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Our Chief Development Officer, Maxime Depreux participated in the latest MIPIM Connect session, chaired by Claire from Co-liv, with the participation of Dimphy from The Student Hotel and Jarick from Blossity. 

The thought-provoking discussion explored how Coliving has become a rising popular asset, and seeked to understand what is at stake, the different investment models deployed, and the real value of Coliving.

 

 

 

 

Urban Campus – Featured on TravelMag

TravelMag, a travel magazine,  that makes travel their business, so the readers can take pleasure in discovering off-the-grid destinations from around the globe, has featured Urban Campus as one of their “Top Choices when booking accommodations in Madrid.”

According to TravelMag, Urban Campus is one of the companies at the vanguard of Coliving, and they talk about our coliving spaces in their last article about Madrid.

We are glad to be one of their choices when staying in this wonderful city! You can read their full article here

 

At Urban Campus we are committed to ensuring the safety & wellbeing of our members, staff, and partners, during these extraordinary times.

In the past few weeks, while the whole world has been turned upside down, we have put in place robust contingency measures that are in line with government and health authorities’ recommendations. We are constantly revising all actions taken and implementing new measures when needed, as the situation develops. 

We want to open up about all the actions taken, pursuing our goal of turning this crisis into an opportunity to reinvent ourselves, challenge how we live and work and come out stronger together.

SPACES🏠 🏢

Following recommendations from the health authorities, we decided to temporarily close some specific common areas in our coliving spaces (like our gyms).

We kept others open with additional restrictions and strict cleaning measures to ensure the safety of residents. Our coliving spaces come with working areas and outdoor spaces that are very valuable to help people work in better conditions from home, and get some fresh air without breaking the quarantine.

We stopped on-site visits, and now offer virtual tours and full remote check-ins for newcomers, always making sure that they don’t present any threats to current residents.

CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE💦

Cleaning has been increased in common areas. Special cleaning processes are ready to be carried out if needed.

We have also provided our members with additional cleaning and disinfectant products, and instructed them on how to use them.

URBAN CAMPUS TEAM👩🏾‍💻 👨🏻‍💻 👩🏼‍💻

When the crisis began in Europe, we quickly switched our team to remote work. We closed our Madrid and Paris offices and asked all our team members who can work from home, to do so. 

Our Community Developers are working around the clock, from their home, to support and provide a listening ear to our residents. Official communications are being shared regularly.

Meanwhile, our maintenance and cleaning staff have been provided with the equipment and instructions needed to ensure their safety, as well as that of our residents, while on site.

COMMUNITY 👩🏻‍🦰🧔🏽👱🏻‍♀️ 👩🏾‍🦱 👨🏼‍🦱

Social distancing and community

might sound incompatible but they’re not. After just a few weeks of being stuck at home, we now realize more than ever the importance of community and the support it provides. We have been really moved by how our members have come together, to share their knowledge and offer support to one another.

We know that times are hard for everyone. We want to use the strength and diversity of our Urban Campus network to see how we can encourage and develop professional opportunities for our residents. 

Apart from moving our traditional collaborative events to the virtual world, we kickstarted a new initiative, together with our community, called: Beat the Storm. With a combination of open discussions, brainstorming sessions, shared resources and tools, Beat the Storm is dedicated to finding ways to work together on 5 identified themes during and after the COVID crisis: 

  • 💼 Business & Employment
  • 💆🏻‍♀️ Mental Health
  • 💪🏽 Fitness
  • 🎲 Entertainment
  • 💚 Solidarity

Follow us if you want to know more or think you can contribute to this initiative.

VULNERABILITY PROGRAM

This crisis is not affecting us all in the same way. While for some of us it’s business as usual, from home, a few people have already lost their jobs or their businesses. To help our residents most impacted by this hard time, we have created the Vulnerability Program, providing flexibility on their payments and length of stay. 

EVENTS🤹🏻‍♂️ 

Due to the restriction measures in place, we quickly virtualized all of our scheduled Urban Campus and collaborative events. 

With our valued partners, we are committed to continue organizing vibrant experiences and content.

If you are interested in sharing your knowledge or projects, by organizing any virtual activity with our community, please contact us.

 

For more information about COVID-19 please visit the official website of the Spanish Health authorities or the Comunidad de Madrid Health authorities.

Coliving is not only transforming the way we live in cities but also how spaces are designed and decorated.

Houzz, interviewed Urban Campus Space Designer and Marketing Manager, to write this article about Coliving, a new way of living and decorating.

You can check the full article in Spanish here.

Tele Madrid visited our Mellado Coliving

Today’s housing situation in Madrid does not respond to the needs of young professionals in the city. They are looking for more flexible, cost-efficient, and hassle-free short and long-term accommodation alternatives.

The reporters from “120 minutos”, a live morning show on Tele Madrid, came to visit our Mellado Madrid Coliving space to showcase this new way of living, and it’s benefits, compared to other solutions in the city.

