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Green Healthy Places 068: Positive living student accommodation - Laura Wood of Fusion Group, UK
179 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to episode 068 of the Green Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate and hospitality.
Today I’m in the UK talking to Laura Wood, Head of Marketing at Fusion Group, where she oversees letting strategy, PR and communications as well as student welfare and experience for a residential developer brand based around ‘positive living’ in the student accommodation sector.
Laura has more than a decade of PR and marketing expertise and is something of a Purpose Built Student Accommodation, or ‘PBSA’ expert.
Full disclosure, Fusion are currently my client (Biofit gym design), so we’ve been working together for the past six months or so designing their leisure spaces, gyms and wellness facilities in Nottingham, Manchester, London and Birmingham.
We’ll obviously touch on that in our conversation but I also want to look at the wider themes of sustainability and wellbeing within the purpose built student accommodation sector in the UK.
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Transcript
Introduction to Green Healthy Places Podcast
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to episode 68 of the Green Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of well-being and sustainability in real estate and hospitality.
Laura Wood's Role and Positive Living
00:00:23
Speaker
Today I'm in the UK talking to Laura Wood, head of marketing at Fusion Group
00:00:28
Speaker
also known as Fusion Students, where she oversees lettering strategy, PR and communication, as well as student welfare and experience for a brand rather interestingly based around positive living, which is a concept I love. Laura has more than a decade of PR and marketing experience and is something of a purpose-built student accommodation or PBSA expert.
Host's Professional Relationship with Fusion
00:00:51
Speaker
Full disclosure, Fusion are my clients. We've been working together for the last six months or so, designing their leisure spaces, gyms and wellness facilities in four of their sites around the UK. So we will touch on that. But I also want to look at the wider themes of sustainability and wellbeing in general within the PBSA sector and specifically with the case study of Fusion. So Laura, thank you for joining us on the podcast. Thank you for having me. Hello.
Sustainability in Real Estate Development
00:01:21
Speaker
Why don't we start with one on sustainability in particular? Because it's within residential real estate development in the UK. Obviously, it's now almost a ticket to the table. It's very hard to do much in terms of planning permission nowadays. And have you seen that
00:01:39
Speaker
influence your decisions and strategy in terms of building the brand and expanding Fusion in relation to the kind of rising tide of sustainability, as in you almost can't, it's a ratchet effect. We can't go backwards from here now with new build developments. Yeah, I suppose ours, it starts more because our core demographic is the younger generation. So yes, I think, you know, it
00:02:05
Speaker
It's certainly become more integral to a lot of the processes that we have to do being in the space that we are in. But actually, in terms of our approach, our vision, and kind of our values as a business, it's very intrinsic to the fact that our core demographic is the younger generation is incredibly important to them. These guys were raised on social media. They're at the forefront of all of these conversations that are happening. It would almost be
00:02:33
Speaker
naive of us to not have it as a very integral part of our business because it's so important to our customers. And rightly so, they are demanding a lot more from businesses nowadays. I think our sector is potentially slightly behind, maybe real estate in general is slightly behind the curve. Other industries like tech and that kind of thing are doing advancements that are for, we're seeing a lot more positive change.
00:03:03
Speaker
But I think that people are responding to it. We're responding to it because it's integral to our values, also integral to the people within the business. We're all very passionate about it. So I think everything that we can do, we try to do to impact that positive living.
00:03:22
Speaker
And how does it play through into the student experience, so the residential experience? Is it purely something that's happening in the design and construction phase and then almost you don't see it once you're living there? Or is there a visual manifestation or some way of keeping that conversation going with the residents once they're in place?
00:03:43
Speaker
Well, for us, it's integral. So, yes, we obviously, we follow design standards, you know, according to sustainability. So, for us, it's BRIAM.
Engaging Students with Sustainable Living
00:03:53
Speaker
But beyond that, it's also a lifestyle. And there's part of that that's education and awareness of that lifestyle because
00:04:01
Speaker
Yes, it is the forefront of a lot of conversations for younger people, but not for everybody. And also, I think there's a lot of fear mongering potentially in the media, but also, you know, people want to learn more. They want to understand how they could be more supportive and helpful. And part of our responsibility is to open those conversations and not to say that we have all of the answers, but definitely in terms of bringing it into the student lifestyle.
00:04:31
Speaker
How can we allow for events that take place in our buildings to support some of these sustainable values? So, for example, we've done things like clothes swaps, we have zero-way shops in our future schemes. All of these are smaller touch points. They're not necessarily going to change the world.
