SUSTAINABILITY
THE STUDENT HOTEL
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“ We ’ ve made three massive transformations in the last 15 months ”
— Mark Liversidge , Chief Digital and Experience Officer , The Student Hotel
ahead : double or twin beds . In front of that a desk on the wall with a TV above it . And probably a bit of shelving and one comfy chair in the window . And that has not changed in literally the better part of a century .
“ People are going to look for different spatial experience , they are going to want a private space to rest and revitalize , a cocoon , a space designed for wellness . Why is there a desk when people now want to work collaboratively ? Get that out of there . Starbucks has been the destination of choice for people grabbing a workspace for the better part of 20 years around the globe , that should be a natural use of hotel / living space . Just rethink and reimagine the whole space . Maybe people want individual cooking in a room , or VR gaming , or exercise without going to the hotel gym . How do you design space for that ? And you ’ ve got to create more inspiring and flexible space for people to engage in your public spaces . By and large it is the same fixed formula , yet customers have differing needs for space at differing times . We are delivering lounge spaces that are set as hubs to provide for the needs of the differing customer tribes at different times of the day .
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability will also be crucial to hospitality and technology in the future , says Liversidge . “ I fundamentally believe the way we build and operate property will change and this will be driven by the financing . The financial markets will drive and demand smarter more environmentally sound thinking about the physical asset because people are making a 20-year investment . Those investment managers are smart enough to know that five years from now a very heavy metric of value is going to be based on your green footprint .
“ We ’ re working super , super hard on this . We ’ re trying to use sustainable elements and base components in all of our buildings . I ’ m very pleased to say that we opened in Delft a couple of months ago where all our public spaces , workspaces , as well as the in-house restaurant are designed with circular design principles . We see