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GHP 094: From wellness amenities to wellness strategy
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Wellness is one of the most talked-about ideas in real estate development right now — and one of the most misapplied. In this episode, I explore why wellness should be embedded in development strategy from day one, rather than treated as something to add in once the architecture is largely fixed. I look at what genuine wellness integration actually means across different asset types — residential, hospitality, offices and mixed-use — and why the distinction between wellness amenities and a real wellness strategy matters more than ever in an increasingly crowded market. If you work in development, design, investment or hospitality, this one is for you.
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Transcript
Integrating Wellness from the Start
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi and welcome back to the Green Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and hospitality in real estate today. I want to talk about something at the heart of everything I do today from wellness real estate to interiors and hospitality.
00:00:17
Speaker
It's the topic of why wellness should be part of a development strategy right from day one. Now it sounds obvious and yet in practice it really is. Too many projects still treat wellness as something to bolt on later. A gym in the basement, a spa if budget allows, or a yoga room, some plants in the lobby, a few lines of token wellness language in the brochure.
00:00:42
Speaker
That's not really a wellness strategy, that's decoration with good intentions. And that distinction matters because where the market is heading across residential, hospitality, office and mixed-use real estate, those expectations are shifting.
Strategic Decision-Making for Healthier Spaces
00:00:56
Speaker
People want spaces that do more than function or look attractive. They want environments that really support health and comfort and quality of life.
00:01:06
Speaker
So the question is no longer what wellness amenities should we add in at the back of a project, the back end. The better question is how can wellness shape the concept and the planning and the experience, even the commercial positioning of a project right from the start.
00:01:23
Speaker
That is where the conversation needs to move from my perspective. Now when I talk about wellness as part of a development strategy, I'm not just talking about interiors nor about fitness spaces. And it's not really about luxury add-ons either.
00:01:41
Speaker
I'm thinking about like a strategic lens that can be applied early. So decisions made in the first phases of a project, who the building is for, how people will move through it, how they're going to feel, what it offers, and what makes it different.
00:01:57
Speaker
Those all mean thinking about light and air quality and acoustics and materials, for example, making better calls on outdoor space and movement and social areas in the amenity mix, creating a clear identity that allows aligns brand design and operations as well as user experience even before the architecture happens.
Avoiding a Checklist Approach to Wellness
00:02:17
Speaker
Because wellness done properly isn't a decorative layer, it's a part of the project's very logic.
00:02:23
Speaker
And that is why timing really matters. So the early stages are when the biggest decisions are made. That's when briefs are shaped, audiences are defined, and space is being allocated. It's when we're creating the concept, basically. And that is the moment of maximum leverage for me in the wellness space.
00:02:44
Speaker
Once the planning is fixed and the circulation reads are set and the infrastructure is locked in, many of the best opportunities may have slipped by. At that point, wellness becomes more reactive than strategic and fitting it in, not building it in.
00:02:58
Speaker
And that usually leads to a weaker... final outcome. Spaces that sound good on paper but feel incoherent in practice or amenities that follow trends rather than serve users, gyms that might be underused or even wellness messaging that the lived experience of the final output just can't support. Unfortunately, I do see that regularly. There is a tendency to reduce wellness to a feature list a gym, a sauna, meditation room, maybe some biophilic design or a healthy cafe.
00:03:33
Speaker
They all have value, but they're not in themselves really a joined up strategy. So a project can have wellness amenities, but still not feel actually that healthy.
Tailoring Wellness to Project Needs
00:03:43
Speaker
A residential scheme might include a gym and a wellness room, but if the apartments have poor natural light or bad acoustics or low-grade toxic materials, no meaningful connection to the outdoor space, it's not really a wellness-led proposition. It's a pretty conventional development with a gym attached.
00:04:03
Speaker
Similarly, like a hotel might promote its well-being offered, but if the fitness space is generic and the recovery areas are minimal, the bedrooms aren't great for sleep, and generally the the atmosphere doesn't promote restoration, then wellness is is paper thin.
