Urban Campus was featured in an article in “Le Monde” about the rise of “coliving”, a new space for cohabitation.

“We create places to live and work”: the rise of “coliving”, a new space for cohabitation

Some companies are offering residences or houses for employees of the same or different companies, often with the help of external service providers.

Halfway between coworking and flat-sharing, the concept of “coliving”, which arrived in France a few years ago, offers individuals the opportunity to live in large shared buildings, which have many common areas and provide the users with a full programme of activities (gym, coworking, restaurant, bbq, workshops…)

An external operator manages and animates the space, the services are similar to the ones provided by hotels, and all bills are included in the monthly price. Forms of coliving vary, from small houses with handpicked residents to large residences with hundreds of rooms. According to a study published at the end of 2019 by the real estate subsidiary of the bank BNP Paribas, the market only offered 5,000 unit, but since then the number of coliving units continues to increase exponentially.

This new practice is aimed primarily at young workers, who are looking to avoid high rents at the beginning of their careers and want to meet new people. “Co-living affects urban, young, single people who live alone and find it difficult to leave the academic environment,” notes Monique Eleb, a sociologist specializing in housing.

Companies have started to propose this type of accommodation, when they hire an employee or send them on a project, as co-living is a very attractive offer for this kind of profile, notes Claire Flurin, co-founder and administrator of the international association Co-Liv. “Before the Covid crisis, we already had strong signals, particularly in the tech sector, with requests either for rooms in coliving sites, or entire coliving residences dedicated to the company, similarly to Google campus.”

Shared Offices

The concept facilitates remote professional activity, as an extension of coworking. For example, shared offices with Wi-Fi and printers can be part of the equipment. “In our coliving residences, a large workspace is included in the common areas”, describes Maxime Armand, co-founder of Urban Campus. “The concept is both housing and coworking spaces, on the ground floor or first floor, with comfortable seats, a double screen… We want to create places to live and work”, explains, Géraud Le Merrer, digital and marketing director of Sharies.

Read the full article in French in le Monde

Urban Campus was featured in the digital newspaper El Confidencial Digital last week.

The article explains how Urban Campus has positioned itself as a coliving pioneer in Madrid presenting coliving as a new residential alternative. It goes on to explain how coliving differentiates from other accommodation options and how we have successfully nurtured a community of professionals in both our Mellado Madrid Coliving and Malasaña Madrid Coliving.

Click here to read the full article (in Spanish).

“Hazte Eco“, from Antena 3, a TV show dedicated to finding the most eco-friendly housing solutions, visited our Urban Campus Mellado Madrid Coliving.

They wanted to discover how this new way of living enables an eco-friendly lifestyle by saving energy while sharing and living in a community with other professionals with similar interests.

Watch the full video, where we explain, what measures we take to save energy, water… while building the best experience for our colivers.

Is coliving the cure for loneliness during the confinement? El confidential investigates Coliving during the Covid 19 pandemic. They spoke to Urban Campus, and some other key players in the game, as well as our coliviers to get their opinion on living in one of our spaces during lockdown.

You can read the original article.

Or keep reading in English below:

Coliving has proven to be one of the most resilient sectors during the pandemic, and experts predict a ‘boom’ in this type of lifestyle in the next two years.

Coliving is a residential model based on renting a private space and sharing common areas between people with similar values ​​and interests. Some residents of these spaces define it as a ‘lifestyle’. It may seem that this set-up is incompatible with the pandemic, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it has proven to be one of the most resilient Real Estate sectors in the face of COVID, triggering a rise in occupation after lockdowns. Experts agree that there will be a boom in coliving in the next two years.

Urban Campus has two coliving spaces in Madrid, one in Malasaña and the other in Chamberí. Marketing manager, Marta Torres, acknowledges that during the confinement around 20% of the residents left, however, currently, of the 120 units between the two spaces, capacity is now at 95%. “As of mid-June we saw an increase in demands,” explains Marta to El Confidencial.

