The growth of high-quality student accommodation has led to a competitive market where premium developments must have forward-looking innovations to be marketable and future proof.
This premise led to the thinking behind The Project at Hoxton, E2. We set out to develop a student accommodation building that went beyond the normal provisions. One that incorporated early stage, research-led thinking about how the needs of the students – in terms of welfare, healthy living and sustainability – could influence the design of the property.
Working alongside sister company Tiger Developments, Host, as operator, wanted the development to set a benchmark for future schemes.
Increasingly, wellbeing programmes are being integrated into operational management to increase the attractiveness of the asset to occupiers. For student accommodation, this will become an important differentiator as parents and students opt for environments which ensure investments in education are optimised.
Working together
The Project at Hoxton’s ethos informs an environment designed to nourish a balanced lifestyle and supportive community. A specialised project guide, providing a level of pastoral care far beyond that of a typical site student accommodation manager, leads this by maintaining and enhancing the wellbeing of residents and helping them to adjust to their new lives.
There are multiple aspects to wellbeing, ranging from physical assets, such as gyms; environmental enhancements in lighting; biophilia and acoustics; and ongoing monitoring of indoor air quality. A deliberate strategy for optimising wellbeing from a BREEAM perspective will ensure that the building has a positive effect on occupants and consequently strong marketability. This approach helped in achieving full occupancy of the building upon its recent launch.
Not only was this the first ground up student-led development supported by the Lloyds Banks green loan, but the building was awarded a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating. A programme has been developed to link the active participation of residents in sustainable activities to the promotion of a positive living experience.
Most importantly, there is a strong framework at the core of the sustainability programme which drives engagement and incentives, so that students and management alike are working together to deliver the sustainability features.
Encouraging engagement
Engagement with students around sustainability can be a challenge and something we sought to address at The Project at Hoxton. Traditional forms of reporting and engagement have poor results within student accommodation, as the incentives are not consistent and aligned to student needs.
So rather than passive reports on usage on site, personal per occupant scores will be used and be the basis of a sustained, year-long engagement programme.
This will ensure we continue to consider the potential gap between design intentions and operational outcomes. This includes debugging the sustainability features of the property, monitoring energy use and occupants’ satisfaction, checking on the operation of systems and managing the performance gap.
We have all learned a lot from The Project at Hoxton by adopting the research-led approach and thinking beyond what to provide in a building to how you can help encourage a healthier, sustainable and welfare-led environment to the betterment of student living. Much of these learnings will influence the design and thinking about ongoing management of future developments.
