Category: Case Study

Spike Global is continuing to grow its presence in the Northern BTR sector thanks to its latest partnership with property developer and professional landlord, Livingway. It’s market-leading tenant engagement portal, Spike Living, has already been rolled out across more than 200 developments in the UK, as the company continues to expand its foothold throughout the North of England.

Spike Global has worked with Livingway to create a white labelled version of its Spike Living portal that is now available to all tenants across its portfolio of purpose-built rental developments in Liverpool, Leeds, Stockport, Manchester, Bolton and Aberdeen.

The portal, which can be accessed through a smartphone app, will allow Livingway to simplify and streamline the day-to-day management of its buildings, helping its tenants to stay better connected and allow staff to manage enquiries and maintenance requests more efficiently. The portal will also enable Livingway to promote and connect tenants to their local area, provide discounts on local businesses, as well as offering the opportunity to create online clubs and forums, helping to instil a real sense of community.

Last year saw a 22% year-on-year increase in the number of BTR homes under construction across the UK, with northern powerhouse cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds each taking a significant slice of growth in the sector.

Spike Global’s CEO, Jeremy Heath-Smith, comments: “The BTR sector has been one of the industry’s fastest growing sectors in recent years, and where city centre living has always commanded a premium, northern cities with their booming enterprise are a compelling investment opportunity. Livingway’s ethos is that renting should be a lifestyle choice, rather than a subpar alternative to home ownership, and Spike Global’s award-winning Spike Living portal is bringing the tenant experience into the 21st century. Our solutions are designed to empower tenants to build connections with their neighbours, communicate with the management team and form a closeknit community, all from their fingertips.”

Samantha Hay, CEO at Livingway, added: “Having explored many of the other tenant apps and communication tools on the market, we felt that there was nothing that provided the functionality and ease that Spike Living could. Having the ability to completely white label the portal was an important factor for us, ensuring that it ties into our brand and values. We are also able to easily integrate other platforms that we are using which means that we have one app as opposed to two or three!”

Spike Global, the leading property management and resident engagement software provider, has ventured into suburban residential living, thanks to its latest client, Lancashire-based developer, Baxter Homes. Spike Global will provide a white labelled version of its Spike Living portal to residents across the Baxter developments.

The family-owned developer will be rolling out the software across its portfolio of 3 developments, starting at Oak Hill Rise, a new 86-home scheme of houses and bungalows in Garstang, Lancashire. The roll-out will then expand to take in more than 500 properties over several small schemes, including Pinfold Place and Granary Fields, maintained by Baxter’s in-house Baxter Estates management company.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike Global, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Baxter Homes. Residents moving into the high-quality bungalows and houses built by Baxter Homes will find the portal easy and intuitive to use, and full of useful features as they get to know the local area.”

Baxter Homes’ Managing Director, Callum Baxter explained why he chose to work with Spike Global: “We were looking for a way to manage our future maintenance and management company, as well as how we could improve our overall buying journey with increased aftercare. We pay a lot of attention to our purchasers during the buying and completion phase, but we wanted to keep that going with strong aftercare, and Spike offered a great solution.”

Baxter Homes is known for treating its customers as individuals, so a resident engagement platform that could be fully customised to suit each development was a good fit for the company. “We focus on quality, working with our purchasers to create their dream homes,” continues Callum Baxter.

“At the moment, this can create files full of information – the idea is that through using the Spike Living portal we can make our purchasers’ and future residents’ lives far easier. It will be where all of their key information is stored, but beyond that we also expect it to become an interactive social hub, where new residents can get to know their neighbours and the local area, helping them to settle in.”

Jeremy Heath-Smith added: “Spike Living not only has practical uses like giving easy access to paperwork and an instant way to report snagging issues, it also provides a channel through which residents can choose to get to know each other, arrange social groups and events and make the most of offers from local businesses.”

