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C

ast your mind back a decade, five

years, or even twelve months ago.

What do you remember more vividly,

the big holiday, or the shiny new

phone you bought?

The realisation that experiences

bring more enduring happiness than

material possessions is becoming

a defining feature of the age.

Ownership is being replaced by

subscription – why buy a single album

when I can access most of music

history for the same price?

Dane Andrews, co-founder of co-

living developer and operator Roam,

is taking this shift and using it to ask

a necessary question, ‘When was the

last time we really took everything

we knew about housing, put it aside,

and started with a blank slate?’ His

answer is another, more fundamental

question; ‘What actually makes us

happy?’ Is it being tied to a 30-year

mortgage in a location dictated

to you by affordability, or is it the

freedom to move around some of

the world’s greatest cities?

This is a trend that we have also

identified. Institutional investment

into the Private Rented Sector (PRS)

is creating a sea of change in the

way people in the UK live, towards

a model already widely adopted in

places such as the coastal cities of the

United States. Professionally managed

developments, taking care of bills

and offering concierge services, is

taking the hassle out of living and

giving more time for experiences.

Simultaneously renting is allowing a

more footloose generation the ability

to live and work more flexibly.

In the trailblazing PRS schemes in

the UK, we are seeing the most well-

used amenity spaces not necessarily

being the swimming pools, gyms

and cinema rooms that may initially

attract customers, but the more

functional working spaces. As a

higher proportion of the workforce

have the option to work from home,

spaces offering good Wi-Fi, a

printer and work space are absolute

essentials in any PRS scheme.

This theme of becoming

untethered from the office was widely

explored in our

Future of Work

event.

Dane Andrews and Roam has taken

the trend to its logical conclusion – if

the working element of “working from

home” can be anywhere, then why

not the home part?

If the working

element of “working

from home” can be

anywhere, then why

not the home part?

When was

the last time

we really took

everythingwe

knew about

housing, put

it aside, and

started with a

blank slate?

The Roam model is a global co-living

subscription, currently offering the

opportunity to call London, Tokyo,

Miami or Bali home, while locations

such as New York, Singapore and

Buenos Aires are in the pipeline. Once

approved for a “Roam Passport”, and

for between $500 to $850 a week, or

$1,800 to $3,200 a month, paying as

you go, you can become a resident

in any of Roam’s schemes around

the world with a few simple clicks, no

deposit or contract required. In return

you get a private room and bathroom

(think boutique hotel), co-working

space with “battle-tested” Wi-Fi, and

shared spaces such as professionally

equipped kitchens. These kitchens are

the heart of the concept, providing

the social interaction so often missed

by home workers, while the more

intimate setting creates stronger, closer

communities than co-working spaces.

These communities are also more

diverse than you might think. Just

as we have observed in the PRS,

it is not just millennials attracted

by this lifestyle. The average Roam

subscriber is in their late thirties,

and Dane’s own father has sold up

and become a full time “roamer”,

representing a large demand from

empty nesters for this kind of lifestyle.

For those of you who dream of

Bali whilst sitting at your desk, sitting

at your desk whilst actually being

in Bali may seem like a pipe dream.

Indeed, many people may still need

convincing that this isn’t a futurist

utopia; but then, as Dane says,

‘Roam

wasn’t built in a day’.

GUPPIE (Global Urban Professional)

Young, single, location independent

Sabbatical Sam

30-40ies, family, questioning priorities

Empty Nester

Active, financially independent

Three types of

Roam customers

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

18

FUTURE OF WORK