Building Our Future

Can we better serve our ageing population through a new model of inter-generational co-living?

Justin Shee is the founder of The Kohab; a new inter-generational retirement living company, bringing old and young adults together under one roof to live in mutual support. The Kohab is both a potential answer to the age ghettos created by retirement living and a solution to the loneliness epidemic faced by both young and old adults in the UK.

In this podcast:

• What’s behind the growing epidemic of loneliness and how can our design and usage of the built environment help to tackle it?
• Why are baby-boomers still reluctant down-sizers & renters? How can this be changed?
• Should we revisit the rationale behind the current status quo of segregated “retirement” / senior living?
• What are the advantages of inter-generational living, both for the residents and the wider society?
• What are the financial models for encouraging the use of inter-generational living and how does The Kohab intend to nurture the identity of the community?
• Can inter-generational living extend to even younger populations e.g. creches?

Justin’s favourite building is Henry VI’s Gothic masterpiece, King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. In terms of real estate innovation, automated valuation models (AVMs) are Justin’s hot topic to watch!

You can find & follow Justin on social media via LinkedIn or Twitter (@JustinShee).

For more references, you can look at:

• Why inter-generational models may be the answer for solving the loneliness epidemic
• How inter-generational living benefits the ‘book-end’ generations
• Living Closer; the many faces of co-housing
• Savannah de Savary’s piece in Property Week on high-tech, collaborative retirement living

Are brand engagement & media overtaking transactions as the primary purpose of bricks-and-mortar retail? Where else in the build environment is brand influencing building design and utility?

Lara Marerro is a Studio Director & Retail Practice Leader at Gensler, the global architectural practice. Rather than specialising in a specific sector, Lara is interested the power brand and how it relates to consumers and built environment.

With an education that spans psychology, advertising, marketing, and cultural anthropology, Lara’s focus is on translating complex global consumer trends into understandable, workable, and profitable outcomes for her clients.

In this podcast:

• How are shopping habits changing & what is the opportunity for retailers & landlords?
• Is the store media or does it still have a role as the location for transactions to take place?
• Is pure-play experiential retail really relevant outside of the prime retail pitches?
• How can independent retailers compete in a brand-oriented, digital landscape?
• How else is brand / the concept of “Tribes” attaching itself to real estate across other asset classes?

Lara’s innovation-to-watch is AppearHere; where she believes the best is still yet to come!

Lara’s favourite building in the Empire State Building for its enduring impact on the Manhattan skyline.

One man’s mission to live in painted cities; how can street art transform both buildings and communities?

Holding a PhD in Evolutionary Mathematics from Cambridge, Lee was a former break-dancer with the Soul Mavericks Crew where he represented the UK and he has travelled the world extensively documenting street art world-wide.

In 2012, he co-founded Global Street Art with a mission to live in painted cities. This is achieved in three ways:

1. Curating the world’s largest online street art platform with artists from over 100 countries and hundreds of thousands of photographs and over half a million followers on social media;
2. Organising legal street art murals; having organised over 2,000 since 2012;
3. Forming an agency that works on commercial projects.

In this podcast:

• What is street art and how is it already shaping our cities?
• What role does art have in helping to create vibrant communities?
• How are brands helping to fund the growth of street art?
• How does street art retain authenticity as it enters a new, “legal” era?
• Is street art designed to challenge communities or represent them?
• Can we measure the impact of street art on a location?

Lee’s favourite building is the Schindler House in West Holywood; an experiment in 1920’s social architecture and arguably an early forbear of the current trend of co-living. His hot pick for innovation in the sector is Gyana AI, focused on retail analytics.

The recommended addition to the Building Our Future reading list is:

• Frans Johansson, The Medici Effect: what elephants and epidemics can teach us about innovation

You can find & follow Lee and Global Street Art on social media via Instagram or Twitter for further information.
Image courtesy of Tony Briggs (http://www.tonybriggs.com/_photo_15181401.html)

At the heart of Space-as-a-Service is the concept of community; an intangible benefit that extends beyond functional service provision and which will ultimately lead to customer happiness and therefore potentially higher retention rates and ultimately returns for investors.

Ed Thomas views the central ethos of co-living as bringing community back into the heart of the home. When he joined Reza Merchant's The Collective in 2016, he was tasked with exactly that; creating a sense of community within the pioneering 546 bed, co-living development in Old Oak, West London.

Ed believes that strong communities equate to happy members at The Collective, a belief founded in the fundamental principles of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. After shelter and security, humans next need relationships to thrive. For the individual, the benefits of community range from improved wellness, greater avenues of entertainment, networking opportunities, shared learning experiences and, perhaps most importantly (in a city where 60% of 18-35 year olds report feeling lonely), less loneliness. Ed believes that technological changes have altered our relationship-building patterns in a way which places a greater-than-ever importance on "real" communities in big cities.

For the property owner / developer / manager, meeting this most basic of human needs can lead to higher occupancy rates and rents and higher retention rates, as well as an array of cross-benefits across mixed-use sites.

In our interview, Ed explains how he's used a mixture of intricate building design and planning, combined with technology and, most importantly, human direction to help build community at The Collective, Old Oak. He explains the importance of enabling communities to self-develop rather than trying to force anything on members within the development. This needs to be done within a framework of rules, however, to ensure that all members are pulling their weight equally - the skill lies in being able to navigate the path between facilitating and pushing ideas on community members. Apple's concept of Fearless Feedback is an integral part of Ed's ability to adapt seamlessly to his members evolving needs and demands - communities are fluid concepts and there's no one-size solution.

We discuss the role technology can play in helping both owners and customers build communities, as well as the issues that technology is bringing to individuals as they seek to build relationships in new cities or environments.

Finally, Ed gives his thoughts on the emergence of co-living as a sector, the direction of travel for The Collective and emergence of competition to the brand.

Ed's favourite building is The Collective, Old Oak - unsurprising when you hear the thought he's put into it! His favourite innovation is The Collective's Library of Things; the embodiment of the shared-economy / community ethos through a tech-enabled solution.

Andrew Waugh is a founder of Waugh Thistleton Architects and a pioneer of design in the field of timber buildings, using cross-laminated timber (CLT).

Waugh Thistleton are committed to the use of timber construction which has earned them an international reputation in environmentally sustainable architecture and design. The practice has designed the world’s largest CLT building at Dalston Works – a 10 storey, 121 unit residential building, made entirely from CLT. WT are also currently working on 5 (out of the 10) major office CLT buildings under construction in London.

Andrew has been quoted as saying that he believes that "timber will replace all other materials for construction" and we discuss the benefits of building with CLT. These include:

speed of delivery

ability to integrate with hi-tech, off-site construction methods

Sustainable resource

Lower carbon emissions in build process

CLT as store of carbon

Bio-morphic effect for residents

Aesthetic

Picking up on a comment from Nick Fulford in Episode 3, we discuss the bio-morphic effect and i reference the work undertaken by Wood for Good. Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment found that that our cognitive abilities can increase by over 100% by working in offices with wooden interiors (when additional ventilation is added). A fact that, if verifiable, must be one of the more under-utilised in the industry.

Andrew has strong views on the current trend of what he sees as egotistical architecture, with the focus on individual building, rather than its place within the its environment and surroundings. We discuss Lloyd Alter's concept of the Goldilocks Density and where CLT, in terms of design and structural requirements can help deliver integrated buildings that fulfil the density requirement our cities need.