Nearly half a million new students have started university this autumn – but for many, the excitement and adventure of leaving home for the first time is tinged with loneliness as they leave family and friends behind.

Recognising this significant issue, Empiric Student Property PLC (“Empiric”), a leading provider and operator of student accommodation, has partnered with resident engagement and property management software provider Spike Global, to help facilitate strong and supportive communities across its 9,000-bed portfolio.

Empiric’s portfolio ranges from purpose-built accommodation to redeveloped offices and public buildings in prime locations across 29 of the UK’s top university towns and cities, including Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds and Oxford. With 50% of Empiric’s student residents now coming from overseas – a group which often struggles the most to integrate – the company has launched a white-labelled version of Spike Living across all 80 of its accommodation sites at the start of this academic year. The user-friendly portal sits as part of its Hello Student brand, which connects Empiric’s entire portfolio under one centralised platform.

Acting as a ‘one stop shop’, the app provides a multitude of features, but crucially enables students to connect with their neighbours and form interest and support groups, as well as organise their own events to get to know each other, helping them feel at home at a time that many can find stressful. As the app is building-specific and only available to genuine residents, it provides a safer, more personal and more local experience than conventional social media, helping students to make genuinely like-minded contacts and friends, both virtually and face-to-face.

As well as the social aspects of Spike Living, the app also provides instant communication with the Hello Student onsite team, making it easier for overseas students, in particular. Residents can book the onsite amenities, organise a parcel collection, report a fault or check on rental payments, anytime and anywhere, offering a game-changing ease of communication on both sides. The app is also home to upcoming events listings, useful local guides and exclusive promotions.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike Global, comments: “We are extremely proud to be working with Empiric across all its Hello Student sites, and we share an understanding of the importance of accommodation that is not only comfortable, but also supports the social and mental health needs of students. Empiric’s premium accommodation provides a great base from which to enjoy the university adventure, and Spike Living will help students cope with both the social and practical challenges of living independently, by providing a straightforward way to navigate and make the most of their new home.” 

Gemma Le Marquer, Sales and Marketing Director at Empiric comments: “It is particularly important to us that our residents can fully experience all that university life has to offer, and really feel the benefits of a strong student community. We have joined forces with Spike Global, who share our values and market goals, to provide the Spike Living portal at every one of our developments to help residents make the most of this significant life experience.” 

Creating community is vitally important to developer The Heaton Group, which specialises in repurposing dilapidated buildings to enhance town centres, bring neighbours together and restore local pride. This is why it has chosen to partner with market-leading resident engagement and property management software provider Spike Global, to create a personalised residents’ portal to help foster community spirit in its latest development, Bishopgate Gardens in the centre of Preston, Lancashire.

Spike Global has worked with The Heaton Group to create a white labelled version of its Spike Living portal that is unique to residents of the 130 apartments. The portal, which can be accessed through a smartphone app, is helping tenants connect with their neighbours, make new friends, join clubs, book communal amenities and even receive discounts on local services – as well as taking care of routine practicalities such as reporting faults or keeping track of payments.

John Heaton, Managing Director of The Heaton Group, comments: “From when we were first designing Bishopgate Gardens, it was imperative that we created a community and enhanced what is going on in the local area. Our resident portal is key to us doing this. As well as being functional and allowing residents to communicate with our concierge and maintenance team, it is encouraging residents to meet up and socialise either in the building or at local events. It’s like a modern day message board, but with more functionality.”

Bishopgate Gardens is a development on Ormskirk Road, close to Preston bus station, that has transformed two disused former Department of Work and Pensions office blocks into the town’s first amenity-focused residence, with roof gardens, community lounges and co-working space to encourage a more sociable way of living. Beneath the apartments is a retail space that The Heaton Group has transformed into ready-to-occupy shops for local independent entrepreneurs, including local coffee shop Brew + Bake, deli, hairdresser and barber, to help give the area an instant buzz.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike Global, comments: “Bishopgate Gardens has been designed to create a sense of community spirit, and our Spike Living portal is an important part of that, offering more ways for residents to meet and get to know each other, as well as giving local businesses the chance to promote what they have to offer. We are delighted to be working with The Heaton Group to put modern technology to work on an age-old problem – how to make friends and feel at home when you move somewhere new.”