The most surprising thing is that the majority of new ‘colivers’ are Spanish, whereas before there was a higher percentage of international residents. “The trend has been reversed, now we have 60% national and 40% international,” Marta details. To make residents feel safe, they have implemented a multitude of sanitary measures. As in any public place in Spain the use of masks is mandatory in common areas, where the capacity is also now reduced to 50%. They have also popularised ‘online’ activities, such as the weekly community dinners, which before the pandemic were held in person. In addition, potential residents are offered the possibility of visiting the rooms online and can even ‘check-in’ remotely.

One Urban Campus ‘coliver’ is Xacobo Agraso, a 32-year-old young man from Galicia. Since August 2019 he has lived in the space that the company has on Andrés Mellado street, in Chamberí, which is where he spent the lockdown. During those three months only the five other people he shared the apartment with were allowed in & out. “It was very different because we were used to a dynamic of sharing spaces and moments with all of the residents of the building,” he explains to us. 

He feels a much stronger sense of community has been created. “We feel protected and we protect each other,” he says. A WhatsApp group for all residents helped them to stay in touch and send words of encouragement, between the difficult months of April and June. Today they continue to use this means of communication to share the latest restrictions implemented by the Government, organize yoga classes,  distribute job offers, and so on. It even helps them lend a helping hand to those who have tested positive in the community, and can therefore not leave their homes. “There is a very strong community feeling that we all really appreciate”, Xacobo emphasizes.

Of course no space is totally free of the Coronavirus. For this reason Urban Campus have developed a protocol to isolate any infected person and persons with whom they have been in contact with. Thanks to this strict protocol, they have managed to have no more than four cases. One of those cases was that of Esteban Sánchez, a 41-year-old Venezuelan who overcame Covid 20 days ago, without suffering any serious symptoms. “It was strange to experience this situation with roommates. The first thing I did was notify all of them, and then stop using the common areas. We then put in place an agreement for when I could use the kitchen” explains the ‘coliver’.

Another reference in ‘coliving’ is the Italian company, DoveVivo, who operate in Spain under the Oh My Place brand. Its Director of Operations, Irene Trujillo, recalls the feeling of “uncertainty” that she had when the pandemic began. Luckily they have seen though that “the sector has been very resilient and has come out much stronger.” Their strength lies in the fact that they are not part of the tourism sector, so residents stay living on average 12 months in their spaces. In addition many people do not want to go back to living alone with the possibility of another lockdown always hanging in the air, so this model “is a very interesting alternative.” Of course they have also implemented the necessary sanitary measures to prevent infections. They have increased the levels of social distancing, limited face-to-face activities, reinforced cleaning and they carry out a regular control of air quality. Regarding the protocol in the event of a positive case, they follow the steps stipulated by the Minister of Health.

Arrival of international investors

Coliving in Spain is still in its young stage, with just 500 beds available. The growth opportunities within the sector are insightful and some international investors are already looking at potential properties. “We are seeing European, American and Asian investors who are already analyzing buildings”, points out Javier Caro, Director of Coliving at CBRE, a Real Estate consultancy group. He assures that some operations have already been finalised, and predicts that the offer will multiply by up to five by the end of 2022. This is also something  demonstrated by the main operators in the sector. For example, DoveVivo plans to open a new centre in Madrid of 1,600 square meters and 400 beds, in the incoming weeks. In addition, it is about to close on two other projects in the capital, one in Chamberí and the other in Moncloa. For their part, Urban Campus plans to open more than 2,300 beds by 2023, for which they have a team dedicated to finding new buildings in both Spain and the rest of Europe.

Caro clarifies that “the business model has a long history in Spain, with a more adjusted profitability, drawing more attention to it, compared to other more consolidated markets”. He adds that these spaces will be increasingly specialized, distinguishing between, for example, communities of divorced people, entrepreneurs, MBA students, young professionals, digital nomads etc. Other real estate sectors are also seeing the potential of ‘coliving’. “Residential areas where people have common interests are the future. We are beginning to move in that direction, something we are already seeing in some Anglo-Saxon countries”, indicates Rebeca Pérez, founder and CEO of Inviertis, a company specialising in buy-to-let property. Above all, he is struck by the coliving spaces on offer for the elderly, “a segment of the population that is very large in Spain and lacks modern proposals.” He points out that these new communities will have a 24-hour infirmary and a hot water pool so that the elderly can exercise. Despite the fact that the sector still does not have specific legislation in Spain, the Director of Living at JLL Spain, a Real Estate  Consultancy firm, Juan Manuel Pardo does not think that it will be an obstacle to the arrival of new international investors. “It comes under the sector of lodging, which perfectly covers the term ‘coliving’. Pardo also believes “that having specific regulation will encourage the arrival of even more investors”. He affirms that “more and more operators are deciding to enter the Spanish market and are actively looking for products.”

