Category: Case Study

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 Global has today announced its partnership with Liverpool-based property investment and development company, Legacie.

The partnership will see the roll out of Spike Global’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 Global, 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 Global we can connect residents with one another and improve their connection with the local area, creating a ‘buzzing’ community feeling. We see 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.

As well as the app, a blossoming Instagram platform showcases the development’s amenities, activities and four-legged friends. Apo also manages private social media groups for residents, further strengthening relationships between new neighbours by encouraging new conversations and interactions. 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 Global 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.”

Moda Living has launched a new data-driven proptech platform to revolutionise the way its residents interact with their energy consumption and sustainable behaviours, helping its communities save money and boosting the sustainability of Moda’s UK-wide portfolio of neighbourhoods in first for the UK build-to-rent sector.

The rental living developer and operator has worked with MyModa app developer Spike Global and ESG technology partner Utopi to give residents access to live energy usage data around the clock.

All Moda Living neighbourhoods are equipped with Utopi smart sensors throughout their homes and amenity spaces, which monitor environmental factors such as air quality, temperature and energy usage. In the last six months alone, these sensors have captured more than 105 million data points at Moda Living sites. With a pipeline of more than 18,400 new rental homes, the service will eventually be capturing 18.7 million data points every day across its portfolio.

For the first time, the new service will put this data in the hands of Moda residents to give them live readings from the sensors throughout their building, providing them with a range of new benefits.

Residents are increasingly conscious of their impact on the planet, and the new partnership will allow them to monitor their carbon emissions, ranking them within their neighbourhood, helping change behaviours, supporting residents to play their part in the journey to Net Zero Carbon. This pioneering approach will connect Moda Living residents to their building, including more data insights into how their homes and amenity spaces are performing. Operating teams at Moda Living sites will use the new tech to incentivise energy-efficient behaviour with events and competitions, boosting overall sustainability as well as engaging with residents on an issue that matters to them.

The platform will also provide residents with personalised hints and tips they can use to make small changes that will have a big impact on their utility spend. In the midst of the UK’s cost of living crisis, the new technology will help protect residents from rising energy costs and feel in control of their spending, contributing to overall wellbeing.

Moda will also be able to use the data from the Spike/Utopi partnership to set its own targets for reduction in consumption and spot anomalies. Residents with poor energy scores, for example, will be identified and offered advice and support to reduce their costs.

The service will be rolled out across Moda’s portfolio of next generation rental living platforms, from its city centre build-to-rent towers to its new suburban single family homes platform, Casa by Moda. Across its range of living platforms, Moda has a pipeline of 18,400 new homes for rent across the UK. The new tech service will help tens of thousands of renters monitor their energy costs in real-time and enhance the sustainability of their lifestyles.

As the first operator to engage with the new partnership with Spike and Utopi, Moda worked closely with both businesses to design a product that will drive down carbon emissions from Moda’s real estate portfolio while giving residents unprecedented access and control of live information about their homes and wider neighbourhoods.

It forms part of Moda’s commitment to embracing new and leading technologies across its operations to support its ESG strategy, Next Generation Futures and help residents live their happiest, healthiest lives at its rental neighbourhoods across the UK.

Dan Brooks, Director at Moda Living, said: “We are extremely proud to be the first build-to-rent operator in the UK to roll out this crucial technology to our residents and neighbourhoods. As a long-term operator of our developments across the UK, we have a responsibility to our people and our planet to run our UK-wide portfolio as efficiently as possible. We are also dedicated to protecting and enhancing the wellbeing of the teams and residents that live, work and play in our rental communities. This new tie up with Spike and Utopi adds a new level to this, enabling us to communicate transparently about our green performance and help them keep energy costs down as the cost of living soars across the country.” 

Utopi’s Co-Founder & CMO, Ben Roberts, said: “We have been very keen to get the building data we collect into the hands of the residents for a while, we know it has a major impact on a building’s sustainability performance, as the residents are the ones in control of their consumption. We’re thrilled to be rolling our tie up with Spike Global out for the first time with Moda Living – a business dedicated to sustainability and wellbeing in that will champion the benefits our new service provides both the business and its residents.”

Spike Global CEO, Jeremy Heath-Smith, said: “Our clients are increasingly concerned about the climate emergency and not only need to understand their building’s performance but want to use that information to actively engage and encourage residents to reduce their CO2 output and energy consumption. By partnering with Utopi and rolling this service out with Moda, we will be able to make this information readily available via our Spike Living portal, encouraging everyone to make a positive change.”

Building strong new communities is at the heart of what Pocket Living is all about – the developer specialises in creating affordable homes for first time buyers in the London boroughs where they live or work. At 20% below market price, the compact, carefully designed homes come with access to a wide range of shared spaces and amenities that help residents get to know their neighbours – an ambition that is perfectly supported by Spike Global’s resident engagement portal, Spike Living.

Leading resident engagement and property management software provider Spike Global creates white-labelled versions of its Spike Living portal for every client’s particular building or development – and Pocket Living has just signed up to put the portal into use at its latest housing development, Addiscombe Grove in East Croydon, which will be welcoming its first residents in the coming weeks.

Pocket Living has a successful track record of working with Spike on a number of previous developments across London, and is keen to roll out the software for future projects having seen how well residents engage with the portal. Across its developments more than 85% of residents have downloaded the app and are using the portal to make everyday living easier.

There are over 6,000 visits to the portal each month, and some of the most popular forums have accrued nearly a thousand posts and interactions, with the two most used groups being My Community-VR and Harbard Close Residents, which support people who live at Pocket Living’s Varcoe Road development in Southwark and Harbard Close in Barking.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, CEO of Spike Global, is delighted with the uptake among Pocket Living residents: “Across Pocket Living’s portfolio there have been extremely high uptakes of portal usage”.

Spike Living can be used in a wide range of ways – it’s invaluable for the everyday, practical things such as reporting a fault or arranging for a parcel to be collected, as well as for booking the communal spaces that Pocket Living is well known for, whether that’s a co-working desk or a fitness room.

“It can also do so much more,” says Jeremy. “The forums and social groups enable people to meet like-minded new friends who live in their development– the portal is only open to genuine residents, so it’s a safer and more localised alternative to conventional social media.”

“The portal also enables residents to get to know their surroundings by allowing local businesses, from restaurants to cleaners, to offer exclusive discounts to a development’s residents. All of this helps residents to feel more at home, more quickly. For the managers of a building it provides a straightforward way to engage with residents and make them feel valued, which will ultimately result in them staying there longer.”

Lorna Evans, Head of Customer Experience at Pocket Living, comments: “As Spike Living has already worked so successfully at many of our other sites it was the obvious choice for our latest development in East Croydon. At Addiscombe Grove we are promoting a real community feel with a landscaped communal roof terrace, Nordic garden and Hidden garden, each with fantastic views over south London and which are perfect for socialising and meeting neighbours. We also offer a wellness room, residents’ lounge, and co-working space, that can all be booked via the portal.”

“But beyond the practicalities, we also try to foster a spirit of togetherness among our residents, from giving them a welcoming drinks reception to helping them to set up a residents’ management committee to decide how their building should be run. The Spike Living software gives us another way of helping people to settle in.”