00:04:54
Speaker
but it definitely helps to create those foundations of a sustainable lifestyle that students can choose to adopt if they want to, but it's equally not forced upon them and they're not living a lifestyle that they don't feel adheres to their own values equally. So yeah, it's creating those touch points. It's identifying areas where we can open those conversations. I think events for us are brilliant because it means that we can
00:05:24
Speaker
identify pockets of or groups of students that would be really interested in certain aspects. We've done like nutrition talks in the past. Obviously our fitness spaces are ideal for that kind of activity. So
00:05:38
Speaker
even if it's, you know, having meditation sessions or like darkened yoga, so we're switching all the lights off and encouraging that kind of conversation that way. And I think a really good example is what we're doing in Birmingham as well, one of our future schemes where the whole idea and the whole concept of it was right.
00:05:59
Speaker
Birmingham is very known for being very industrial. A lot of the PBSA products in Birmingham are used that as a theme, which is great, you know, and I think it works very well. It's very akin to the city. But our conversation was, well, how could we create almost an oasis within that industrial aspect and how could the students use our building
00:06:23
Speaker
almost as a bit of respite from the hard, you know, busyness of the city that they would have. So we developed Birmingham's concept around wellness, bringing nature inside. And we've designed a zen garden and kind of our conversations around the fitness spaces. How can we link fitness and meditation and wellness in and around these spaces that would be used to socialize and to study? And I think, you know, we're very early stages, but it's a great
00:06:52
Speaker
It's developing into a great concept and something that, again, creates that touchpoint and lifestyle of sustainability and wellness without it being, you know, write this, you have to do this lifestyle because you've chosen to live with fusion. And you're seeing those two things coming together. I mean, it's in the name of the podcast, green and
Demand for Wellness and Healthy Building Certifications
00:07:13
Speaker
healthy. You know, we start talking about sustainability and quite quickly
00:07:17
Speaker
At some point, you get into a discussion around health and well-being as well. So are you seeing, although BRIAM is really an essential building block of any new construction project now, are you seeing a similar interest or demand for the healthy building certifications? Or is the wellness piece more to do with creating facilities and perhaps content like the events you've described? Or is there an increasing interest in certifications like WELL, for example, that are focused specifically on that?
00:07:47
Speaker
There definitely is. I think we could all push more and expect more of those standards. And I think that, again, like I said before, our sector doesn't demand it right now. It will in the future. You know, we're very much building towards that. And I think it's as much as we could do as a sector together to keep pushing those boundaries, but then equally doing that
00:08:11
Speaker
in a way that doesn't have to completely change the lifestyle and what students actually want from their university experience. And I suppose that's where one of our key drivers is the relationships that we have with the university. We're quite unique, I suppose, as an industry in that we're not just homes for people to live in. We are
00:08:35
Speaker
completely connected to the university and their values within that city. And they differ across the UK and across Europe. And part of our kind of responsibility, I suppose, is what is important to the students that have chosen that particular university to study in and how can we align our values with that university, with our students and ensure that it's true to Fusion as well. And I think that's where
00:09:04
Speaker
the kind of well-living standards and sustainability and health really come into play because we are all very connected on that level. It's a human, you know, on a human level. And I think that's where we can have very good and open discussions with the universities to say, okay, we need to support you in delivering some of your wellness strategy because
00:09:31
Speaker
students that are coming to study with you are then coming home to live with us. So not necessarily formally under the world standards but definitely in terms of aligning ourselves with the university and pushing for more, that's definitely where we're seeing the sector going at least and you know and we hope that we're at the forefront of doing that because we are so passionate.
00:09:55
Speaker
It'll be really interesting to see how that plays out because I've been able to kind of in a sense over the last six months working with you look under the bonnet and clearly for me the level of care and attention and just backing that you're giving to your leisure spaces in each fusion building is going way beyond what
00:10:15
Speaker
any of those certification schemes demand. We may not be talking about indoor air quality and particulate matter rates in the bedrooms yet, but that can come. But you're going way ahead. You've got indoor basketball courts, meditation and zen rooms. You've got gyms for strength and cardio and functional training areas, outdoor gyms, yoga, Pilates and bar studios. You've got e-gaming rooms.
