Housed: The Shared Living Podcast

Reinforcing Student Accommodation in Europe with special guests Frank Uffen and Kelly-anne Watson from The Class Foundation

• Season 4 • Episode 13

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Housed has partnered up with The Class Foundation to bring you a special three-part mini series, getting under the skin of the importance of student housing strategy across Europe and warming the shared living sector up for the The Class Conference 2025 taking place in Lisbon this November. 

In this episode 'Reinforcing Europe', Dan, Deenie and Sarah are joined by Kelly-anne Watson and Frank Uffen to discuss:
• An introduction to The Class Foundation
• How purpose-built student accommodation helps relieve pressure on general housing markets
• International students in popular cities facing backlash as locals feel displaced
• EU appointing first Housing Commissioner 
• National Action Frameworks creating coordinated strategies, with Netherlands as successful model
• UK target of 190,000 additional beds being supported through multi-stakeholder approach
• Need for centralized data and coordinated lobbying to influence government policy
• Unlocking investment for affordable housing solutions 

Those who are interested in learning more about what The Class Conference is all about, or want to book their tickets can visit the website : www.theclassfoundation.com/conference




Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome to this very special episode of How's the Shared Living podcast. Now, today marks the first in our special three-part mini-series in partnership with the Class Foundation. We can't wait to get under the skin of the importance of the student housing strategy across Europe and why that's making Kellyanne Frank and the team at the Class Foundation tick. But firstly, some introductions. I'm Dan Smith from Resi Consultancy.

Speaker 2:

I'm Sarah Canning from the Property Marketing Strategists.

Speaker 3:

And I'm Dini Lee from the Property Marketing Strategists.

Speaker 1:

Now a quick word from our sponsor, my Student Halls.

Speaker 3:

Housed is sponsored by Spotlight Boost on mystudenthallscom. Use Spotlight Boost to stand out in search results and drive more leads to your properties search results and drive more leads to your properties.

Speaker 1:

Thanks very much to Dan and the team at my Student Halls for sponsoring this very special episode of Housed with the Class Foundation. Delighted to have you on board again, as you have been for every single episode of Housed. Do go and get your properties listed with my Student Halls and have a look at the Spotlight Boost as well. It's peak season. It's absolutely pivotal that you have the right leads coming through to your property teams. So go and get listed with my student halls or take them up on the boost as well. And a very warm welcome to Kellyanne Watson, managing Director at the Class Foundation, and Frank Uffen, co-founder of the Class Foundation, chair of the TSH Talent Foundation and partner of the Social Hub Cracky. That's quite the portfolio you've got there, frank. So, yeah, welcome guys.

Speaker 4:

Thank you very much for having us. We're very excited to be here.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Now, frank, your name is familiar to many in the sector, but it's also really important for everyone to understand the role that the Class Foundation has played in shaping student and urban living. So how do you explain where this started? Do feel free to let us know. I've had a quick look at the website today and started back in 2011. So, yeah, give us a bit of a snapshot of how it came to be.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, sure, it was indeed around the time that in the UK the student housing sector was already developing very fast, and some even called it already mature, whereas in the rest of Europe there wasn't much of a PBSA sector. But what was happening in Europe, and especially in the Netherlands where we started, was that the increasing number of international students attracted by English taught programs at universities in cities like Rotterdam, groningen, maastricht, started to cause a real big problem for the housing market. The markets were simply not prepared for it. The universities didn't have estates or agreements with housing partners, so there was a need for creating new types of student accommodations and also more of it. I was working at that time as a consultant with Charlie McGregor and a number of groups in the Netherlands, and I noticed that there was basically no understanding of PBSA or student housing in general. There was a general concern that there were no viable solutions. There was a lot of regulations that made student housing in the Netherlands very, very costly, and so only non-profits would occasionally build new things. The need of building extra was clearly bigger than the social sector could maintain, and so there was an opportunity, and for us it started by bringing people together.