El Economista interviewed some Coliving and Coworking keyplayers, Urban Campus being one of them, to analyze how Covid and Social Distancing have impacted the sector.

You can read the full article, Coworking and Coliving Transformed In Times of Social Distancing, here in Spanish, or keep reading for the translated English version.

‘Coworking’ and ‘Coliving’: How have they transformed in times of social distancing?

• Flexibility to adapt to users has been key during the pandemic
• The creation of an engaged community is an aspect highly valued by tenants

In recent years the real estate sector has adapted to new ways of living and working with concepts such as coliving and coworking. The pandemic & it’s subsequent sanitary restrictions have led these businesses to develop health & safety protocols and adapt disinfection and cleaning measures to provide safe spaces. Different agents in the sector agree that flexibility with users and the importance of the community have been the key criteria in the new models they have put in place. Begging the question, what is a shared space in the age of social distancing?

In the case of coliving, at the toughest point of the pandemic,  “occupancy percentages fell and rents were renegotiated, both with tenants and between building managers and owners. However there have been no major impacts on assets managed by already efficient operators and in the business sector itself, “explains Javier Caro, director of Coliving at CBRE Spain.

Laia Comas, CEO of Inèdit Barcelona, explained that their business began to recover around October, with a rebound in demands. He added though, “reservations are made at the last minute, from one day to the next, whereas before reservations were forecasted, on average, three months in advance”. Between the months of October and December they reached an occupancy of approximately 60%, recovering earlier than expected. However the new wave of Covid cases in January and subsequent lockdowns, again caused reservations to be made last minute but they have succeeded to maintain an occupancy of approximately 60%, and forecast that between now and April they will be able to go up to 70%“.

Coliving has transformed in times of social distancing

Adapting to the current situation has been one of Inèdit Barcelona’s objectives. They decided to give maximum flexibility in making and canceling reservations. “In the rental contracts we have added the Covid Clause where it is indicated that if for any reason related to the disease you need to cancel the contract, you can do so without penalty or notice,” says Comas.”Coliving has aroused more interest because the first confinement was hard and many people prefer to be accompanied in a community and with a team, to support any inconveniences”.

Urban Campus agrees with Inèdit on this point.  Marta Torres, Marketing Manager of Urban Campus, shared with us “we have quite a few testimonials from people who say that if they were to experience confinement again, they would still remain in our spaces”. The possibility of remote visits and check-ins, the use of technology to reduce capacity of common areas to 50% and fun but remote community events, are some of the measures that Urban Campus have put in place to guarantee the safety of the residents. Torres explains that “we avoided all check-ins until the state of alarm was lifted, because we did not want to introduce new people into the coliving”. “Since June we have been increasing occupancy thanks to the change from international to more national clients. We continue to have 40% of international demands but we have managed to increase the national ones”. In September they reached an occupancy of 90% and right now it is around 95%.

The pandemic has been a great catalyst for the Coliving concept. Javier Caro believes that during 2021 more international operators will arrive with force in Spain, creating thousands of beds, to respond to this movement. A demand that has been waiting a long time for a response. “We also think that there will be specialized coliving as has happened with the coworking market” explains Caro.

The adaptation of ‘coworking’

The impact of Covid has been uneven for coworking spaces, depending on the profile of their clients. “Those who had a lot of freelances in their clientele or organised many events, were impacted from the day one. Those whose clients were companies however, have suffered less and, in many cases, have managed to keep most of their clients,” explains Eduardo Salsamendi , President of the ProWorkSpaces Association. Salsamendi explains this difference by the increase in demand for flexible offices and coworking spaces by large companies. Multinational corporations are adapting their strategies by using workspaces in flexible offices, in order to improve the efficiency of their real estate footprint and increase the productivity of its processes “.

