The Class of 2020

Celebrating 10 years of partnership with Greystar! 🎉 We’re proud to celebrate 10 years of partnership with Greystar! Over the past decade, our shared passion for transforming the student living experience has driven meaningful collaboration and innovation for the sector: Here is how Greystar reflects on this milestone: "Our partnership with The Class Foundation over the past ten years has been invaluable. Together, we’ve transformed the student living experience across Europe while fostering connections and shared learning. The Class’ collaboration and learning culture have also enriched our team development and people-focused approach. As we celebrate these milestones, we’re excited for what the future holds." Here’s to many more years of impact and growth! Our partner community is at the heart of everything we do, and we are committed to using these collaborations to drive make a difference in student living. #10Years #PBSA #StudentAccommodation #Partnership #Greystar

The Class Conference 2024 Aftermovie is here! 🎥 This year's event, themed The Next Chapter, was nothing short of transformative. Hosted in the innovative city of Manchester, the conference brought together key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to tackle the student housing crisis and elevate the sector approach to student living. As one of the main cornerstones of the event, we unveiled our ambitious 10-year vision for the sector, while shaping discussions around four critical pillars: availability, accessibility, student experience, and collaboration. These conversations are paving the way for innovative solutions and stronger partnerships across the industry. One of the most inspiring aspects of the conference was engaging with our community. We took time to connect with attendees to hear their reasons for participating, their fresh ideas, and their perspectives on the future of the sector. The aftermovie captures the energy, creativity, and innovation that defined the event. From insightful sessions to the vibrant networking atmosphere, this is your chance to relive the highlights and catch a sneak peek into how we frame our events from 2025: 🔗 You can also watch the aftermovie on our YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/dkHhxJ_4 PS: Stay tuned—2025 will build on this momentum with even more groundbreaking discussions, connections, and initiatives! Thank you to our sponsors: Platinum Sponsor : GoCardless in Collaboration with Salesforce and Powerhouse Tech Sponsor: Yardi Furniture Sponsor: LOFT.uk Silver Sponsors: Salto, NSP Security, Technogym, micampus residencias, ASSA ABLOY Group, Flywire, TLJ Access Control #TheClassConference2024 #TheClassFoundation #PBSA #StudentAccommodaiton

𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 – The Class Conference 2024: https://lnkd.in/es_NCkvB Our #OCM team recently attended 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 2024 in Manchester: "The Next Chapter" of European #studenthousing.   Richard Valentine-Selsey, our Head of European Living Research, opened the event with a presentation on 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞’𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞, highlighting market trends and opportunities across the continent.   Marcus Roberts, Head of Europe, OCM, led an engaging panel discussion on 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬, looking at growth opportunities in the Nordics, Poland, Austria, Portugal, and Greece. Factors driving demand in these markets include high university standards and a growing number of English-language courses, attracting both domestic and international students. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬: 1. 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐫 – Europe needs 3.2 million new student beds over the next decade to meet growing demand 2. 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 – Due to easing financing costs and resurgent investor sentiment 3. 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 – #Poland, #Portugal, and #Greece stand out as high-growth regions The Class Foundation and Savills 𝐎𝐂𝐌 launched a joint thought leadership piece during the conference, 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘉𝘚𝘈 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 2024: https://lnkd.in/es_NCkvB Contact our experts: Marcus Roberts | Lizzie Beagley | Joe Guilfoyle | Ralph Watson | Sonia Wang, CFA | Irina Stoichkova | Charlie Bottomley | Dominic Orchard | James Barlow | Alistair K.