Speaker 5:

As Kellyanne once joked. She said, like, if you put two Dutch people together in one room, they start an association, and that's what we did, yeah, but it was also interesting because we wanted to have an objective and we called it initially the class of 2020, because it would give us a timeframe of 10 years to solve the student housing crisis. And I think we did, but in the sense that we really achieved what we wanted to achieve, but we also had not anticipated of it becoming really a European challenge and also something that continued to grow. It was not just fixing a short-term problem in the Netherlands. It was really became something about like, how do we create strong university cities that are able to attract and retain talent? And I think that's yeah. That started in 2011 in the Netherlands, but that's why we are meeting, I guess, today.

Speaker 1:

I'd love to see that evolution and I remember in 2019, everyone saying what are we actually going to do next year, when it's actually 2020? But it's great to see that you know the Class Foundation continuing to pioneer the sector, not just across the UK but across Europe as well. I think it's really good for bringing everyone together. In that sense, kellyanne, great to bring you in and nice to see you after London as well Really good events. As we were saying before we started recording, what do you see as the purpose of the CLASS Foundation today and sort of what are you trying to solve now and how has it changed from those first days with Frank and Charlie starting it?

Speaker 4:

Well, thank you Dan. Yeah, I guess on an addition to what Frank was saying. So our mission started with trying to solve the housing crisis and come up with some solutions that would help relieve some of the pressures from the housing market whilst also creating a good experience for students. So I would say our solving the housing crisis is still absolutely centred to what we do with evolving needs. So, instead of just looking at availability, we now look at how do we create accessibility to the student housing market, how do we create student experiences that integrate all types of students. Looking at how do we measure social impact and go beyond bricks and mortar, which I think is also an evolution of the student housing sector as a whole, anyway, and then, also looking at those collaborations that are needed between the public and private partners, but also within our own sector as well.

Speaker 4:

We have identified that 3.2 million beds unmet beds will be needed to be added to the market by 2030. Be needed to be added to the market by 2030. So we would definitely say setting those targets and ambitions across Europe at a national level, but also a European level helps us work better together, and I think that's also what it comes down to as well. It's making sure that we do work well together as a sector, and we face many problems, similarities in our organisations, so why not face them together? We're much stronger to do these things together and we can do that by connecting higher education, policymakers and the private sector to deliver these best-in-class solutions, and I think it's a win-win for all there. It's also about making a name for the sector. It's also about making a reputable and viable product for the sector, whilst also having students have the best experience that they can possibly have. So I'd probably say that is our purpose and has always been our purpose with those kind of evolutionary progressions that we've been working on.

Speaker 2:

Frankie Kellyanne, you both mentioned the solving the housing crisis. Why does that kind of start and end for you with students and student housing?

Speaker 4:

yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4:

I think at the class we believe, and I believe our partners believe, that student housing is also an option.

Speaker 4:

It is is a viable option to help relieve some of the housing stock, other types of housing stocks, and free up that for other types of people living in those buildings. So, for example, hmos is a perfect example. Actually, many cities need to claim some of that housing stock back to create more housing for families, young professionals and so on. So actually, by creating more student housing, not only do students thrive in those types of student accommodations anyway, because they are fit for purpose, their student communities, they have a certain type of port system that is needed to be able to make them successful, whilst also freeing up that typology in those housing markets. And I'm not saying that we need to get rid of all HMOs, because some students do prefer to live in those types of housing and that's absolutely okay, and also for many students at the moment, that is also an affordable type of housing as well. But there is a huge opportunity here to create less pressure on the housing market by building purpose-built student accommodation for students.

Speaker 1:

I totally agree that that HMO piece is really interesting. In particular, and what I'm seeing in the work that we're doing with clients, is that the councils because we we work with quite a lot of planning departments the councils are desperate for that student HMO stock back. So there is a real and that's me generalizing, but I would say 90% of the conversations we have with council planning departments are that they want student HMO stock back. So they're starting to allow PBSA to pretty much build not necessarily where they want or what they want, but they're encouraging PBSA to build where possible, because they know that if that student HMO stock does go, then there's a real affordability crisis for students, who, ultimately, will then have to move into PBSA. Now, far be it from us to dictate that students shouldn't be living in HMO and they should move to PBSA, but I think that is the direction of travel that councils want in particular.

