I I have a vision that I’d like to share
with you today and it’s a vision to
create homes with flourishing
communities for people with shared
values and it’s a vision to harness the
power of technology great design and the
sharing economy to transform the
residential rental sector and improve
people’s lives now I love hotels and I
love travel and I’ve spent 20 really
happy years in the world of hospitality
and they can be such a force for good
for the guests that come and stay the
communities they’re in and the teams
that work there but recently I’ve become
more interested in where people live day
to day rather than the hotels that they
sometimes stay in I wouldn’t it be
fantastic for life for home to be that
good those services those experiences
all where we live but instead of that
study after study is pointing to an
epidemic of loneliness and unhappiness
affecting every generation and despite
all of our connections online more and
more of us are feeling more disconnected
from the people around us but do you
know what’s tragic is we know what we
need for a good life the world’s longest
study into human happiness conducted
over 75 years by research teams our
Harvard found that the key to a good
life is relationships friends family
community and yet for those of us that
rent our homes connection and community
and matters of chance rather than design
I’d like to change that so we began by
thinking about people’s experience of
looking for a rental home now what they
have to do how it makes them feel and
how the current system fails them so for
many looking for a rental home looks
something like this so we often begin
our search online typing in price or
location or even worse we have to truly
endless estate agents filling out
registration documents at each
and then we have to go to viewings or
awkward times and when we do get to see
an apartment we have no idea what it’s
like to live there or even worse we have
no idea who our neighbors are pretty
frustrating
then if the place we want hasn’t already
been snapped up we rush to put down a
huge deposit and complete all the
paperwork which takes a ton of time then
moving pack up boxes removal vans get
stuff upstairs boxes laying around which
I’d know for you guys it’s probably days
or weeks or in my case months and then
we’re in and we’re excited but you know
daily life gets in the way and and that
yeah daily life gets in a way and we
have to you know we start to think about
you know where do we find a repairman
that will come while I’m at work or
where do I find a cleaner or where do I
find a local doctors or a cafe and all
of this makes what should be a really
exciting new venture moving to a new
home so stressful and what’s even worse
is that if our job or circumstances
change we have to do the whole thing
again and it’s a really antiquated
process but it doesn’t have to be like
that so we went back to the drawing
board and we thought about how we could
create a far better experience you know
what would the ultimate rental
experience look like and what would it
feel like and we specifically asked
ourselves two questions you know where
can we use technology to simplify the
process of finding and securing a rental
home and then dealing with those daily
tasks and then secondly once we’ve moved
into this community where can we use
technology to improve our lives so we
started by making searching for a new
home a pleasure what happens if you
could search online or on your phone
with live availability beautiful
pictures of the actual apartments you
want and there are reviews from members
past and present telling you like what
it was really like to live there and
what happens if the members of the
community were the ones to show you
around in fact we’d love it so much so
that we’d offer credit against their
rent rent or drinks from the bar or cafe
downstairs and what if all the paperwork
be done on your phone in days instead of
weeks taking the stress out of it and
replacing stress with simplicity and
excitement and rather than searching
online only by price and location what
if we were influenced by our friends
people on our social networks people in
the local community people we trust so
we’re all different and we have a whole
host of different interests but if we
share similar values than when likely to
be able to create better communities
then those differences are enriching
enhancing and what makes community
exciting so we actively seek Foundation
members to be the first members of our
communities who share our values values
like integrity honesty compassion
sharing and vitally these foundation
members are people that want to give
back to their communities so we ask them
to hold events a bit like this with
people with shared values and to spread
the word about the communities and their
interests and passions
wouldn’t that be a nicer way to live so
you’ve moved in we’ve helped you take
the stress out of that but then we want
you to feel supported in this new
community the way that you want to be so
I’m a dad I have an 11 year old son a
dog and I rent a property and a few
months ago my son was coming to stay and
some family were visiting from out of
town and the boiler broke so it’s
February in London so it’s not great my
cleaner told me that she was going away
for a month
and I had an urgent meeting to get to
and someone needed to walk the dog and
my son had a ton of homework and of
course a much busier social life than me
I think a few of you can probably
associate with that Sookie imagine be a
dog solve all that at a touch of a
button you imagine being able to book a
friendly maintenance guy to come on your
phone while you’re on your way to work
who’d come and fix the problem in hours
not days and a cleaner that it
automatically turn up we’re miles away
with a set of keys and someone in the
community
who’d already said that they would love
to take the dog for a walk but they were
too busy to have one of their own
and at offering the help I need when I
need it leaving me to do what was really
important which was spend quality time