00:10:41
Speaker
From a strategic perspective, what role do these play? Is it part attracting? Is it a marketing piece? Is it about the experience? Is there client demand from the other side? Are the students expecting that now? Well, they're not expecting it, I think, is the honest answer. But I think where we've always understood Fusion's role within the sector is that
00:11:05
Speaker
There are there's an aspirational lifestyle that students definitely have. And part of that, like I say, is because they were raised on social media and they can see what everybody is doing everywhere, you know, and it's all around
00:11:19
Speaker
what you want your lifestyle to be and I suppose that's where that aspiration and ambition is where we want to push the boundaries of what is expected within accommodation. You know it's only been actually in the past maybe six or seven years that a gym was a standard, a given in student accommodation. I mean definitely not when I went to university and you know that's actually funnily one of the first things that most
00:11:48
Speaker
non-university age, people say when they walk into one of our buildings, they're like, we never had this. And I'm like, me either. And I think, you know, we are we are pushing to have an aspirational lifestyle, but then equally rooted in the fact that these students and younger people live with us every day for, you know, at least a whole year. And as much as it's great to look at Instagram and go, wow, you know,
00:12:17
Speaker
I'd love to be swimming in that amazing blue ocean or I'd love to be experiencing this incredible city. That's one day or maybe a week within a whole year. And we have to recognize that every single day can't be an Instagram dream reality. We have to root it in, okay, so what do you want to do every day? How do you want to live your life? And I think fitness is a real key part to that because we can provide them with
00:12:46
Speaker
an aspirational space to work out in. But fundamentally, they are doing a workout that they might do every single Tuesday or, you know, three times a week in the exact same way. And we have to make that still be appealing and comforting to them from day one all the way through to, you know, the day they move out with us. So finding that balance is really important. And I think that
00:13:13
Speaker
Part of the design aspect of it is, yes, we want it to give a lifestyle and create a lifestyle that feels very positive and aspirational, but equally, you know, you are going to keep using it and still want to enjoy it throughout the whole time that you're living with us.
00:13:32
Speaker
I think that's one of the key challenges around the design piece is creating something that is durable and functional that doesn't just look good. I wonder if there was any angle from above. We've been looking at it maybe from the ground up, so how do the students experience it?
00:13:49
Speaker
When you start working with institutional investors and as you grow as a business and pension funds start coming in and bigger investors start coming in, there's more and more talk, obviously, around the importance and role of ESG strategy.
Fusion's ESG Strategy and Investor Interest
00:14:03
Speaker
So are you seeing any particular interest? Is that not pressure, but interest, let's say, from investor levels coming down saying, hey, what's going on with the ESG? What have you got in terms of credentials? Is that happening?
00:14:17
Speaker
It's definitely happening and I think that's probably, although like you say, it's not pressure, but equally it does put pressure on the whole sector to step their game up. And I think we are in.
00:14:31
Speaker
maybe a fortunate position that we've been talking like this for at least, you know, COVID was very integral to us as a business, obviously, as it was for a lot of companies. But just before COVID was really where we started to open up the conversation around
00:14:49
Speaker
sustainability, ESG in particular with our investors. And we really wanted to maintain that throughout this period. And it is more transitional for us at the moment. We're very much in our developer phase because we don't have any current buildings operational. But because we've been having these conversations with our partners for a number of years now,
00:15:13
Speaker
It's actually made it very easy for us to keep pushing and have, you know, keep having the conversations with, you know, people that understand what we're coming from, but equally we can allow them to have the same conversations with our competitive set as well and push them forward to be doing more for the sector. And, you know, we are coming at it potentially from more of like a premium angle. We're not the absolute premium, but we're very much in that kind of space.
00:15:43
Speaker
So what does the mid-tier market look like? What does the entry level part of the sector look like? And how are they supporting their businesses and their students from an ESG perspective? And that will only really come from the money people and getting that pressure and pushing it from that perspective. And that's the way the world works overall, I suppose. And I think that's the positive impact that
00:16:09
Speaker
and this can have across not just our sector, but also across all of Resy really, in that we can start seeing more businesses that perhaps wouldn't have done in the past because it's not part of their core values, doing more because they're expected to do more from a financial point of view.
00:16:29
Speaker
So we've touched on the E, environmental. I'll leave the G governance aside. I think it's so much beyond the remit of our conversation today. But let's look at the S,
Student Mental Health and Support
00:16:38
Speaker
right? Because the student mental health crisis is clearly a topic that, unfortunately, is top of mind for anyone involved in this space and anyone with an interest in mental health and well-being, and especially creating spaces designed or intended to help in some way with that.
00:16:57
Speaker
For someone who's perhaps less familiar with this particular corner of mental health and wellbeing, for students, what do you see as being the issues that they're primarily facing and how can the place where they live have some positive impact on those elements of their lives?