Bishopgate Gardens comprises 130, one, two and three-bedroom apartments and duplexes, all featuring high-specification kitchens and bathrooms, in the heart of Preston’s regenerating town centre. Over the past decade the area has received a £434 million investment to expand and improve the infrastructure for transport, create 20,000 new jobs and more than 17,000 new homes. The local economy is expected to grow by over £1 billion in the next 10 years, meaning it is bound to be a popular destination for young people looking for a first home, buy-to-let investors and those looking to move to a thriving area for work.

With that in mind, Bishopgate Gardens, in conjunction with Spike Global, provides the technology to help them rapidly turn a house into a home.

Creating a home away from home is what Scape is all about – the developer and operator providing accommodation for students through its partnerships with world class institutions, including UCL, Kings College London and RCSI Dublin. Its latest partnership, with industry leading resident engagement and property management software provider Spike Global, will see the roll-out of a bespoke, white-labelled version of its resident engagement portal, Spike Living, across Scape’s portfolio in the UK and Ireland.

Helping students get more from their cities and their studies, residents will be able to manage their daily lives from a single smartphone app, whether that’s being notified when they have a package ready to collect, planning a night out with friends, booking a gym session, or checking availability and hiring out the cinema room to unwind after a busy week studying.

Whilst moving to a new area can be intimidating for some, the Scape app will help students by offering tips for exploring and getting to know their new surroundings. Furthermore, the app will bring students closer to the local community by sharing news, events and partner offers to help them access the best deals possible.

With Spike Living able to be integrated with electronic access control systems, students will no longer have the hassle of remembering – and subsequently forgetting – their key cards. This, alongside the ability for residents and staff to communicate digitally through the portal, allows property management to be practically paper-free, contributing to Scape’s ongoing efforts to protect the environment in its everyday business operations.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike Global, comments: “We are delighted to be working with Scape and know student accommodation is about much more than just a place to stay whilst earning a degree. There are so many important aspects of a student’s life that make the experience what it is, and Spike Living helps reduce the stress and difficulties that can come with moving away for the very first time. The portal provides a one-stop shop that can help the students make the most of their time in accommodation, and fully utilise all that Scape accommodation has to offer them.”

Neil Smith, Managing Director of Scape, comments: “We expect the portal to be one of the most used apps on the phones of the students of 2022/23, thanks to Spike’s streamlining of the student accommodation experience. It is important to us that our residents experience all the benefits of a strong student community, and our residents’ app will help us to foster and enhance this at such an important time in their lives.”

Two months after successfully launching its first ever development in Münster, cospaces provider POHA House has won the 2022 Coliving Award in the Branding & Marketing category. The first POHA House is located directly across from Bremer Platz in the centre of the historic German city of Münster, a central area that has a young, multicultural scene. 

Whenever POHA House enters a city, it strives to ensure it fulfils a need in the community. Loneliness, growing housing needs, and a lack of sustainable living options inspired what they have created in its first POHA House. 

POHA House’s mission is to create spaces that have a positive impact, putting the wellbeing of the planet and people first and committing to minimising resources and reimagining the modern community. By partnering with Spike Global, POHA House has been able to ensure its residents feel more connected to the spaces in which they reside.   

By utilising Spike’s tenancy management solution Spike Lettings, which allows prospective residents to easily find and reserve their ideal apartment online, and its award-winning resident engagement portal, Spike Living, POHA House allows residents to choose to share as much or as little space with their neighbours as they wish. 