‼️Event alert ‼️ Our Managing Director Kelly-anne Watson and Partnership & Development Manager Mellissa Goff are attending Property Week's Student Accommodation Conference and Awards on the 4th of December at Wembley Park. We're excited to talk about our available opportunities with The Class and our upcoming projects for 2025! Don't hesitate to reach out to them at: kelly-anne@theclassfoundation.com mell@theclassfoundation.com #PropertyWeek #PBSA #StudentAccommodation

⭐ The Class Conference 2025 - See You in Lisbon! Missed the announcement at The Class Conference 2024? No worries—we’re excited to share it again: The Class Conference 2025 is taking place in Lisbon! We asked our partner community to vote on the location and though it was a tight race, one winner came out on top. Don't forget to mark your calendars for a visit to this lively city in November and see you next year! 👀 #TheClassConference2025

For our next takeaways post, we're doing an overview of the Availability Panel from #TheClassConference2024, which brought to light how we can strategically scale student housing while addressing current challenges. Key points included: 📊 Meeting unmet demand: There are currently about 2.2 million PBSA beds in Europe and there will be an unmet demand of 3.2 million by 2030. Aligning housing strategies with evolving student demographics and university plans is essential. 🤝 Cross-sector collaboration: Joining forces and aligning agendas can lead to sustainable and impactful housing growth. Figures such as a neutral Student Housing representative in the European Union would foster the creation of sector-wide strategies and improve communication amongst stakeholders. 📜 Stable and clear regulatory frameworks: Long-term planning hinges on a supportive and predictable regulatory environment. 🏛️ Incentives from the public sector and government: To increase the availability of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), key incentives could include reviewing zoning and planning laws for hybrid schemes, leveraging public-private investment partnerships, and offering grants, tax credits, and rental subsidies. Public and university land-leasing programs can reduce development costs, while expanding scholarships enhances access for underrepresented students. Additionally, funding from the European Investment Bank provides vital support for scaling affordable PBSA projects. Thank you to our great lineup of speakers for contributing to this panel: Maria Hatch, Rob Waterhouse, Vicky Ackerley, Simon Chinn, and Christof Flöckner! Looking ahead, our 2025 programme will dive deeper into these solutions, including exploring the potential of independent housing coordinators at EU and national levels. #TheClassConference #PBSA #StudentLiving

We are continuing with some key takeaways from #TheClassConference2024, this time from the Circle Stage, of the session Collaboration Pillar: Building Action Plans Together. The collaboration panel explored how we can work better together to achieve shared goals in the student housing sector. Here are some of the takeaways from the panel: 🗣️Establishing a Common Language: It was mentioned during the panel that differing frameworks make it difficult to collaborate. Panelists stressed the importance of agreeing on a shared language to enable clearer communication across stakeholders, making it easier to align goals and strategies. 🇪🇺 Leveraging EU and Local Policies : The panelists discussed how the EU could play a key role in creating a common framework that encouraencouragesge collaborative action. Proposals included establishing an EU coordinator to oversee sector-wide projects. A similar figure (national housing coordinator) could exist both on local and national levels to better integrate student housing with broader city development. 💡 Funding for Mixed-Use and Socially Impactful Developments : Panelists noted a gap in funding incentives for projects with social impact and mixed-use developments. They emphasized the need for subsidies or financial incentives to promote shared and affordable housing options, rather than focusing solely on single-use structures. This approach could enhance the social value and long-term affordability of housing initiatives The conversation doesn’t stop here. Our 2025 programme will build on these ideas to foster stronger partnerships and unlock new opportunities for collaboration. We'd like to thank the incredible speakers that contributed to this panel: Amy Dimond, Marius Ceulen , and Piotr Lisowski, with moderator Frank Uffen. Stay tuned for further insights and updates on how we’ll continue this momentum into next year! 🌍 #Collaboration #StudentLiving #Accommodation

The Class Foundation along with Loyens & Loeff, are hosting a boardroom-level discussion designed for Class partners who are senior leaders involved in investment, acquisitions, development, and operations within the European PBSA market. This 90-minute online session will provide a deep dive into the latest legal and tax frameworks, challenges, and opportunities for PBSA in European countries The session will open with an overview of key findings from the recently launched legalities report, presented by Loyens & Loeff. Following this, a round table discussion will bring together 9 legal experts from across the industry to explore market-specific legal and tax frameworks in the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Austria, France, Poland, Portugal, and Belgium. If you are are a partner of The Class Foundation and would like to join this session, reach out to info@theclassfoundation.com for information on how to join. Our 2024 Legalities Report is also now live on our website, available to everyone to read! This comprehensive report dives deep into the legal and regulatory landscape across several countries across Europe. You can find it here: https://lnkd.in/esCvv8qk #LegalitiesReport #TheClassConference2024

