Kör is a new co-living model from developer and land acquisitions firm Goldcrest. The aim is to make renting hassle free, affordable and allow young people to engage with each other, helping to ease isolation.
Co living has sprung up across cities in the UK due to a new found appetite for sharing and collaboration from young people. ‘Generation Rent’ is seeking an alternative, progressive and affordable way of renting in inner cities, according to the developer.
Kör, meaning choir in Norwegian, is aimed specifically at urban living. It will sit within the high street and town centres knitted into the local community rather than an isolated building on the outskirts. Kör developments will focus on quality living with amenities being a part of the mix but not an integral one.
Goldcrest, who have been building homes on challenging sites across London for over 30 years, see the Kör model as a natural progression for them. It is the brainchild of their Land Acquisitions Manager, Francesca Butterworth, a twentysomething who was dissatisfied with her experience of renting and the current co-living options available:
“I wanted to develop a co-living experience that serves the needs of my generation. For too long we’ve put up with sub-standard conditions because there was no alternative. I recently had the opportunity to live in a co-living building, yet I felt there were so many things that just didn’t feel quite right. Whether that was the location, the underutilised and rather rigid communal spaces or the isolating way in which the building and the bedrooms were laid out. It struck me that Co-Living could be so much more than fancy furnishings and a cinema room.”
The Kör developments will range from 50 to 200 rooms incorporated into smaller homes. In each home, five to six people share a large, open-plan kitchen and living space. Each resident has their own spacious bedroom and en suite. From each home, the front door leads tenants down to street level, a space Kör preserves for locals and residents to work, shop, eat, drink and play. Its aim is to do what a successful High Street should: it brings the neighbourhood together.
Goldcrest, CEO, Tim Smith said: “Co-living is not as niche as its reputation suggests, and is in fact merely the next step in the shared living lifestyle that has occurred, particularly in cities, for years. The more companies that offer diverse rental solutions the better, since each space and its services holds appeal for different groups of people. This is why we are launching Kör, providing an innovative new way of renting that takes elements of co-living and combines them with the best parts of traditional flat sharing.”
Francesca thinks the co-living model is also troubleshooting loneliness in millennials: “Cities can be isolating, anonymous places. Despite crossing paths with millions of people throughout your day, you often come home to an empty room with no one to talk to. We want to do something to change this.”
Francesca Butterworth, Land Acquisitions at Goldcrest added: “My background as a landscape architect and subsequently my work at Goldcrest has been to turn unwanted and unsightly pieces of land into wonderful places and spaces for people to live. Kör is no different – we are determined to abolish substandard and overpriced rental accommodation, create homes for people in which meaningful relationships can be formed, taking the hassle out of renting to give people more time to enjoy the wonderful things London has to offer!”