Speaker 1:

I found that really interesting in the work that we've done. How frustrating is it to you, though, that the government, for example in the UK they're not really including student housing in some of these conversations or even in some of the targets? I think in the UK the government want to build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament, and yet they're not talking about student accommodation and, the way that I see it, they're not talking about student accommodation and the way that I see it. Btr, co-living, pbsa, in particular, are three of the key sectors in real estate that can massively alleviate this housing crisis.

Speaker 5:

So yeah, how have you found that process so far in terms of either speaking to government or trying to coordinate some action? It's an interesting observation that also is true in many European countries, and I think it has. There are many reasons, but one of them obviously is that it's a very specific sector and that it's driven also by trends that sometimes are a little bit outside of the traditional demographics, economic analysis of housing markets. I mean what we saw with the English taught programs being created in Europe, that it created a whole new market. There's basically an incredible policy tool that once you create supply of English taught education, then students come, and this is, of course, what also has benefited a lot of cities in the UK that with a university, they are able to attract population that otherwise would not go there. But it's a population with special needs and those needs include also flexibility. They include more services than a traditional, maybe residence.

Speaker 5:

So it is a pity and I think it's a call for us as a sector to really continue to educate policymakers. You know about the importance of creating opportunities to grow student accommodation, but also to be aware of how student accommodation influences other residential markets. I mean one of the things that Kellyanne and I have been working on is understanding how cities can take some of the pressure off their housing markets. You probably have read in the media that, due to platforms like Airbnb and increased popularity of cities like Barcelona, milan, amsterdam, that there's a lot of political backlash at the moment against internationalization, against tourists, but also increasingly against international students. And that is because local citizens feel that, due to the popularity of their cities and the influx of international students, that they're being displaced, so there's not extra pressure on the housing market.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I'd just like to add to what Frank says there. Some of these university cities would not be the cities that we know and love without international students as well, so it would be such a shame to see less students. It's also a great tool for these cities as well, whether it's students that maybe don't stay there long term but do move away, but they hold that city close to their heart. It's great reputation building, brand building for those cities. Some of those students do stay there. There's a great statistic from Barcelona that correct me if I'm wrong, frank 75% of all startups are international or internationals, which is just fantastic. It creates thriving cities with ideas. Somebody a close friend of mine, maggie said once in a Perfect City video that no city would have new ideas without the movement of people, and new people, and I think you know why we advocate for an international mobile student is, for these reasons, an international mobile student is, for these reasons, totally agree.

Speaker 1:

I think the frustration that I've got is that it feels across the UK and Europe like it's on the sector to convince the government and the local population of the benefits of international students but also of student accommodation, and that's something I think we need to do a much better job of. Frank, you mentioned Barcelona. Obviously, we saw, within the last six months or so, locals walking up and down Las Ramblas protesting at the number of tourists there in particular. Hopefully we don't start to see more of a sort of backlash against students there. But from a planning perspective, there's such a focus on the NIMBYs in the UK the not in my backyard mentality that we see from local residents and councils, and we understand that you have to kind of knit that community together and I think that's where that coordination is absolutely key, which links quite nicely to the appointment of the first housing commissioner in the EU. Can you tell us about that?

Speaker 5:

This comes basically directly from the housing crises that have been developing across Europe and, you know, for the EU, for the European Commission to take on, the topic that you know was clearly, you know, agreed to belong to the European nations and not something that Europe should get involved with shows the urgency around the issue.