00:17:13
Speaker
So I think, again, our relationship and partnership with the universities in each of our cities is integral here because a lot of the conversations and pressures come from the university experience in itself. And the institutions are doing an incredible job of recognizing that, offering support where it's needed, opening dialogues, working with a lot of charities as well to support them where
00:17:43
Speaker
potentially they don't have the infrastructure to be able to do that. So our strategy has always been to have it as a partnership with the university to provide training for our staff because identification is an absolute integral part of how we can offer support to our students. And we also do that through our design as well. So our reception areas and parcel collection
00:18:11
Speaker
kind of integral as part of our student mental health and awareness because, yes, you know, there are maybe 500 students living in a building. Are you going to be able to have an in-depth, healthy conversation with every single one of those every day? No, it's impossible. But we want to make sure that there is a check-in or a checkpoint
00:18:32
Speaker
for students and our team to engage at least once a day. And making sure that our reception is in a prominent location. So any student coming through the entrance has to pass by. That parcels are part of our service. It's not just, OK, yet you can go and collect it. Every man has delivered it or whatever. It's actually coming to reception desk, having a conversation, giving our team the opportunity to say, how are you? Are you OK? I've not seen you for a while.
00:19:02
Speaker
And those conversations and dialogues allow us to at least have a checkpoint with all of our students. And where we notice or where we identify opportunities to potentially have more of an in-depth conversation, we can because we actually have engaged with them. It's not just the stranger concierge from reception knocking on the door because there's a relationship already there. But I think, yeah, partnership with the university is integral.
00:19:32
Speaker
Having education and training for our staff and just making sure that there's those opportunities to engage is really important to strengthen that relationship. And we are a service-led business as much as we are property, we are also a service and we need to make sure that that is absolutely integral to what we're doing because it is so important and the risks are incredibly high. So it has to be our number one priority.
Biophilic Design and Nature-Integrated Spaces
00:20:01
Speaker
You mentioned one of your projects in Birmingham, where you've got a strong Zen influence, which obviously is...
00:20:09
Speaker
beyond just looking great. It can also create a sense of calm. And you do a lot also with biofilic design. I know your project is Nottingham. You've really got that as a sort of central tenet of what you're doing. You're working with NECA design studio there in Northern Ireland. But how is that, what role can biofilic design play in creating that positive environment for students as well? Because it's obviously something that you've embraced. It's not just a one-off. It's really becoming part of the brand.
00:20:38
Speaker
Yeah, nature in general is very much a part of our brand. And I think it's because it offers so much in terms of that positive living experience. And that kind of tagline that we've used for the brand very much came from our culture internally. It's infectious how positive the Fusion team can be sometimes. And we really wanted to make sure that we translate that
00:21:07
Speaker
positive outlook and connection to a lot of these very important topics like sustainability into everything that we do. So positive habits, positive lifestyle.
00:21:19
Speaker
that's how we basically set the brief for all of our spaces. And one of the best ways, you know, from the research that we've done is to have that connection to nature. And it goes beyond just we have an outdoor terrace tick, we get that BRIAM credit, you know, amazing. It's more about, okay, so how are students using that space? What benefits can
00:21:44
Speaker
the plants have within this room, you know, the Zen room that you guys designed for Nottingham. There was a massive conversation that we had around, well, you know, fake plants would be significantly easier from a maintenance point of view, but it's not the point, you know, it's not the point of the design and potentially our team will have to work a little bit harder.
00:22:05
Speaker
but the benefits will be significant in that respect. We've also actually had an amazing conversation yesterday on one of our new schemes. We've got three terraces across three different buildings, and we wanted to make sure that all of those had a different purpose. So we have our kind of classic fusion social study terrace, which is the larger one.
00:22:30
Speaker
And then we have a middle terrace and we were saying, well, how could we use this space to our advantage? It's relatively small. And the concept that we've developed is around kind of an experimental garden. So supporting landscape architect students and, you know,
00:22:47
Speaker
anybody in a biology space to use this outdoor space and nature to actually enhance and use it as a working environment for their studies. And yes, it's a very small pocket of the student group, but it's also a space where students can go out and use the herb garden. We've got a private dining room that will be connected to it so you can go out and pick some basil and make some food.
00:23:15
Speaker
just that connection to nature really kind of resets from a mindset point of view, but then equally could be very supportive in terms of mental growth and using it as an area or creating foundations that set you up for all of your years to come. Gardening is kind of an integral life skill that you don't really get to learn at any point. So yeah, one of our
00:23:40
Speaker
territories, that's what we're hoping to achieve there, which I mean, I'm so excited about that, because I think it's just so something so different, but so simple and kind of organic. So, you know, hopefully, we can get that to really work. And that's just, you know, kind of a very small example of how nature is can be so empowering and positive, but also just important from a, you know, from a lifestyle point of view.