Rogelio, one of our beloved residents who is originally from Mexico, showed them around and told them about his experience living here! Rogelio is in Madrid working as an investigator at the OIET, whilst completing his Master’s thesis in Geopolitics.

Watch the video to learn more!

Coliving Experience report 2019

Urban Campus’s mission is to change how people live, work and interact in cities.

We create warm, intimate and optimally designed spaces, to conceive a homelike feeling and create an engaged community. This gives our residents a sense of connection, belonging and meaning. We aim to cultivate the perfect environment for our members to grow together and push their limits, in order to achieve their personal or professional objectives. 

A year after launching our first coliving space (and now with 2 coliving residences in Madrid) we wanted to understand how we have impacted our residents’ lives and assess if we are on the right path to achieving our mission.

Beyond that, we wanted to get to know our members a little bit more, to have a clearer idea of who is living within our walls and partaking in our wonderful coliving community.

Back in December 2019 we conducted an in-depth research, into our community of professionals & entrepreneurs, to obtain insights related to:

  • Their experience as Urban Campus residents
  • How this way of living has impacted them
  • Their perception of Urban Campus
  • Their personal & professional backgrounds

We are delighted and thrilled to unveil some of the really interesting results in this Coliving Experience Report.

 

Who are our residents?

Coliving Experience Report 3 countries

We discovered that we have a very international community, with residents coming from over 27 countries.

With such a global demographic, we wondered how many languages were spoken in the community, and were amazed to discover that 64% speak more than 2 languages! (In addition to their mother tongue)

We also found that a third have lived in more than 3 countries. We can say for sure that our residents are open-minded and love to travel and experience new cultures.

 

 

Coliving Experience report Age

Some people might think that this lifestyle only fits young people but 4% of our residents are over 40, with an average age at 31. 17% are younger than 26 and are young professionals, not students. 

The presence of such a wide age range in our spaces proves that no matter the age, coliving can be a good option! 

Wondering about their professional lives? 72% of our members use our coworking spaces as their main, or secondary office. 58% of our members are employed by a company, whilst 42% are either entrepreneurs or freelancers, with 38% of them currently employing someone.

We were also interested to find out where our residents lived before moving to our Urban Campus colivings. The answers were majorly heterogeneous, with members having lived with their families, alone, in a shared flat, with their partners, etc. So how come so many people with different prior living situations decide to move to an Urban Campus coliving?  The answer can be found in our values; 91% chose us because of our amazing community. 

 

What has been their experience and how did their lives change?

The community is a very important part of our colivings. After moving in, 75% of our members sight our community and networking activities as the thing they love the most about us. Moreover, we are proud to say that  85% of them feel less lonely living here.

88% feel socially supported and a part of the community. 85% attend at least one Urban Campus event per month. This is certainly thanks to our amazing Community Developers, who we are really proud of !

Our residents have met on average 7,5 people that they can call friends! 

 

Coliving Experience report Happier

Maybe that is why 8/10 of them are happier now than before arriving at our coliving!

95% would recommend us to a friend, proving that this way of life really covers today’s urbanites needs. 

Additionally, we can proudly say that we have received an average score of 8,5! 

After reviewing these insights, we think we are on the correct path to achieving our mission. We continue to encourage our members’ growth, learn from them and keep impacting the people that choose to live with us! What do you think?

 

To explore more of our insights, check out and download the full infographic report by providing us with your Email.

[email-download download_id=”6469” contact_form_id=”6468”]

 

Televisión Española didn’t want to miss the chance to understand what coliving is all about, so we invited them to our Malasaña coliving to let them experience the coliving vibe themselves.

They interviewed 2 Urban Campus residents, who explained what it’s like to live in one of our spaces, the price (from 900 €), and what that includes, and how great it is to land in Madrid and move into your new home without any struggles.

Televisión Española was also present at one of our “Grow together” sessions that took place during our Community dinner.

Coliving is all about sharing and learning from each other. That’s why we organize bi-weekly Community dinners, where our colivers can get to know each other, and where our Community Developers can introduce new members to the community.

Each session has a different theme, where we cover several topics linked to the subject and organize different activities for the incoming weeks. This time we did a “Grow together” session, where our members share their career journeys (success and failures) with other residents, so they can grow together while enjoying nice food and drinks.

Want to get to know our community better and see how our community dinners work? Watch the full report in Spanish below.

OK Diario has named Urban Campus as one of the Coliving Key Players in Spain. Read the whole article in Spanish here, or keep reading the translation in English below.

Urban Campus, Inédit and Projects share the ‘coliving’ market in Madrid and Barcelona

2020 will be a year of growth for ‘coliving’, a type of accommodation that consists of renting a private area (studio) in a property that also enables access to shared spaces and additional services.

Although the current offer is still very small in Spain, experts predict that ‘coliving’ will soon become the future of the real estate sector. Coliving will grow thanks to the high profitability offered to the owner – between 15% and 20% – and demographic trends.