Speaker 5:

What was also interesting for us to learn there that again there's a real void, a lack of understanding of what student accommodation exactly is, and one of the things that we have been doing from the beginning is to really educate all the stakeholders around the incredible importance of student accommodation as part of the total success of students and their ability to have economic success, but also to develop themselves across everything that they need so to be able to find jobs, to find community, to feel at home. And this is something that the EU is very interested in, because one of the things that the EU has been stimulating, from you know, for many, many years is, through the Erasmus Plus program, student mobility, and we were actually kind of surprised how student housing was also missing from that conversation. There was an increasing awareness, through organizations like the European Student Network, esn, about the impact of students when they didn't have housing, that the cost of housing was rising across Europe, but the program was really not acknowledging it until recently of the need to discuss housing at the European level, but also a responsibility for us to really get involved and to show that it's not just the availability of housing as well, but also the ability of student accommodation, to provide homes like, to provide a safe environment where students can feel well, and this is, in particular, interesting, of course, for policymakers that are aware that when students come from far, they face challenges that people don't have when they have family or friends already in those cities. So it's something that we feel is super important. It's an opportunity, but it's also, in the next couple of months, going to be really, really interesting how we can work with the stakeholders in Brussels as a community to really ensure that they understand student accommodation before moving forward with policies or other ideas that will ultimately influence us as well.

Speaker 3:

It's so true that we can't. You've got to look at housing across the board. You can't fix one problem without looking at everything and making sure that there's a strategy for that, and it's great that there is that Commissioner of the EU now. But how have you found that conversation changed over the years? Is it getting easier or is it getting harder? Because there's more and more challenges, I guess, coming along the way. So it's interesting to see how that's been.

Speaker 4:

There hasn't been one. So this conversation is new, it's starting. So I think this is an opportunity for us to shape these conversations really early on and I think a good example of that is around the Affordable Housing Plan. So the Affordable Housing Plan is a strategy that the European Union it's not a strategy, it's a task force that will identify chapters of basically advising and recommending how different housing markets can create more affordable stock in the greater general housing plan. And what we're trying to advocate for is that student, the PBSA and student accommodation is part of that housing plan. That affordable housing plan anyway is part of that housing plan. That affordable housing plan anyway, what Frank and I have been working on and we've done many trips now to Brussels and speaking with different stakeholders. Matthew Baldwin is chairing this plan and he's a fellow Englishman, which is always very nice, but he is advocating that, or we're advocating that student accommodation is part of the agenda, as we do think it is a potential solution or a definite solution within alleviating some of this affordable housing stock.

Speaker 4:

So what we're advising here, and we think would be really beneficial, is that there is a roundtable between the institutional funds to discuss how we can inject more money and create a better investment landscape and conditions for private investors to be able to create more availability, which then in turn, will help towards the affordability conversation. So we've identified that 450 billion euros in Europe needs to be mobilized by these institutional funds to be able to even make an impact on the 3.2 million beds that we are targeting across Europe. So we think this is a huge opportunity, not only for the PBSA sector but for this affordable housing plan and we also think other stakeholders like the EIB so the European Investment Bank also plays a part in this as well. We think there's a huge opportunity that institutions such as INREV, the EIB and so on can basically look at how do we create social impact funds for the student housing sector. So also, it makes it more relevant and easier for those private funds to be able to deliver affordable housing stock across Europe and, as you know, it's a conversation we've had many, many times.

Speaker 4:

Many of the institutional funds do target that top 10% of rents in general and there is an opportunity here if we can work more collaboratively, there's some really good best practices across Europe to be able to deliver that kind of low to medium income range whilst also still be able to deliver high quality stock. That has good student experience in it and it goes back to what Frank was mentioning around. This asset class itself has a really unique offering. It's very service driven and students have a multitude of amenity services and support networks within that and that shouldn't be taken away just because we want to deliver affordable stock. So there's a huge opportunity here to be able to play a part in shaping that affordable housing plan at a European level, whilst also having the awareness of PBSA and what our offering is spoken about at that level.

Speaker 2:

You've spoken a few times about it being part of the EU plan that level. You've spoken a few times about it being a part of the EU plan. Where does the UK fit in with that? Because it's a sore subject for me, dan and Dini, and potentially lots of our listeners as well. It sounds fantastic what's going on in mainland Europe, in the EU. Like the UK, we need some of that as well. So is that being considered as part of this plan?

