Wellness, Built In: Why the Most Forward-Thinking Developments Are Designing for How You Feel, Not Just How Things Look
Cast your mind back to a London of 20 years ago. Restaurants had smoking sections - yes, actual cigarettes while we ate. Spilling out of a West End nightclub on a Tuesday night looking decidedly dishevelled (and due in the office at 9am) was nothing unusual. London was, altogether, a rather late-night affair and a little confused come the morning. Fast-forward to today and our everyday lives look dramatically different: cleaner, leaner and considerably more self-aware. We’ve swapped guzzling pints for necking ginger shots, nightclub strobe lights for red-light therapy beds, and the all-nighter for the 6am meditation class.
Cue wellness to the forefront of our lives, and our homes.
We are now face-deep in a wellness way of life. Cryotherapy, cold plunges, red-light therapy, saunas, IV drips, sleep trackers. We may be face-deep in it, but at least that face is looking noticeably fresher.
And this shift is changing what we expect from the spaces we live in. For today’s luxury buyer, developers understand that wellness is about more than the amenities list. A pool, gym and spa might have been enough a few years ago. Now, the most forward-thinking developments are considering something much more fundamental: how does living here actually make you feel?
Vabel Townhouse and Queensway
Bayswater is a great case in point. Queensway and Westbourne Grove already have a growing wellness ecosystem, with Third Space, Barry’s, Psycle and 1Rebel all in the immediate area. But that thinking has moved inside the local developments themselves.
Vabel Townhouse has an especially luxurious and calming ambience on arrival. Warm marble and softly toned interiors immediately signal a calmer state of mind. There’s also a residents’ garden and Rebase Wellness Centre, so you’re never far from getting back on track, if you ever got off track to begin with.
At the other end of Queensway, mega-development The Whiteley has understood the wellness memo and then some. Six Senses - the luxury hotel and wellness brand - sits at the heart of the development with its magnesium pool and a biohacking recovery lounge. Talk about upping the ante.
Today’s buyer isn’t just looking for square footage. They’re looking for sensory calm, a place to recover and reboot from the outside world.
For years, luxury was closely aligned with things: the car, the watch, the handbag, the purchase. Even some of those traditional markers are under pressure: LVMH’s share price fell almost 28% in Q1 of this year. The things we value most are harder to package: time, privacy, health, space and control over our surroundings.
Luxury is shifting from excess to access: access to time, space, wellbeing and most importantly, ourselves.
If you are interested in exploring what is available in Bayswater and the Queensway area, we would love to connect with you.
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