrough of a finished design is just the beginning. More value comes from being able to change the layout live. In the Virtual Design Lab module, the client changes the room layout, desks, lighting, colors, and furniture suppliers, and sees the result and the cost immediately.
Virtual office space planning shortens revision rounds. Instead of collecting feedback, going back to the designer, and waiting for new renderings, some variants can be checked on the spot. At the end, the system generates a PDF report of the chosen configuration that can be shared online with people who weren’t at the meeting.
VR for commercial real estate: headset, screen, or browser
Not every meeting participant wants to put on a headset. That's why it's worth designing the tool for several presentation modes at once. In the case of Colliers, there are three platforms in one tool:
| Presentation method | What it’s for | What to watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| VR headset (Meta Quest) | Full immersion, 1:1 scale, a “try before you decide” experience | One person at a time; other headsets via WebXR depending on the device |
| 4K Smart TV in the meeting room | Shared presentation for several decision-makers | Less sense of scale than with a headset |
| Desktop browser | A virtual office walkthrough with no installation, just one click on a link | Requires a browser with WebGL support and an internet connection |
A key decision was choosing a 3D engine that runs in the browser instead of an app built on Unreal Engine or Unity. Installable engines deliver better graphics, but they require installation. A web engine opens from a link in a few seconds. For a sales tool, a low barrier to entry matters more than the highest lighting quality.
The second deliberate decision concerned phones. The tool for Colliers doesn’t support mobile devices, because the real-world scenario is a meeting in a conference room, and the limited power of a phone would force compromises in 3D and VR quality. In a different scenario, such as an apartment presentation sent to individual buyers, this decision could look different.
AR and BIM data: where design meets cost
When a client is changing an existing space, an AR mockup is useful: the designed furniture is overlaid on photos of the actual building. This lets them evaluate the new layout in the context of specific windows, columns, and building services, rather than in an abstract model.
The other side of the decision is finance. A CFO is rarely impressed by a render, but wants to know how much the chosen option costs. In the tool built for Colliers, design data from BIM feeds into Power BI dashboards, so optimization costs are visible in one view alongside the design. Emotions and numbers are on the table at the same time.
This matters in multi-stage deals where several people make the decision together. The CEO evaluates the space and the company’s image, the COO the zone layout, the CFO the budget. If each of them gets an answer to their question during a single meeting, the number of email rounds and follow-up meetings can be reduced.
How to prepare a VR tool implementation
A tool like this is rarely built in full right away. It's more sensible to start with the module that will be used most often and develop the next ones iteratively with the client's team. Before starting, it's worth answering a few questions:
- Where does the presentation take place? A conference room, showroom, trade show, or a link sent by email. This determines the choice of devices and whether to support phones.
- Who adds new projects? If architects are to publish projects themselves, an admin panel is needed. At Colliers, the design team adds new projects without involving developers.
- Does the room have a stable internet connection? For important presentations, it’s worth having an offline mode. In the tool described, VR 360 has a local copy on the headset; the other modules require a connection.
- What data should sit alongside the design? Costs, schedule, BIM data. This determines the integrations.
It's also worth separating roles from the start. Architects and designers are responsible for the space itself, and the technology team for the platform where the client views it. In the model adopted at Colliers, the design team publishes new projects on its own, while we develop the platform and further modules. As a result, the tool doesn't age along with the first project, but grows with the portfolio.
The same pattern works beyond offices: in showrooms, for real estate developers, interior designers, and anywhere a client needs to “experience” a product before signing a contract.
We describe how we build solutions like this day to day in our offering interactive conference rooms and configurators and online presentations. You'll find working in-browser 3D demos in our showroom.
The three design decisions people ask about most often
"Why doesn't the app work on my phone?"
A conscious decision. The realistic scenario involves meeting with a client in a Colliers conference room—at the very moment the client is about to make a decision. A mobile-first approach would require compromises in 3D and VR quality (due to the phone’s limited processing power), which would diminish the wow factor. A specialized tool designed specifically for in-person C-level meetings is better than a one-size-fits-all compromise solution.
“Why a browser-based 3D engine, and not Unreal Engine or Unity?”
Unreal and Unity offer better ray tracing, but they require installation. The web-based engine works right away—the user clicks a link and is inside the space within 5 seconds. The trade-off: slightly inferior graphics for a much lower barrier to entry. For a sales tool, the barrier to entry is more important than 4K HDR.
“We have our own design team—why would we outsource?”
Colliers’ architects and consultants design the space (the “Design” phase). We build a tool that allows the client to explore the finished design—without waiting for renderings or PDF presentations. These are two distinct areas of expertise. Once implemented, the Colliers design team can add new projects on their own (via the management panel); we focus solely on the platform and new modules.
Your next step
Two paths, each different. Choose based on the context.
Frequently Asked Questions About Implementation at Colliers
Does the tool work only for real estate?
No. The "interactive conference room" model is suitable for any industry where decisions are made at the C-level: residential developers, interior designers, showroom designers (furniture showrooms, yacht showrooms), and design studios.
Do we support headsets other than the Meta Quest?
Meta Quest natively. Pico, Vive, and Apple Vision Pro via WebXR (depending on the device). Any WebXR-compatible device should work after a quick calibration.
How much does a tool similar to Colliers cost?
Full ecosystem (VR + AR + portfolio + Power BI + Lab + reports): starting at 200,000 PLN (one-time fee) + monthly infrastructure maintenance. For a single module (e.g., VR portfolio only): starting at 80,000 PLN. Check it out estimator for your script.
Can the client add projects on their own?
Yes—the management panel allows you to add projects without contacting the developer. It is designed so that the Colliers project team (architects and consultants) can publish new projects on their own.
Does it work offline (without an internet connection in the room)?
Only VR 360 has a pre-cached mode on the headset (local copy). The rest require an internet connection—conference rooms typically have a stable connection, but for important presentations, it’s worth checking in advance.
The VR + 3D Framework — What's Next If You're Building a Similar Tool
Colliers Poland is Case study for a global company with a physical product that is difficult to showcase remotely (office space). VR + 3D + Power BI = the customer sees it before buying. If you have a product that customers need to “experience” before making a decision (showrooms, real estate, interior design, equipment), here’s the process:
- Online configurators and presentations — Full range of 3D/VR/AR services + price list
- 3D websites and stores — Three.js, headless CMS, analytics integration
- 3D Configurator Demo — a template for an interactive product presentation
- Modular House Configurator Demo — a template for spatial/architectural products
- Three.js on the website — When 3D Starts Selling (article)
- Showroom 5 demo — Test how 3D works in your browser
- Schedule a 30-minute meeting — Free discovery session for your 3D/VR project
Check before we talk
Services associated with this deployment. Take a look at the offer, see how we approach similar problems in other customers.
View Case Studies
Three implementations from our portfolio. Specific numbers, processes rebuilt at real customers.
Did you like this article?
If after reading this you feel your company also has processes worth rebuilding, book a free call. Together we will check where sales are really leaking and what makes sense to implement first.
Schedule a call