Speaker 5:

I'm not sure if that is, but what is considered, or at least what we are trying to bring into the conversation as well, is that internationalisation of higher education doesn't stop with certain borders and, as you know, the UK and the EU are discussing how especially young talent will be able to access labour and education opportunities in the future easier than it currently is. So that's one point. The other thing is that one of the things that we noticed is that people are very unaware of the incredible internationalized institutional investment market right, and also realizing that a lot of the new PBSA brands in Europe have UK roots. So it's one of the I would say, one of those few brands sectors, real estate sectors that not only is being serviced by international capital at that level, but also that there are brands that are active in so many markets. We've seen Heinz entering different markets in Europe, we've seen Nido, we've seen Graystar, so there's so many people that are active that can bring also their best practices to new markets.

Speaker 5:

I think, if I, you know, summarize the response from the conversations in Brussels was really like kind of a curiosity also about like okay, this is really interesting, this is really something that we didn't realize and we're trying to see how we can turn that into an opportunity by basically saying, like well, you know, institutional investors know how to invest in student accommodation. We have professional operators that know how to do it. It can work now in all markets in Europe. Let's work together and really expand that supply so that prices don't necessarily have to increase because of a lack of it.

Speaker 1:

The frustration for me with all of this is Brexit you know of all of the millions of benefits that that was supposed to bring and taking back control of our borders. What we've done is stunted growth in the UK and cut off opportunities for collaboration and for internationalisation of higher education as one of our top exports, and yet we've cut off our nose to spite our face, which is incredibly frustrating, and so it leaves our government in the UK on its own, fending for itself when there are some serious initiatives and collaboration across in Europe. So I think one of the biggest frustrations that we've found in some of the because we deal a lot with investors and operators this is, um, both sarah dean and and myself in the consultancy work that we do with operators, investors, universities, developers really frustrated. They can't build more. There's no coordinated approach, the planning department isn't set up for viable builds and nor is the the sort of current environment in terms of construction or funding, and yet no one in the government seems to be listening.

Speaker 1:

What's needed, in my opinion and I've been shouting about this for quite some time is a coordinated national student housing strategy that can be rolled out on a regional basis, and you guys have really seized the momentum and the success that you've seen in Europe to talk about the national action frameworks. So I think it would be really good for you to discuss that kind of collaboration that you're looking at there. What are the national action frameworks and how they came about?

Speaker 5:

first of all, that's a really interesting question, dan, in the sense that you know, I feel that this kind of collaboration or collaborative approach is still something that is new across Europe, but where we got the inspiration from is our work as the class community in the Netherlands. So, in response to this housing crisis, there was also an awareness at national level, at the Ministry of Housing in particular, that it was not going to go away very quickly and that it needed also involvement of different stakeholders, not just the social housing sector, not just the private sector, but also universities and the key university cities, cities and when I became part of these conversations, it wasn't necessarily clear yet where it was going, but when we signed in 2022, the National Action Plan for Student Accommodation, we had realized that we had really built together a culture of collaboration. You have to imagine that we were in these Zoom calls with 40 stakeholders during COVID, with people coming from totally different worlds, including student unions, for example, trying to create a language where we could address the things that were important to each of us, but also that it would be actionable, and I think it was both the importance of having a process of bringing people together as well as having a clear goal with some ownership from government. So I totally agree with your analysis that there is a lack right now in the UK, but at the same time, I think also the opportunity is that there is a sense of urgency again around the topic. That will be a driver for collaboration In practice.

Speaker 5:

It was really important that we said OK, so we need a couple of things that will give us direction. So in the Netherlands there is a national monitor that comes out every year in September for student accommodation. It's sponsored, co-sponsored by the national government for student accommodation. It's sponsored, co-sponsored by the national government, and it provides all of us every year with data that is really important to have a conversation about. The other thing that was really critical was to have a shared goal Based on the numbers. We knew that we needed to build extra, so we said, okay, we need 60,000 units. How are we going to get to the 60,000? Who can make a pledge for a certain segment of the market? Who can solve some of the problems in the market? So it was energizing to have that shared goal.

