EUROPE: Staycity, the aparthotel group known for its Staycity and Wilde Apartments brands is aiming to double its growth with sustainability at its core.
To help with this goal the group has announced the return of Andrew Fowler, joining as chief development officer at Staycity.
Fowler, who is also CEO and co-founder of Staycity’s new stand-alone development platform, Carnsór, will head up the platform, which will help source and manage the development of the group’s sites.
The group, which has more than 10,000 apartments, and 1,200 employees across 21 cities in Europe has secured three assets in London (Stratford, Blackfriars and Vauxhall) through the Carnsór platform.
Stratford will be a Staycity location with 249 keys, while Vauxhall and Blackfriars will be part of its Wilde brand, with 175 and 220 keys.
Fowler who was previously co-founder and group acquisitions director at Locke and edyn, has a long history of development experience and previously worked at Staycity in 2007–2012 as acquisitions director.
Fowler, chief development officer at Staycity said: “I am thrilled to return to Staycity Group in a new capacity, with the overall goal to double the current growth rate.”
The group also mentioned its commitment to sustainability during this growth period.
Staycity is aiming for BREEAM Excellent, EPC “A” as a minimum as well as the ongoing initiatives listed below.
- Upgrading building specifications (TRD) requiring development partners to reach much higher energy and carbon standards than ‘typical’;
- In the process of rolling out building controls (BMS) and metering systems across the existing buildings to identify large energy consuming equipment, understanding their operation and reduce any wasted energy while also optimising performance;
- Conducting reviews of each building to see which are suitable for solar panel installations;
- Set a plan under the Science Based Targets to decarbonise our business (scope 1 & 2) by more than 50 per cent by 2034. This is being validated in October;
- Switching all buildings over to green energy (currently underway);
- Getting ahead of requirement under CSRD and preparing a draft report one year ahead of needing to publicly declare.
Currently in Ireland, the UK, Italy, France and Germany, Staycity is furthering its geographic reach and expanding its acquisitions team in Iberia, Italy, the Nordics and CEE.
Image: Wilde Liverpool St