There was an impressive turnout at Bisnow's 'the future of UK Co-Living' event on 29 April which had a dual focus on financing Co-Living ventures and designing and developing for community in a changing world.
So how has the world changed and how does Co-Living continue to evolve?
The UK's first large scale Co-Living space, 'The Collective' opened in 2016 – pre the 2020 pandemic and at the time when BTR started to take off. Inspired by the PBSA model, to some Co-Living was ahead of its time. But with influences from the pandemic and ongoing housing crisis, Co-Living is fast becoming the rising star of the living asset classes.
The event included experienced developers, operators and designers in the rental living space, many with successful track records in PBSA and BTR. They are the innovators. Embracing the changing demands of how people want to live and work in urban city centres and taking on the challenges their residents face when it comes to affordability and the epidemic of loneliness.
Below are some of the key points that came out of the panellist discussion.
Design
- Design plays a critical role for building communities.
"First impressions are key..." stated Sophie Gunn, Associate Director at Packaged Living. "The curation of the ground floor and main entrance are vital to fostering a sense of community within our developments at Packaged Living. We work closely with our design team from the early stages to ensure we are creating value through good design to deliver efficient and best in class Co-Living".
- Understanding your audience's needs is essential.
Nenad Manasijevic, tp Bennett architects commented "…one of the key challenges and opportunities when designing-in flexibility to Co-Living social interaction spaces is understanding neurodiversity of our target demographics. In our research, we observed that some students prefer to study in communal dining areas whilst others prefer their own personal study space...if we transpose this understanding and approach into the design of wider amenity and social interaction areas, it starts to create a clear methodology and ‘heat map’ of how best to create and design-in flexibility to deliver a range of layered and fluid spaces to cater for great variety of needs".
- Monitoring usage of space is an integral part to operations, as is having flexibility to react to trends identified.
"The evolving landscape of residential living, particularly for those in the Gen Z and Millennial demographics, necessitates a more adaptable and versatile approach to amenity space design especially when it comes to the co-working spaces…" commented Lauren Maylor, Project Studios. "We’ve introduced ‘content creation studios’ into several schemes…these spaces are conceived to be highly adaptable, serving multiple functions that cater to a range of resident requirements. For instance, the ability to record high-quality audio for podcasts or music underscores the growing importance of multimedia communication and personal branding. Similarly, a green screen facility supports video production, a crucial skill in today's visually driven digital environment".
- Age is but a number!
With the country's aging population, Co-Living is beginning to attract a wider age range outside the traditional 25–40 year olds. A great example is at Node, who have an 83-year-old resident. However, location, culture and occupier profile are more likely to drive the amenities provided than age. Harry Philpot, Node: “The reality is that Co-Living is simply BTR in more efficient units, at a lower price point, with more amenities and a more operationally intensive management and which has an engaged occupant experience as the goal. This encourages people to develop connections with those they live with, increasing the length of stay and creating an enjoyable space to live. As a result, age is but a number.”
Hospitality Influences
As the asset class matures, there is greater opportunity to maximise the synergy between Co-Living and hospitality. Hotels are highly effective in how they use common spaces to drive footfall and dwell time to increase revenue and experience. Co-Living can learn from this to add value to residents and the community that it promises. Similarly, as Co-Living matures, we are likely to see brands differentiate in their price offering and lifestyle amenities to reflect their target residents and the neighbourhoods in which they are located.
Planning & Regulations
As with other living models, planning and the new Gateway 2 regime continue to challenge developers. Harry Philpot, Node agreed stating "some key challenges we face in the UK is the drawn-out nature of our planning system, with multiple layers of processes and uncertainty…it's so inefficient. Gateway 2 has now added another year of delays. In markets like Madrid you will know when you buy a site how many SQM can be achieved and therefore know from the outset what you will be able to do with it (within reason, with density & amenity etc. affecting the bed count). This makes things far more efficient".
Conclusion
In conclusion, Co-Living is one of the most exciting rental living concepts to hit our cities. Until recently, for many the thought of renting again at 40 years + would never have been a consideration. I think that might be on the cusp of changing.
Thank you to contributors:
- Harry Philpot, Principal, Node
- Lauren Maylor, Co-Founder & Director, Project Studios
- Nenad Manasijevic, Principal Director, tp bennett
- Sophie Gunn, Associate Director, Packaged Living
A thank you too to the previous panel that discussed the investment landscape – financing Co-Living ventures with Miles Keeley, HUB; Richard Simpson, Olympian; Paul Brundell, Kosy Living and Wilhelm Wrede, JLL. And to Bisnow for hosting and organising a great event.
Want to hear more from us? 