Speaker 5:

And the third thing, which was something that was also very powerful, is that the minister appointed a national student housing coordinator. They have the the minister appointed a national student housing coordinator, and this person is someone that basically can help identify bottlenecks, or people will bring things in this case it's a him to him and he will address it both politically as well as create mini processes, so to say, around bottlenecks in the market. It can be a regional issue, it can be around a policy issue and it's very helpful for us, as the class organization and our partners to basically say, like, well, who do we need to call when we face something that maybe a local city is not picking up or someone at the ministry is not responding to? And yeah, so those are three ingredients that we believe would benefit all of the countries in europe. And yeah, kelly, I mean you, you maybe you can share a little bit about, like, how that is playing out right now.

Speaker 4:

I think the difference that we're seeing in the uk compared to the other markets although the other markets are also going very, are going very well and you know, I think the, the, the, particularly the Dutch one, you can really see starts to see those outputs coming to life the difference for the UK one, in my opinion, is actually the amount of people who want to be involved and the amount of organizations like they are coming to us and they are saying we want to actively be involved in door support, whatever that is, and I think that's a real positive and I think that goes back around Frank's. Frank mentioned the urgency. I think the sector really want to do something about it and want to start making change. We're still struggling a little bit around the accountability part in terms of who that actually sits with, but I'm just going to name a couple of the organisations so BPF, hesa, he Guild, uuk, cuba, ucas, hepi, as well as all the individuals from the actual student housing sector, that's, investors, developers and operators. So it's a real wide, varied group of people.

Speaker 4:

I also would like to mention as well that there's a lot of established groups. There's already really well established research there's. There's tons of stuff to be signposted to, to influence people's decision making, but there's nothing that's centralized in the UK. So I think there's an opportunity here to one make it relevant. So who's doing? What are we? Are we doing too much in one area? Is there, is there gaps in other pieces of research? Is there any way that we can bring research more up to date? The HESA research is perfect. Everybody constantly complains that it's years out of date. How do we, as a sector, lobby or encourage that that data is done more regularly so that we can use it more efficiently?

Speaker 1:

I totally agree and that's the biggest frustration I think we've had, given that we're a podcast that represents the sector PBSA, btr, co-living and people are coming to us and saying where do we go, what do we do? Because something needs to change in government. We have to lobby, and this came about from the renters reform bill with with Unipol being effectively the body that the government was consulting, and I think that was when everyone realized oh, unipol actually don't represent the sector. They're there to effectively oversee the performance of the sector with the code and Anuk, but you know, they're regulating, not representing, and that's where there just seems to be this. It's not even a gap, it's a gulf of representation.

Speaker 1:

I'm really glad that you guys, you've got an initiative with the BPF, the British Property Federation and several others too, and I think what we need to do is just make sure that we have that one voice, that one sector voice, and I think that's what's been missing literally up until now and, to be honest, probably still is now, because there's multiple different parties involved in that. But yeah, the more we can get behind it, the better, and the National Action Frameworks, I think, are a brilliant starting point for conversation to be able to take that to government, starting point for conversation to be able to take that to government. So how can our audience, which at the moment is primarily UK PBSA, btr and co-living folks hello to all our new EU listeners.

Speaker 4:

But how can they get involved? Yeah, I think, first and foremost, reach out to us. Most of the time, I would say there'd be too many cooks in the kitchen, but actually more cooks were making better recipes. We're learning a lot from different stakeholders as well. I'm really proud to say that it's representative of you know a lot of different stakeholders, but I think you're right, dan, that this is a huge opportunity to really be a voice for the sector. You know we are looking for experts, change makers and decision makers really to be part of this process. Within the National Action Framework, we have pillars with recommendations as well. So, as an organization, we're here to help set the strategy and facilitate kind of high level thinking, but we are really looking for people to take ownership of the execution. We are really looking for people to take ownership of the execution. So, whether that's an association, whether it's individuals, you know we're really looking for support to make this successful really, we're arms open, wide and ready to invite the more the merrier.