with my family building relationships
and getting my work done
now these these first projects of ours
located in both urban and country
locations and body so much of what we’re
trying to create for thousands of years
people have gathered in communal spaces
to socialize share news make decisions
and dream together so we designed at the
heart of our communal spaces communal
spaces at the heart of our projects
which could be vertical sky gardens or
beautiful Central Village areas and
importantly our app is designed to allow
members of the community to decide on
the amenities that they want in their
communities
so if they community want a grocer’s
instead of a coffee shop then vote for
it if you want a barbers or hairdressers
then let us know and hopefully these
businesses will be run by members of the
community so the members are getting to
decide what they want in their own
communities all powered through
technology now this is where it gets
exciting because you know the key facets
to a successful community or our
celebration of our differences our
ability to give back and to grow and
we’re all seeing a resurgence of the
sharing economy in so many areas of our
lives so our app is designed to allow
members of the community to offer
services to each other and to share and
that could be cleaning materials picnic
gear bikes or skills so if you’re a yoga
instructor and you live in the community
advertise on the app and run yoga
classes in the gym space and the ones
that I really love a homework club but
run by others in the community and what
about if someone in the community said
that they would love interior design and
they’d help you unpack those boxes and
help you create a beautiful home and
what about the community dinner open to
the members of the community first and
then to people living and working nearby
fostering an evil wider sense of
community and the possibilities go on if
you make cakes advertise and make cakes
for the rest of the building what about
if you go on holiday you could have
your home to other friends and family of
other community members and hopefully in
the future as we know work is so
transient in these days that you’ll be
able to live in a building in London and
move directly to a building in New York
with any of the usual hassle so in this
fast changing world that Harvard study
on what makes a good life is so
important it confirms what we know that
our path to happiness
is relationships friends family
community and we can all do so much to
enhance our communities and the quality
of life for everyone wherever we live
looking out for neighbors making an
effort to connect and as our parents
will remind us the sharing economy isn’t
new we just forgot about it for a while
but for us instead of leaving it to
chance we’re harnessing the power of
technology great design and the sharing
economy to transform rental homes and
create communities of the future and
we’re designing for happier more
fulfilled and connected lives and a
flourishing society thank you
with you today and it’s a vision to
create homes with flourishing
communities for people with shared
values and it’s a vision to harness the
power of technology great design and the
sharing economy to transform the
residential rental sector and improve
people’s lives now I love hotels and I
love travel and I’ve spent 20 really
happy years in the world of hospitality
and they can be such a force for good
for the guests that come and stay the
communities they’re in and the teams
that work there but recently I’ve become
more interested in where people live day
to day rather than the hotels that they
sometimes stay in I wouldn’t it be
fantastic for life for home to be that
good those services those experiences
all where we live but instead of that
study after study is pointing to an
epidemic of loneliness and unhappiness
affecting every generation and despite
all of our connections online more and
more of us are feeling more disconnected
from the people around us but do you
know what’s tragic is we know what we
need for a good life the world’s longest
study into human happiness conducted
over 75 years by research teams our
Harvard found that the key to a good
life is relationships friends family
community and yet for those of us that
rent our homes connection and community
and matters of chance rather than design
I’d like to change that so we began by
thinking about people’s experience of
looking for a rental home now what they
have to do how it makes them feel and
how the current system fails them so for
many looking for a rental home looks
something like this so we often begin
our search online typing in price or
location or even worse we have to truly
endless estate agents filling out
registration documents at each
and then we have to go to viewings or
awkward times and when we do get to see
an apartment we have no idea what it’s
like to live there or even worse we have
no idea who our neighbors are pretty
frustrating
then if the place we want hasn’t already
been snapped up we rush to put down a
huge deposit and complete all the
paperwork which takes a ton of time then
moving pack up boxes removal vans get
stuff upstairs boxes laying around which
I’d know for you guys it’s probably days
or weeks or in my case months and then
we’re in and we’re excited but you know
daily life gets in the way and and that
yeah daily life gets in a way and we
have to you know we start to think about
you know where do we find a repairman
that will come while I’m at work or
where do I find a cleaner or where do I
find a local doctors or a cafe and all
of this makes what should be a really
exciting new venture moving to a new
home so stressful and what’s even worse
is that if our job or circumstances
change we have to do the whole thing
again and it’s a really antiquated
process but it doesn’t have to be like
that so we went back to the drawing
board and we thought about how we could
create a far better experience you know
what would the ultimate rental
experience look like and what would it
feel like and we specifically asked
