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Manner builds city centre housing that focuses on human centric living. They design places and spaces that enhance the vitality and vibrancy of our urban centres and support the changing habits and lifestyles of their customers, creating happier and healthier, more inclusive and accessible places to live, work, learn and connect.
Alongside Harris Associates and Savills, Manner is behind The Store House in Leeds, a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme that offers 369 student bed spaces and over 3,099 sqm of prime retail. The design-led development is inspired by the site’s heritage, referencing its former uses as a grand Victorian hotel and department store.
Designed by Corstorphine & Wright Architects and boutique interior design house Project Studio, The Store House draws on the ‘15-minute city’ principles and embraces the rejuvenation of the city centre to deliver unparalleled living experiences for its residents. The Store House development is located on Briggate at the former House of Fraser in Leeds, in the heart of the city. At the genesis of the prime retail and entertainment quarter, the scheme’s location benefits from the abundance of culture and lifestyle activities on its doorstep.
Scope of Work
Conscious Coliving have an ongoing engagement with Manner to support them in developing their shared living concepts and strategies. Conscious Coliving contributed research-backed insights to their planning application which show the potential for coliving to have positive social, economic and environmental impacts (e.g. social value in coliving). Our team also developed a high-level management plan that could become a precursor to an ongoing Operations / Community Manual. In addition, we reviewed the The Store House planning application to help ensure the planning application was granted.
After working with Manner since 2021, Richard James, Managing Director of Manner, shared the following:
As part of our planning application in Leeds, Conscious Coliving were instrumental in communicating our shared living concept and its social and environmental benefits through an authoritative report. They also worked with us in developing a detailed management plan. We found the team to be highly knowledgeable, and a good cultural fit with our wider project team. I was happy with their outputs and am pleased to recommend them.
We look forward to engaging with them as they develop their shared living concepts and supporting them to integrate community and ESG into the core of their products.
Vitanovae is an impact-driven investor-operator based in France. Their aim is to make their spaces accessible to as many people as possible, while guaranteeing a high level of comfort and reducing their environmental impact. They operate shared spaces – including coliving spaces, community gardens and other third spaces (e.g. open kitchens) – within the same neighborhood to offer a network of services to their residents and to encourage exchanges and mutual support systems.
Vitanovae is also behind La Maison de la Conversation in Paris, another multi-use third space where the Co-Liv Summit and Coliving Awards were hosted in May 2021.
One of their residents, Oliver (45 years old) recently left a testimonial about living in Vitanovae’s Triplex du Jardin Public in Bordeaux saying:
“I was pretty depressed when I moved into the Triplex. I had just gotten divorced in Paris and for the first few months, I often stayed alone in my studio. The other residents, younger than me, really supported me. They opened my eyes and even allowed me to meet my current partner. The concept of the Triplex is great. It’s ideal for someone like me who wants to discover the city of Bordeaux.”
As a social enterprise working in the coliving sector, Vitanovae aims to go from ‘shared living to impact living’, and we are happy to have worked with them on their journey to do so.
Scope of Work
In collaboration with Art of Co, we worked with Vitanovae to create a bespoke community handbook. This handbook included community guidelines and values, conflict management approaches, onboarding strategies and ways to optimize the space for shared living. These spatial design suggestions included having individual storage in the kitchens and shared spaces and the use of wayfinding and signages to encourage community guidelines.
The community guidelines we developed included rules for inviting guests, communication channels, storage, cleaning, smoking, conflict management and ways to manage expectations in the shared spaces (e.g. kitchen, garden and common area). We also provided a list of best practices and additional resources to enhance their overall community and user experience.
In regards to our work with them, Fabrice Simondi, Co-Founder of Vitanovae and Co-Liv, shared that:
Conscious Coliving was able to help us set up community guidelines that have proven to be effective in preventing conflict among our residents and which have laid a solid foundation for the Vitanovae community.
As an impact-driven shared living brand, we look forward to working together again in the future and potentially prototyping and embedding our Coliving Impact Framework within their communities and wider business strategies. You can reach out to their team here to learn more about their socially- and environmentally driven model.
SNRG is an end-to-end integrated solutions provider for an all-electric future. They collaborate with landowners, developers and residents of all-electric new housing projects to implement intelligent microgrids that reduce cost, complexity and carbon for all. SNRG’s purpose is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, all-electric future by reducing its cost and complexity for residential housing projects.
SNRG exists to revolutionise homes in ways where one + one = three. They are doing this through SNRG Systems and SNRG Communities:
SNRG Systems: A single, end-to-end provider delivering sustainable, local energy systems (microgrids) for residential housing projects.
SNRG Communities: SNRG designs, builds, owns and operates the next generation of sustainable rental housing communities using a human-centred approach and modern methods of construction.
Backed by Centrica, SNRG is an end-to-end integrated solutions provider for the sustainable, all-electric transition.
