Hailed as one of the “Southeasts most ambitious developments” and a decade in the planning, Woking’s town centre has been transformed. At the heart of that transformation is The Marches, a pair of landmark towers built by Sir Robert McAlpine for Woking Borough Council and operated by our long-standing client Native Residential.
Following the 'sell-out' success of similar large-scale Build to Rent developments we have worked on together, Native Residential , one of the UK’s largest BTR operators, brought us back on board to breathe life and personality into their latest scheme.
We have developed the scheme for the reception and concierge space as well as the communal areas that form the basis for this new style of convenient, communal modern living. Aswell as furnishing show apartments and advising on the FF&E scheme within the 429 studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments.
Concierge & reception
Co-working areas
Kitchen & dining areas
Lounge & function spaces
429 BTR apartments
2nd floor concierge
Resident's co-living spaces
Interior design
Furniture & accessories
'We want our residents to feel proud to live here. These spaces are Insta heaven!'
We started by designing, styling and dressing nine different show apartments in order to provide tenants a better understanding of what life living in The Marches may look like. This further allowed the Sales, Marketing and PR machine at Native Residential the opportunity to start generating lettings in the development prior to completion.
We also advised on the FF&E scheme for the 429 furnished rental apartments going forward.
With incredible views over the rolling surrey countryside, the top floor of each tower was set aside as resident communal spaces and we have designed them to be able to host everything from breakfast events to yoga gatherings, co-working to cinema nights.
These communal areas were completed to Cat A standard. Our remit here was to create a cohesive design that would appeal to the diverse target market while incorporating the specific brand identity that Native had developed for the buildings.
As the building launch was fast approaching, it was imperative that we maximise the impact of the capital outlay without making major changes to layout or services.
As a collective or co-living environment, it is vital that the communal spaces on offer would provide enough flexibility that all the target demographic would be able to access and benefit from the space in various different ways throughout the day.
Through clever use of paint, loose furniture and bespoke ‘plug-and-play’ joinery items, we were able to transform the neutral spaces into comfortable, quirky and aspirational destinations for residents to enjoy.
Unable to influence the basebuild lighting scheme, we created our own atmosphere by incorporating lighting into our joinery and mounting plug-in lighting to walls.
Using a mix of inventive furniture solutions, and by designing drop in meeting areas and booths, we created a variety of working from home spaces; from restaurant-style booths, to library style communal desks to softer seating areas. All with comfortable seating, appropriate table heights, and of course USB power!
A curated mix of vintage books, objets, local historical curiosities build up a rich patina in all areas, and make these spaces feel like an extension of home.
In the evenings, the use of our integrated plug-in wall lighting allows the space to move seamlessly from an ideal working from home environment to an atmospheric evening entertaining space.
Well stocked kitchens and open access dining areas allowed for residents to host large groups outside of their apartments.
Affectionately known as ‘The Cosy’ these spaces are just that. The resident lounges feature an in-built screen for all the movie marathons, football screenings and series bingeing the residents could need. Plus, they play host to an abundance of activities from sunset yoga to pop-up painting lessons.
The resulting flexible, highly desirable, adaptive environment meets the needs of the residents and ensures the highest possible rents in the area - as well as enviably high levels of tenant retention!
We are currently working with Native Residential on another exciting scheme in Reading - watch this space for more!