Innovative Inspirations and Design Adaptability
00:24:07
Speaker
And I wondered, there's so many of these fresh ideas that you're playing with from organic herb gardens on the roof to biophilic design that's maybe more from, it's very popular in the world of tech offices, for example, you've got sort of private dining spaces. Where is this cross-pollination coming from? You've got this positive living sort of umbrella term, but within that, there's particular sectors, co-living or offices, where is it coming from? Are you just sort of part of this PBSA
00:24:37
Speaker
sector that in itself is creating this wonderful creative hotbed of ideas, or are there spaces where you go, ah, it's interesting what's happening in co-living, for example, or in hotels, and you're kind of borrowing from there, or what is it? What are the sources of inspiration? Everywhere, really. I think we would all wish that our sector could do more overall. I think some players as included are, which is amazing and great to see.
00:25:07
Speaker
it's not necessarily the inspirational hotbed that we would want it to be potentially in the next five years when some of our buildings open. But equally, you know, that doesn't mean that we can only because we are student accommodation, that we should only be looking at ourselves because students engage or the younger generation engage with all of the different kinds of property sectors, but lifestyle choices as well, you know, and I think the
00:25:36
Speaker
Most important part for us is that we work with experts or people that understand those areas. So by no means are we experts in everything there is to do with kind of the lifestyle or the opportunities we have within the building, but having conversations with you, with our landscape architects, speaking to people that are producing tech solutions that could potentially work within our schemes
00:26:05
Speaker
All of that is part of our inspiration for how we can do things differently and just keep pushing the boundaries because you can't do it just in isolation of your sector. You need to look outside of that. And maybe something that would work in hotels absolutely would never work within student accommodation. But how would you know if you didn't have the conversation first and at least explore it? And I think that's what I really appreciate working
00:26:35
Speaker
for Fusion and also working with all of our design team and all of the people we work with on a research basis because it allows us to really start questioning and pushing more and thinking, right, actually, yeah, we did do that five years ago. Is that still really relevant or how could we potentially do it differently? So KTV, for example, everywhere had KTV rooms at a certain point.
00:26:59
Speaker
And we thought, yeah, absolutely. Students do still love karaoke. Who doesn't love karaoke? But how could we make sure that those rooms stay relevant in the next two, five, 10 years time? So, OK, what are they? It's a soundproof room. Could we use that for podcast recording like we're doing today? Or could we use it for a music studio? Could it be a content creation hub? Yes, it can actually be all of those things.
00:27:28
Speaker
So how do we design that so it has that multifunction and can equally work for the younger generation in 10 years time, which is a completely different generation that we're dealing with and targeting today. So yeah, having conversations, working with equally same values as it is for working as experts in their field, I think is incredibly important to keep pushing the kind of positive living concept forward
00:27:59
Speaker
And in terms of future developments, the next few locations, is it just expansion around the UK? Is there bigger ideas? Could you go international or are you sticking to the lane of PBSA?
Fusion's Expansion Plans and Social Media Strategy
00:28:10
Speaker
What does it look like? Yeah, so we have a very strong pipeline at the moment. Like I said before, we're actually, we don't have any fusion buildings operational at the moment. Our pipeline's around 7,000 beds at the moment, so it's vast.
00:28:24
Speaker
It takes us through to 2027, but our team are relentlessly looking for new sites all the time. We're having really great conversations with some cities that we've been in before. We're also looking at new opportunities and cities that we've potentially, you know, we've always wanted to be part of but haven't necessarily found the exact right location.
00:28:46
Speaker
So the UK is still very much our focus for now, but who knows where we could be in the next five to 10 years time. I think it's incredible how far things have come in the kind of 10 years that I've been working in this space. But I think as long as we can keep finding the exact right locations for our students, designing things that are exciting for those guys to work on, let alone students to live in.
00:29:14
Speaker
I think, you know, we'll be in a really great place over the next few years. Very cool. Well, listen, thank you for your time. If people want to follow along, see what Fusion are up to, what are the best social media pages to check out? Probably LinkedIn at the moment. So a Fusion group on LinkedIn. Our Instagram and Twitter are taking a slight hiatus because that was our most student-voiced area for our buildings. But we are bringing those live again by the end of the year. So, yeah, Fusion group.
00:29:44
Speaker
Check us out.