We’re still buzzing with the energy and inspiration from #TheClassConference2024 last week! Over these next few days, we will be posting some key takeaways from each of the pillar sessions, starting with the panel on student experience, where we explored how to create a sector-wide strategy to create better student experiences for all. Key takeaways included: 🏚️ Both the findings from the Student Living Monitor and Erasmus Student Network surveys found affordability to be one of, if not the main issue students face during their studies. According to the ESNsurvey XV, the difficulty of finding affordable accommodation rose significantly, with 35.5% of students citing it as a significant issue (2024). In the same survey, 35.63% of students mentioned having insufficient money to cover their cost of living. 🌟 Actionable change comes from shifting the focus from competitive advantage to collaboration and innovation that focuses on the well-being of the students. During the session, a sector-wide strategy was proposed and discussed, where The Class partners would advocate for a unified sector voice to emphasise the importance of Student Experience at the EU level. 🔑 The Class and partners are to develop and implement a standardised operational wellbeing framework, with impact reporting, recommendations to policy and the sharing of best-practices. These frameworks must then evolve and translate into real solutions at the practical level. 🎓 Education for stakeholders: From boardrooms to frontline staff, building awareness of the value of wellbeing across all levels is essential for meaningful change. As such, change would start at the boardroom level from integrating student experience into strategy, and incorporating it in new developments, with impact and real data reporting on the student experience. This would then translate into the operational level with staff training, standard well-being policies, and to organise consistent feedback collection from students. As we look ahead, our 2025 programme will focus on turning these frameworks into impactful strategies that redefine the #StudentExperience across Europe. We'd like to give a huge thank you to our amazing panel of speakers for sharing your valuable insights and perspectives: Elizabeth Cox, PhD, Suraiya Comunello, Rui Vinha, Elisabetta Li Destri Nicosia, and James Greenwood, with Kelly-anne Watson as moderator! Stay tuned for more insights from the conference and updates on our 2025 programme! Together, we’ll shape the future of student living. #TheClassConference #Wellbeing #StudentExperience

🏆#BestInClassAwards2024 Winners Announced! 🏆 Last week, we celebrated the prestigious 2024 Best in Class Awards in the breathtaking Manchester Cathedral. The evening began with an inspiring address from the Lord Mayor of Manchester, who shared his visionary outlook for the future of student housing in the city. The event was a true celebration of innovation and achievement within the student living sector. We'd like to extend our congratulations to all the applicants and finalists for their outstanding contributions. The competition was exceptionally tough this year, reflecting the remarkable strides being made across the industry. Without further ado, here are the winners of this year’s Best in Class Awards! 🏆 Best Student Housing Property: RELIFE - Turin 🏆 Best Proptech Solution: Utopi - ESG Technology Platform and Washstation - Washnet 🏆 Best Student Housing Design: Yugo and GSA - Global Student Accommodation - St Crispin's House - Norwich 🏆 Best Resident Well-being Initiative: Queen's University Belfast - Queen's Accommodation 🏆Best Affordable Housing Initiative: The Social Hub - The TSH Talent Foundation 🏆 Best Sustainable Student Property Award: Amro Partners - Amro Porto 🏆Best Student Housing Investor: Hines 🏆 Best Young Talent Award: Romy Levin - Nido Living 🏆Best Mixed-Use Development: micampus residencias - The Flexy Living 🏆 Best Student Housing Operator: MILESTONE Living Don't forget to join us in celebrating these industry trailblazers! We'd also like to say thank you to our awards sponsors for supporting this initiative: Salto, TULU , Shoosmiths , StarRez, Inc. , and our media partner PBSA News ! You can watch the replay of the livestream here: https://lnkd.in/e6sudSmK #BestinClassAwards