00:04:20
Speaker
So this is why the conversation needs to broaden out. Wellness therefore becomes less about only amenities and more about how a place can support the physical, mental and emotional well-being of a building's occupants.
00:04:37
Speaker
So to do that we need to be tailored, not templated, and not every project, for example, needs an expensive spa. or a large gym or a meditation room. We've got to tailor these things and and to to the asset type, to the location, to the target user, the brand positioning and even the operational model.
00:04:58
Speaker
So a city hotel with business travelers maybe needs a compact, high quality gym rather than ah a full wellness club offer, whereas a resort might be able to focus more on movement spaces and sleep support and nature connection and immersive experiences.
00:05:16
Speaker
On the other side, a residential scheme might be able to prioritize say like daily usability. How do the interiors support well-being on ah on a Tuesday morning, not just during the sales tour of at the beginning, and an office environment might find its most effective wellness interventions aren't actually amenities at all. It's more to do with air quality and and good acoustics and lighting, ergonomics, spaces that support focus.
00:05:43
Speaker
So I'm not applying a formula. It's about thinking strategically about the relationship between place, people and well-being on a case-by-case basis.
Embedding Wellness in Brand Strategy
00:05:54
Speaker
And when that thinking happens early enough in the process, it ultimately supports better commercial outcomes too. So I'm always cautious about oversimplifying the ah ROI conversation, return on investment. Wellness can get inflated quickly.
00:06:09
Speaker
But intelligently integrated wellness can help a project stand out. It refines the brand story and supports long-term asset appeal. But only when the strategy is credible.
00:06:23
Speaker
The wellness can create value when it is embedded in the experience. If it only exists in marketing and spiel, then that's always gonna fall short.
00:06:36
Speaker
Visual language, mood boards that have been properly defined around how wellness can play out that have you know a solid basis and can become part of the the fundamental role of the project.
00:06:53
Speaker
that's really what we need to be doing. Then I'm thinking about how to genuinely distinguish each project from a generic alternative, of which wellness elements really fit that particular concept.
00:07:08
Speaker
So What I'm saying is strategy before styling. and It's about substance before messaging. The messaging follows later. Once the foundations are in place, then the rest of the process becomes more coherent. The planning, the amenity mix, the spatial experience, or even the storytelling, it all starts to hold together and the project knows what it's really trying to be. That's the magic sauce.
00:07:35
Speaker
The market's full of wellness language, right? Similar terms, repeated amenities, projects that kind of say the same thing. The ones that really stand out are not the ones with, say, the longest wellness feature list. They're the ones that have somehow managed to translate wellness into something more thoughtful and credible, likely because it was considered right from the start of the project.
00:07:59
Speaker
So developers, hoteliers, architects and investors Here's a practical takeaway.
Fostering Healthier Living and Long-Term Value
00:08:07
Speaker
Don't start by asking what wellness amenities should we add to this project.
00:08:12
Speaker
I would counsel that the best question is how this project can support healthier living, a better experience and stronger long-term value from the outset. And that's a strategic question.
00:08:24
Speaker
From there, you can start to build in the right answers. You can define the user more clearly. You can think more carefully about the interplay between healthy interiors on the one side, amenity strategies on the other, and social interaction and comfort on another.
00:08:42
Speaker
How can the wellness become genuinely central versus where it can be lighter touch? and you know Each project has its own priorities in that sense. It can become though part of the DNA rather than something pasted on at the ends.
00:08:56
Speaker
The best healthy places maybe don't begin with a trend or a brochure line. They begin with strategy. And that's that's really the key message from today. So I'll leave you with that thought.
00:09:08
Speaker
I'll be back soon with another short, snappy piece of insight on the world of real wellness real estate. Catch you next time on the Green Healthy Places podcast. Thanks for listening.