ourselves two questions you know where
can we use technology to simplify the
process of finding and securing a rental
home and then dealing with those daily
tasks and then secondly once we’ve moved
into this community where can we use
technology to improve our lives so we
started by making searching for a new
home a pleasure what happens if you
could search online or on your phone
with live availability beautiful
pictures of the actual apartments you
want and there are reviews from members
past and present telling you like what
it was really like to live there and
what happens if the members of the
community were the ones to show you
around in fact we’d love it so much so
that we’d offer credit against their
rent rent or drinks from the bar or cafe
downstairs and what if all the paperwork
be done on your phone in days instead of
weeks taking the stress out of it and
replacing stress with simplicity and
excitement and rather than searching
online only by price and location what
if we were influenced by our friends
people on our social networks people in
the local community people we trust so
we’re all different and we have a whole
host of different interests but if we
share similar values than when likely to
be able to create better communities
then those differences are enriching
enhancing and what makes community
exciting so we actively seek Foundation
members to be the first members of our
communities who share our values values
like integrity honesty compassion
sharing and vitally these foundation
members are people that want to give
back to their communities so we ask them
to hold events a bit like this with
people with shared values and to spread
the word about the communities and their
interests and passions
wouldn’t that be a nicer way to live so
you’ve moved in we’ve helped you take
the stress out of that but then we want
you to feel supported in this new
community the way that you want to be so
I’m a dad I have an 11 year old son a
dog and I rent a property and a few
months ago my son was coming to stay and
some family were visiting from out of
town and the boiler broke so it’s
February in London so it’s not great my
cleaner told me that she was going away
for a month
and I had an urgent meeting to get to
and someone needed to walk the dog and
my son had a ton of homework and of
course a much busier social life than me
I think a few of you can probably
associate with that Sookie imagine be a
dog solve all that at a touch of a
button you imagine being able to book a
friendly maintenance guy to come on your
phone while you’re on your way to work
who’d come and fix the problem in hours
not days and a cleaner that it
automatically turn up we’re miles away
with a set of keys and someone in the
community
who’d already said that they would love
to take the dog for a walk but they were
too busy to have one of their own
and at offering the help I need when I
need it leaving me to do what was really
important which was spend quality time
with my family building relationships
and getting my work done
now these these first projects of ours
located in both urban and country
locations and body so much of what we’re
trying to create for thousands of years
people have gathered in communal spaces
to socialize share news make decisions
and dream together so we designed at the
heart of our communal spaces communal
spaces at the heart of our projects
which could be vertical sky gardens or
beautiful Central Village areas and
importantly our app is designed to allow
members of the community to decide on
the amenities that they want in their
communities
so if they community want a grocer’s
instead of a coffee shop then vote for
it if you want a barbers or hairdressers
then let us know and hopefully these
businesses will be run by members of the
community so the members are getting to
decide what they want in their own
communities all powered through
technology now this is where it gets
exciting because you know the key facets
to a successful community or our
celebration of our differences our
ability to give back and to grow and
we’re all seeing a resurgence of the
sharing economy in so many areas of our
lives so our app is designed to allow
members of the community to offer
services to each other and to share and
that could be cleaning materials picnic
gear bikes or skills so if you’re a yoga
instructor and you live in the community
advertise on the app and run yoga
classes in the gym space and the ones
that I really love a homework club but
run by others in the community and what
about if someone in the community said
that they would love interior design and
they’d help you unpack those boxes and
help you create a beautiful home and
what about the community dinner open to
the members of the community first and
then to people living and working nearby
fostering an evil wider sense of
community and the possibilities go on if
you make cakes advertise and make cakes
for the rest of the building what about
if you go on holiday you could have
your home to other friends and family of
other community members and hopefully in
the future as we know work is so
transient in these days that you’ll be
able to live in a building in London and
move directly to a building in New York
with any of the usual hassle so in this
fast changing world that Harvard study
on what makes a good life is so
important it confirms what we know that
our path to happiness
is relationships friends family
community and we can all do so much to
enhance our communities and the quality
of life for everyone wherever we live
looking out for neighbors making an
effort to connect and as our parents
will remind us the sharing economy isn’t
new we just forgot about it for a while
but for us instead of leaving it to
chance we’re harnessing the power of
technology great design and the sharing
economy to transform rental homes and
create communities of the future and
we’re designing for happier more
fulfilled and connected lives and a
flourishing society thank you
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