POHA House wanted to also create as many local partnerships as possible, and by using Spike Living, has encouraged residents to get to know the neighbourhood by presenting special offers and incentives from local businesses. The ‘what’s around me’ feature points residents to the best spots in the city, from bars, and restaurants to the nearest grocery store, all via its bespoke fully branded POHA House residents’ app.

Miriam Barnhart, Brand Manager and Sustainability Lead at POHA House comments: “As we have developed our approach to the POHA brand, we have made room for the individual brand culture of each POHA House to thrive on its own. POHA House Münster is unique because of how the community has made it their own which our partnership with Spike Global enables. We are so proud to be part of our resident’s stories and let that shine through to who POHA House is. Thank you to the Coliving Awards for this award that inspires us to keep innovating all things POHA.”

Jonny Wootten, Marketing Director at Spike Global comments: “We are extremely proud to be working with POHA House which is such a forward-thinking company when it comes to its branding and mission to put the wellbeing of the planet and people first. Our technology plays a pivotal role in ensuring residents get to know their fellow neighbours and the wider community, and we’re looking forward to continuing to support POHA House as they move into even more cities.”

Industry-leading resident engagement and property management software provider Spike has today announced its partnership with Liverpool-based property investment and development company, Legacie.

The partnership will see the roll out of Spike’s award-winning resident engagement portal, Spike Living, at Legacie’s flagship development, Parliament Square, located in Liverpool’s the Baltic Triangle.

Recently voted the coolest place to live in the UK, the Baltic Triangle is a completely transformed district of Liverpool city centre. Now recognised as the fastest growing business hub in Britain with over 500 companies in the digital industry, it’s also famed for its music venues, restaurants, and the stunning architecture of the Anglican Cathedral.

Legacie’s Spike Living portal is white-labelled and completely tailored to Parliament Square, which comprises of 505 apartments and amongst the many hotel-like services and amenities available, residents can book the outdoor gym, Yoga and Pilates studios, unwind by watching a film in the cinema room, catch up with friends in the resident’s lounge, or enjoy a relaxing pamper at the spectacular rooftop spa.

As well as enabling residents to manage their tenancy from their phone and enjoy the wider lifestyle on offer that Parliament Square provides, Spike Living will also connect them with their neighbours and local retailers and restaurants – offering a way to make new friends and develop a community.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike, comments: “Our Spike Living portal makes everyday living both more straightforward and more exciting. The portal will offer a bespoke service to new residents living in Parliament Square and will help create strong relationships between residents, management staff and the local community. It provides a safer and more localised alternative for residents to connect with each other than conventional social media.”

“We’re excited about our partnership with Legacie, which will see the roll out of our Spike Living portal across more developments in the near future.”

Colin Croxton, Managing Director, Legacie Management and Lettings, comments: “We are creating high-end residential developments aimed at young professionals who have become accustomed to running their lives on smartphones. By partnering with Spike we can connect residents with one another and improve their connection with the local area, creating a ‘buzzing’ community feeling. We see the Spike Living portal as an integral part of our developments going forward.”

VervLife, a specialist consultant and operator for the rented homes sector, has partnered with Spike Global, the industry’s leading property management and resident engagement software provider. The forward-thinking partnership aims to simplify and enhance the residential experience for renters living at its build-to-rent, single family and co-living communities across the country.

With a view to improving communication and resident living, VervLife is implementing Spike Global’s white-labelled resident engagement portal Spike Living as well as its end-to-end tenancy management software solution Spike Lettings, across its client portfolios throughout the UK.

By accessing the Spike Living portal, residents will benefit from a user-friendly app to help tap into the local community as well as being able to make the best use of their own buildings’ facilities. Residents will also be able to book facilities offered across the portfolio, as well as being able to discover what the local area has to offer and access exclusive discounts from local businesses.

