FAT Properties

It’s been one week since my keynote and I keep coming back to this..

We’ve spent 20 years optimising student accommodation for spreadsheets. But not for the students living inside it.

The sector has evolved fast.
- Institutional capital.
- Global operators.
- Beautiful buildings.
- Sophisticated asset strategies.

On paper, PBSA has never looked stronger. And yet…
Students have never been more anxious, lonely, overwhelmed, or sleep-deprived.
That’s not a coincidence.
We’ve optimised for the wrong things.
Because what we design shapes how students behave.
And how they behave shapes how they feel, connect, sleep, regulate, and perform.
Right now, there’s a growing gap between what works on a spreadsheet and what actually works for an 18-year-old at 11pm on a Tuesday night.

That gap is where:
- Loneliness shows up.
- Buildings feel empty.
- Events don’t land.
- Students withdraw.
- Retention quietly erodes.

This isn’t just a “wellbeing problem.”
It’s a design problem.
An environmental problem.
An asset strategy problem.

The next evolution of student accommodation won’t be more amenities.

It will be environments that actively support:
- Sleep.
- Connection.
- Regulation.
- Belonging.

Because human biology always shows up on the balance sheet.

The PBSA operators, investors, and developers who understand this first won’t just perform better. They will define the future of this sector.

Wow, what a conference!

Huge congratulations to & Nicky Ireland (Copeland) 👏

I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker, and I’ve come away with my head buzzing with ideas.

What stayed with me most wasn’t the systems or the operational conversations.

It was the openness.
There’s a real shift happening.

For the first time, I felt like I was in a room where people weren’t just focused on managing accommodation, but were genuinely open to rethinking how those systems shape behaviour, wellbeing, and human connection within student communities.

And that’s huge, because I really believe that we’re at a turning point.
Student accommodation can’t just be about beds, bookings, and buildings anymore.
Whether we design for it or not, these environments are already shaping how students feel, how they connect, how they cope and ultimately, how they succeed.

Platforms like StarRez, Inc. sit right at the centre of that.
Not just enabling operations, but influencing daily habits, interactions, and experiences at scale.
That’s a big responsibility, but also a huge opportunity.
If we start thinking differently, we move from managing accommodation to shaping thriving communities.
After the keynote, so many people came up to talk about their students, their own children, even themselves.

That honesty has really stayed with me.
It tells me the appetite for change is real.

So now the question is, who’s ready to be part of the change?

Sunshine, fresh air, and a little reminder of why I started this journey ☀️

Two books. One mission.

Student Thrive Mode helping students take control of their mind, body, and university experience.

Designed for Wellbeing rethinking the spaces they live in, so they actually support how they feel and perform.

Because student wellbeing isn’t just about what’s happening inside them…

It’s also about what’s happening around them.

And when you get both right?

That’s where real transformation happens.

MumOnAMission

I realised something today 🤯
Student Thrive Mode isn’t just for students!
I originally wrote the book to help students navigate stress, energy, focus and performance at university.
But after today’s conversations, it hit me…
The challenges aren’t unique to students.
They’re human.
Over the last few years, I’ve been researching human performance, bringing together insights from doctors, neuroscientists, high performers, yogis, athletes and global leaders.
And across all of them, the same fundamentals kept showing up.
Not complexity.
Not expensive solutions.
But simple, consistent daily actions.
So I distilled everything into practical, easy-to-apply hacks.
No gym memberships.
No supplements.
No apps or subscriptions.
Just tools that work with how your brain and body are designed to function.
It’s all built around six core pillars:
Mind. Breathe. Move. Fuel. Connect. Sleep.
The fundamentals that drive how we think, feel and perform every day.
I wrote it for students.
But the reality is… it applies to all of us.
The book has just launched and already became an Amazon bestseller, which has been incredible to see.
If you’re curious, here’s the link, it’s currently on offer at the moment.
https://amzn.eu/d/0jjRHPBG

I’m really looking forward to speaking at EMEA Connect in Birmingham in 2 weeks.

I won’t be talking about design trends.
Or occupancy rates.
Or amenities.

I’ll be talking about students. Our customers.

The ones lying awake at night.
The ones feeling overwhelmed.
The ones living in buildings that look impressive…
but don’t actually support how they feel.

My keynote “Beyond Beds” is about this:

- What students are really experiencing behind closed doors

- The gap between what we build and what they need

- And why the environment plays a bigger role than we admit

Because this isn’t just about accommodation.
It’s about how students live. How they cope and whether they thrive… or they don’t.

And most importantly what we can do to enable them to thrive.

If you’re attending I’d love to connect, please get in touch.

In latest article for Unlocked magazine “Spring as a Reset - Designing Student Living for Wellbeing, Resilience and Thriving in 2026”.

Spring is NOT a fresh start for students.

It’s a pressure point.
Deadlines build.
Decisions stack up.
Energy drops, just as demands increase.

And yet…
We still design student accommodation as if wellbeing is something you add.

It’s not.
Student wellbeing is shaped by the environment, every single day.

If a space requires effort, performance, or “putting yourself out there”…
it adds pressure.

Students don’t need more stimulation.
They need less pressure.

The environments that will work in 2026 are not the most “Instagrammable”.

They are the ones that:
✔ reduce friction
✔ support regulation
✔ make connection easy
✔ allow recovery, not just performance

Because when you get that right…
everything else follows.

👇 Have you experienced this?

Looking forward to attending & speaking at the WinPBSA Summit in Marrakech 🇲🇦

I’ll be running a workshop exploring how the design of student accommodation influences the way students actually live, connect, and experience university.

We spend so much time discussing yield, density and planning efficiency in our sector.

But buildings also shape behaviour, belonging and wellbeing.

I’m excited to explore these ideas with a room full of women helping shape the future of PBSA.