The giants of the coworking sector however have not stopped working because of the crisis: in total there are more than 20 new centres set to open up in the near future.

They may have temporarily lost some customers, due to the ease clients have to cancel contracts, but coworking operators have remained very proactive during the crisis and offered flexibility to their users. Thanks to this flexibility, many have been able to retain their customers”, explains Jesse Derkx, Agile Practice Director of CBRE Spain. The business sector, according to the experts, is slowly recovering since “many operators have reinvented themselves and offer solutions in accordance with current needs.”

Subscriptions for days or hours are among the solutions offered by ‘coworking’

Urban Campus have launched more flexible subscriptions: passes for days, half-days or smaller offices, in which users can rotate, are just some of the examples. Thanks to this they have seen positive results and have managed to increase occupancy to anywhere between 60% – 70%, whereas the average in the general market is at approximately 20% “.

In the case of LOOM, they have taken advantage of the months of confinement to create new ultra-flexible products called LOOM Solutions. These are flexible solutions that allow the user to sign-up by the hour and use those hours in any of the spaces in the LOOM network. This quarter the program is starting with three large companies, who will be rolling out their mobile workforces in the LOOM spaces for several hours. Speaking to us, LOOM explained that last year, part of their community was forced to abandon their workspaces, especially the companies most vulnerable to a crisis of such magnitude. However, since the last quarter of 2020, these types of companies (startups, independent professionals, some SMEs) are the first to return to the spaces, thanks to these new initiatives.

Utopicus older spaces have around 70% of occupancy

Rafa de Ramón, CEO of Utopicus explains the impact of COVID on their spaces: “There is no doubt that at the billing level we have suffered a considerable decrease, not only because of current customers but also because during these months we opened 4 new centres and Covid has slowed down its pre-marketing and disrupted the forecasts we had for the first half of 2020. Despite this spaces opened during Covid are at 50% of their total occupancy, with older spaces at their highest occupancy, around 70%. 

Utopicus, who have 13 spaces distributed around the prime areas of Madrid and Barcelona, ​​have included among its sanitary measures the registration of visits through tablets situated in the reception areas and the quarantine and disinfection of mail and correspondences.

Impact Hub Madrid noticed a reactivation of interest, in terms of demand for the spaces, between the months of August and October. “Many flexible, self-employed or freelance workers who had to cancel their reservations, returned,” says Sonia Felipe, Marketing and Communication Director of Impact Hub Madrid. “In the first months of the pandemic we lost around 60/70% of our flexible clientele and where we managed to maintain numbers was in landlines and offices”, continues Felipe. In addition, the she points out that there is new interest “from a handful of companies who had not before considered working in a coworking”. In support of its members, Impact Hub Madrid has also launched the HUB Impulsa program, which connects the companies in its network with expert organizations in different fields, to help them boost their business.

Opportunity?

Some industry experts believe that the current situation may represent an opportunity to develop the coworking sector. Derkx explains, “Covid-19 is a blessing in disguise. After suffering cancellations, made easy by one of coworking’s main selling points, flexibility, the lockdown has generated a lot of interest for coworkings, as companies and workers realize that it is possible to work elsewhere than the office”.

Companies value the possibility of dividing teams and reducing the space of their headquarters

For his part, de Ramón assures that “there are many indicators that suggest that in the near future companies will have to get rid of rigid rental contracts to make their costs profitable, and therefore seek the flexibility of networks such as Utopicus. Salsamendi states that “companies are seeing the opportunity to include the division of equipment in their strategies and the possibility of reducing the surface area of ​​their headquarters, using our centres as a third space,” says Salsamendi.

Looking to the future, LOOM predicts “we are seeing that corporations are moving towards a model in which there is a central staff, who go to company headquarters every day, and mobile staff who rotate, have shifts, telework some days and go to the office other days. The central staff will operate under the conventional office model and the mobile staff will operate under the flexible office model “.

Do you agree on how Coworking and Coliving have transformed in times of social distancing?