The three companies that dominate this market in Madrid and Barcelona are Urban Campus, Inédit and Projets.

The French company Urban Campus was one of the first to land in the Spanish market. It has 120 single beds spread over two buildings in Madrid. They also design and operate two coworking spaces and a Foodlab (coworking space for gastronomic entrepreneurship with professional kitchen) in Spain’s capital.

The other big market operator is Inèdit, with 21 flats in Barcelona, ​​a total of 113 rooms. (113 individual places). The Spanish company expects that in 2021 80% of companies dedicated to the sector will have an average of 250 beds. It also predicts that these types of properties will grow up to 40% by the middle of next year. Why is coliving becoming so popular? According to Inèdit, it’s due to the high profitability that it offers to investors and due to the increase of young professionals that move to Spain’s biggest cities every year.

Coliving spaces are mainly aimed at young professionals who want to live in a community, share experiences and who, generally, look to stay for periods that do not exceed 12 months. The average price of this type of accommodation is 900 euros per month.

Projets is one of the best-known operators in Europe. They operate in cities where the concept of ‘coliving’ is already well established, like Amsterdam or London. The German company has been operating in Madrid since April 2019 and has 25 rooms located in the district of Tetuan. The company expects to add 1,000 new homes throughout the world in 2020.

Lack of solid legal framework

However one of the problems faced by this new business model, that’s affecting its development rate, is legislation. There is no specific coliving planning regulation: «Hotel or tourist apartment regulations do not adapt to this product. The absence of a solid legal framework causes a delay in its development, despite the enormous interest that has aroused both among users and investors” according to real estate consultant Savills Newman. The consultant believes that the new business model will also be another attraction factor to capture and retain talent in the labor market.

Urban Campus at the “Real Estate Future Trends 2020: We are the Key” Conference

Last Thursday, January 23, Urban Campus was present as a partner and speaker at the latest edition of “Smart Conversations”, which took place at the Official College of Architects of Madrid, an event that has been organised since 2006 by the 3G Smart Group.

“Real Estate Future Trends 2020: We are the key” was an informative and non-profit conference with the aim of analyzing the latest trends in the transformation of residential, retail and education spaces.

This initiative was created with the need to align big companies, corporations, and leaders of the technological transformation. During the day different round tables took place to discuss the difficulties faced by the big players in each field. The objective was to jointly build a path to solve the problems identified.

Urban Campus at the "Real Estate Future Trends 2020: We are the Key" Conference

Participating in a round table about alternative residential models, was Urban Campus’s Operations Manager, Ana Martinez de Lizarrondo. Thanks to Urban Campus’s pioneer experience in operating 2 coliving residences in Madrid, Ana was able to share her experience, helping to provide a different point of view, to help solve some of the issues that concern the professionals of the sector.

Here is a snippet of her appearance, where Ana answers some questions about our spaces, how they impact the neighborhoods they are located in, how accessible coliving is …

Elix VRS signs an agreement with Urban Campus

Eje Prime has written about ELIX VRS’s acquisition of 2 coliving residences managed by Urban Campus.

This acquisition demonstrates the attractiveness of Urban Campus to institutional investors, which is a pillar of our development in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

You can read the whole article in Spanish here or keep reading in English.

Elix VRS joins forces with Urban Campus to enter the ‘coliving’ market.

The latest acquisitions made by the SIIC in Madrid, who is managed by the investment funds KKR and Altamar, will be operated by Urban Campus, a company specialising in the management of shared residential spaces.

Both companies will collaborate on the management of two properties purchased by the SIIC. The first, announced on January 9, includes two buildings located around Plaza de España in the capital, which Elix VRS acquired for 5.6 million euros and 5.2 million euros respectively. Both properties have undergone an extensive refurbishment, and have a common area of ​​3,184 square meters, in addition to commercial and parking spaces. The operation was financed with the company’s own resources, according to a statement sent to the Alternative Stock Market (MAB).

“Urban Campus was already operating the properties purchased by the SIIC.”

On January 16, the SIIC announced the purchase of another property for 12.4 million euros. The asset is located on Mellado Street, and was the first coliving residential center opened and operated by Urban Campus, in Spain. The building has a built area of ​​3,360 square meters and its acquisition was financed through the company’s own funds and a loan, with a real estate guarantee of 7.4 million euros. It also has four commercial premises. So far Urban Campus has 110 beds available in two coliving spaces which in total comprehend more than 5,000 square meters. In addition, it also operates two coworking spaces and a foodlab in the Spanish capital.

Elix VRS signs an agreement with Urban CampusElix VRS signs an agreement with Urban CampusElix VRS signs an agreement with Urban Campus

“Urban Campus expects to invest up to 200 million euros in the Spanish market by 2025.”

As previously shared by Eje Prime, the French company plans to operate investments between 150 million and 200 million euros in the next five years. The company plans to open ten new centers in the main cities of Spain that would add some 2,000 beds.