Scope of Work
We have been working with SNRG on the development of their SNRG Communities vertical, which is the next generation of sustainable rental housing communities. Since the beginning of our engagement, we have been consulting them on community building best practices, operational strategies and management plans, as well as advising on spatial design for shared living. We have also worked with SNRG to help develop the financial model for the SNRG Communities product, which included the following:
- Granular breakdown of revenue and cost drivers;
- Dynamic functionality to test the sensitivity of returns to investors/promoters from changes in forecast assumptions;
- Scenario analysis sheet of alternative rental models for a single unit;
- Analysis of net IRR for equity parties involved, and credit metrics for debt providers;
- Output sheet for key metrics and figures
We have continued to support SNRG with market research and other ad-hoc advisory roles along the way. Nick Bolton, Development Director at SNRG, has shared that:
Working with Conscious Coliving at the very earliest stages of our business model development has ensured that not only do we have a financial model based on extensive market experience but we have been better able to shape the community experience we offer our residents. The values and value that Conscious Coliving has brought to SNRG Communities has been amazing. As a team they have always been creative, responsive and engaging to work with and they will remain an important partner as we bring our communities forward.
As their model continues to evolve and their smart grid technologies progress, we will continue to support them on their community / operations strategies and other elements needed (e.g. spatial design reviews).
Greystar Real Estate Partners is an international real estate developer and manager based in the United States. Greystar launched a vertically integrated platform in Australia to acquire and develop purpose-built student accommodation and rental housing. Greystar Australia plans to raise institutional capital to acquire, develop, reposition and manage rental housing assets across the region, with an initial focus on Sydney and Melbourne.
Greystar Australia is pursuing new opportunities across Australia’s major cities where there is currently a shortage of high-quality rental accommodation and a nascent rental housing market. As a full-service investor, developer and operator, Greystar has decades of experience developing rental housing communities in the United States and internationally, and works in close partnership with institutional investors, capital sources, land owners, local jurisdictions, builders and other stakeholders to deliver landmark residential rental projects, contribute to the vibrancy of the communities in which they work, and extend their track record of success.
Greystar believes that energy management and sustainable practices enhance the financial value of the communities they manage – and help to preserve the environment for future generations. They are committed to minimizing environmental impacts through continuous improvement of our energy performance and through sustainable operating practices.
Scope of Work
Conscious Coliving was commissioned by Greystar Australia to support them during their planning phase, specifically to provide additional planning consulting to a local council in Melbourne to understand the social, financial and economic benefits of shared living. Drawing upon existing literature and case studies, the report we conducted explores shared living typologies, the demand for shared living and social value benefits of shared living.
In collaboration with Wellstudio, we also did a spatial design review and analysis on two Greystar developments in Melbourne. We used the WELL Building Standard as a basis to analyse and compare the bedroom/studio spaces in each model. We used a combination of different tools including movement path mapping, identification of interaction points, surveillance opportunities, nooks, amenities/facilities offered and estimated acoustic qualities to analyse and compare the community areas for each model.
After completing our market research and spatial design analysis, the Greystar team left the following thoughts on our work:
Conscious Coliving has a broad and holistic knowledge of the shared living sector, including research-backed insights into what makes shared urban living socially and environmentally impactful. The team was a pleasure to work with, and we'd be happy to work with them again in the future.
The Greystar schemes we worked on have now obtained planning and we aim to support them along their journey to operations and beyond.
CoCity is reimagining how we live, work and play by repurposing failing real estate across the UK into vibrant community-centred, live-work-play experiences, designed for modern lifestyles. They create desirable, affordable and flexible environments which alleviate the pressures of modern urban living through their unique approach to development, merging mixed-tenure, mixed-use real estate, technology and the building of inclusive communities.
CoCity is striving to prevent a new ‘lost generation’ amongst our 18-40 years olds through its innovative ‘community-centered flexible living’ (CCFL) model, which, first and foremost, addresses the financial and societal pressures of living in today’s modern world. Their developments create a complete living environment for co-citizens to live, work and play, a circular economy if you like, with at its heart great quality, value-orientated connected living spaces. Technology and the power of connected communities provide the foundations on which CoCity strives to provide the best living experiences for its-citizens and the start to a stress-free adult life.
Scope of Work
We have been supporting CoCity since they started developing their connected living brand and vision. Formerly known as ‘XUSA’, we started off our engagement CoCity hosting ‘envisioning workshops’, where we shared coliving best practices including tech integrations, spatial design approaches, community experience techniques and neighbourhood engagement strategies.
Conscious Coliving also supported them by reviewing certain planning applications to ensure the benefits and definitions of their coliving products were well defined and articulated.
Working with CoCity’s architects, Tinto Architecture, our spatial design consultant Tom Manwell also provided reviews of existing site plans. Tom provided CoCity and Tinto with a spatial design review to identify and enhance points of social interaction, wellbeing and sustainability throughout the plans.
After working with CoCity for over a year, co-founder Alex Impey has shared with us that:
It has been great working with the guys from Conscious Coliving... we were able to explore various elements which they’ve identified, help create thriving communities and what I term ‘collisions’: in other words, creating spaces within a development which naturally facilitate interactions between individuals, happy accidents filled with purpose and enjoyment. Conscious Coliving also helped us understand how to truly support the growth of our community and development, and we look forward to working with them as we move into the operations phase
As CoCity continues to develop their brand and expand throughout the UK, we look forward to supporting them in developing their experience-driven connected living communities.