Selected by VervLife thanks to its successful track record in creating communities and streamlining property management processes, Spike Lettings will allow staff to streamline and automate the resident onboarding process, whilst its Spike Living portal will provide tenants with a simple one stop app. This opens up communication between management teams and residents, making everyday tasks and social connections much simpler in a multitude of ways.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike Global, comments: “The introduction of our software will help create blossoming social communities amongst like-minded neighbours and help local businesses by connecting them to residents through our app in various forums. We are thrilled to be partnering with VervLife to bring our software to other areas across the UK, and look forward to helping them surpass their aims of meeting the needs of a new generation of renters.”

Brent Stojanovic, Director at VervLife added: “As a conscious operator of rental communities, it’s important to us at VervLife that we promote sustainable living and resident wellbeing. Partnering with Spike Global will make our communities happier and healthier, helping our residents to feel more connected to their new homes whilst increasing commercial and social value for our clients”.

Apo, the innovative London-based build-to-rent operator, is offering renters across the capital a new era of flexible living, through bespoke digital solutions shaped by modern lifestyles. Through its user-friendly resident app, efficient tenancy management software and engaging networking groups and social channels, Apo is fast becoming London’s most appealing option for city renting, offering fun, customisable living options at the touch of a button.

Behind the scenes, Apo worked closely with leading resident engagement and property management software provider Spike Global, to completely tailor and deliver both the bespoke resident app and the lettings platform to truly set Apo apart from other rental providers.

Apo’s Spike Living resident portal is a one-stop shop for neighbourhood news, maintenance queries, exclusive local discounts, and social interaction, as well as being an event booking platform for Apo’s rolling programme of resident activities including yoga classes, live music events, food markets and engaging workshops. 

Taking the stress out of renting, the app allows members to perform actions such as contact the on-site team, log expected courier deliveries, receive announcements about upcoming events, and forge new social connections, such as book clubs and running groups. The What’s around me feature showcases local businesses surrounding the development, many of which offer exclusive promotions and discounts to Apo residents, reinforcing Apo’s place within its wider community.

Spike Global’s powerful tenancy management software, Spike Lettings, allows prospective Apo residents to view available properties online, make enquiries, reserve apartments online, and even submit the necessary paperwork and sign contracts. This easy-to-navigate portal revolutionises the process of renting, offering city dwellers a simple option when it comes to finding a new home.

Apo Barking, the operator’s first scheme, launched in December 2020 and recently celebrated reaching full occupation in April 2022, having flourished into an established community with its 597 thoughtfully-designed one and two bed apartments. The second scheme, Apo Kew Bridge, launched in November 2021, and has since welcomed the first residents to its 487 new homes, wrapped around the premier league stadium home to Brentford FC. Apo utilises bespoke digital solutions to simplify the stresses of everyday life for its members and foster new connections between neighbours.

This multifunctional tool also equips Apo members to control their lifestyle services through a subscription-based model, allowing them to pick the perks they want at the touch of a button. Since launch, 87% of Apo Barking residents have downloaded the app, and there have been over 388 posts and comments made on online social clubs since this January alone, ranging from questions on utilities and hairdresser recommendations to where to find the best pint.

Providing a safe space for residents to make friends, share hobbies and co-ordinate their own activities, Apo’s digital platforms help build the authentic sense of community that is attracting record-breaking tenant applications to its developments.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike says: “Providing a personalised service is key to attracting and retaining good tenants who are looking for homes that truly fit their needs. Our resident engagement portal is tailored exactly to the building and its occupants, streamlining processes, organising facilities, and forging friendships. Apo is all about being ‘a part of’ a thriving, exciting city lifestyle and we are delighted that our tenancy management software and resident engagement portal are helping to create these lively new communities.”

Matt Finch, Director of Apo commented:

“Apo strives to create lifestyle experiences, and to do that we needed to deliver a flexible rental model that aligns with the needs of the modern resident. Our partnership with Spike enables us to connect residents with one another and improve their connection with the local area, offering convenient, contemporary urban living.”