Speaker 1:

So this brings us on, nicely, to talk about this year's class conference in Lisbon. It's a firm staple in our calendars and, kellyanne, can you just do that justice in a very short space of time? Who's it for what can people expect and how would you describe it?

Speaker 4:

Yes, so the Class Conference is the largest student housing conference in Europe. We really do like to do things differently. This year. We're calling it Reinforce Europe, and that's absolutely what we're trying to do. So it's a two-day event on the 5th and 6th of november. The first day is site tours, so we have site tours all the way across lisbon, so you actually get to go out and see these cool pbsa concepts, all for different reasons whether it's been able to deliver them affordably, whether it's high tech, or whether it's around the design of the spaces and the environments that they're in, or whether it's the public-private partnerships, maybe that they've done with the city or the universities for redevelopment areas. So there's a vast number of site tours that you get to partake in. There's also something that we added a couple of years ago was the peer-to-peer workshops that you take part in as well. So you're really here and have really interesting conversations whilst being actively involved, and I think that's a really good opportunity as well.

Speaker 4:

We do have our awards ceremony and partner dinner in the evening, which is always a huge highlight for us, showcasing best in class in industry, and then day two, we have our main programme day, which is really about reinforcing Europe. So we're going to have one main stage which is going to be around shaping the strategy for Europe. We have some fantastic highlighted speakers. I'm not going to do any spoilers yet but hopefully I can come back soon and tell you more. But, yeah, expect people from you know, high level policymakers, institutional investors and so on. And then we have two new stages which we're really excited about the community hub stage, which actually Dini and Sarah have been helping us with the last couple of years curate and develop as a concept. This is more workshop driven. We have the women's breakfast, we have conversations around technology, around marketing. It's more remits and department driven. But this year we're also really doing a large push for the next generation of leaders as well, so bringing in new voices from the sector that we think will lead and shape the sector going forward.

Speaker 4:

And then, finally, we have the Catalyst stage, which is actually designed like an amphitheatre and our partners have come forward with a really thought-provoking, interesting dialogue that needs to be had in the sector that maybe isn't being discussed in the wider context. So we're going to have some, yeah, really, really, really interesting deep dives into that type of conversation. So we're going to be discussing, like AI, the talent gap within the industry, so some really, yeah, interesting conversations there. And again it's workshop styled, so you get to talk to your peers and learn from each other, which I think is quite different to your traditional real estate conference where you're seated in front of, and it's kind of an onstage, offstage presence. It's really about engaging with the community and for those that haven't been, I would say we are a very fun concept and setup silent discos all day, food, everything's localized, everything, even our stages are hand designed and built by our team, so it is a different experience.

Speaker 4:

And also it's in Lisbon. Why wouldn't you want to go to Lisbon for a couple of days in rainy November in the UK?

Speaker 1:

but if you want to get involved in the movement, attend the conference or join a working group, do have a look at the Class Foundation website or send them an email. If anyone's interested in understanding it a little bit more, it's classfoundationcom. Theclassfoundationcom forward slash conference. There are early bird tickets available. That does close on the 7th of Augustust, though, and it's on the 5th and 6th of november, isn't it so thanks ever so much for kellyann and frank.

Speaker 1:

That was a brilliant, deep dive into the amazing work you guys are doing at the class foundation. We're all very grateful as a sector that you continue to be pioneering and innovating and showing us all what best practice is and helping us to share that knowledge around. I think that's absolutely key. And that's a wrap on this very special episode of house, the shared living podcast. Very grateful to the team at the class foundation and, of course, to our sponsor, mystudenthallscom. Do go and get your student properties listed with my student halls, or you can choose to boost your listing with a spotlight boost, perfect for generating leads as it's just coming up to peak season. And thank you to all of you for joining us as we delve into the world of btr, co-living, pbsa, hmos, university accommodation and we'll see you next time for more shared living discussions.