Palma Coliving aims to provide a unique space for creative ideas to be born, new partnerships to be built and knowledge to be shared. They are located in ‘paradise-like’ destinations and cater to remote workers such as digital nomads, entrepreneurs and independent travelers.
They provide a warm coliving/coworking environment where nomads can live comfortably as they work remotely; a place to connect, share, and grow with like-minded individuals.
Palma Coliving believes in a conscious culture. For them, a conscious culture by definition includes accountability, transparency, integrity, loyalty, egalitarianism, fairness and personal growth, acting as an energizing and unifying force that truly brings a conscious business to life.
At Palma Coliving, it’s all about humans: their aim is to impact remote workers, inspire them to be more productive and help them to accomplish their goals, all whilst discovering the local culture of their chosen destination. They focus on building an ecosystem of support, connection and collaboration.
Scope of Work
As strategic advisors to Palma Coliving, we have supported them on the development of their coliving concept and brand as well as continuously connect them with our partners and collective of shared living consultants. We helped Palma Coliving take their vision of a remote-work / digital nomad coliving concept to a more intentional, ‘conscious coliving’ remote coliving brand. This included suggesting certain brand values, group activities, membership packages, onboarding strategies and community guidelines that align with The Conscious Coliving Manifesto v3.0.
We also consulted with one of our real estate investment professionals – Connor Moore, Associate at Nomos Group – to support Palma Coliving on developing a bespoke financial and business model. For this scope of work, Connor helped Palma Coliving build a ‘Financial Forecast Model’ – including a 5-year forecast framework and sensitivity analysis – to analyze the purchase of properties that Palma Coliving will operate as coliving locations. Connor also created a recommended financial strategy presentation for both Palma Coliving as a coliving operator and Palma Coliving as a real estate investment company.
Matthieu Zeilas, Co-founder of Palma Coliving, shared his thoughts about working with us and the strategic advisory we provided, saying:
Conscious Coliving are multi-disciplinary team of coliving experts that have a deep understanding of the sector. They have helped us with the development of our vision, concept and model and have helped connect us to the right people within the industry. We are grateful to continue working with them as we grow!
Hablis is a new-age business hotel that offers the optimal blend of comfort and convenience to its guests. Being one of the most coveted hotels in Chennai, India, Hablis has made a name for itself in the Indian hospitality industry. Inspired by local culture, their eclectic spaces offer quality accommodation and services.
Their facilities and amenities make Hablis one of the best hotels near Chennai Airport and embody their cultural values of charm, sophistication and elegance. Their spaces aim to articulate flair and style, while helping guests experience engaging stays and create memorable moments.
Since before the pandemic hit, the leadership team at Hablis – led by Managing Director Rajesh Devarajan – has been thinking about how to diversify their hospitality brand portfolio. They thought of developing a mixed-use development that includes banquet spaces, shops, offices and coliving. This concept would be catered to young tech professionals who work in the area and could have access to quality and affordable living solutions close to their offices.
Scope of Work
Conscious Coliving collaborated with Wellstudio Architecture and Art of Co to create a sustainable coliving hotel concept for Hablis. We supported the team at Hablis to better understand the ins and outs of the coliving model, providing them with best practices for spatial design, community facilitation, technology solutions and operational models. After several concept development workshops, we were able to co-create a ‘Coliving Hotel’ concept with Hablis to cater to young tech professionals working in the neighbourhood.
The coliving hotel spatial design concept differs from other hotel concepts in that resident’s private rooms are organised into clusters arranged around community living spaces, incorporating a number of natural features such as green terraces which overlook the surrounding dense urban spaces. The lower levels of the building incorporate an indoor food market and retail space for wellbeing oriented businesses to operate, topped with an urban green space accessible to the public as well as residents. The proposal considered a sustainable and holistic wellness lifestyle at every step of the design process.
As the pandemic evolved, Hablis also had to evolve their concept to incorporate more wellness factors and spaces. This meant a pivot into providing health care services and amenities as well as more healthy food options and shops. For this, we connected Hablis with our partners at REimagine, whose team has previous experience running placemaking initiatives like Make Shift in London and working on the acquisition teams of coliving brands like The Collective. They worked with Hablis to develop their health care and wellness facilities in a way that integrates with the needs of local stakeholders.
After working with Hablis since the end of 2019, Managing Director Rajesh Devarajan shared that:
It was a creative experience working with Matt and Tom in concretizing a vision to a concept and design. Before I started the engagement, the concept I had in mind was quite vague for the coliving project but the workshops helped to educate me by providing clarifications and talking to different experts. The consequent design and operating concept that came out of these workshops was quite an experience
As their mixed-use development continues to evolve, we look forward to supporting them with the coliving aspects down the line.
Support for coliving operators & developers
If you feel curious about ways we could collaborate or you have any questions, we are happy to have an introductory conversation. You can explore what could be possible in our consulting services page:
