Insights

Hybrid real estate, multiplied by our uses, is in the process of upsetting dominant thoughts and is re-questioning actors in the sector, whoever they are, about their ability to integrate these new strong axes in their strategies as well as in their creations.

Innovative thinking patterns, new synergies: Nicolas Marin, Managing Partner of ROKA, explores these topics every day with his teams. With Marie Allwright, CEO of the division Real Estate from TERRE DE SIENNE, he gives us his vision of real estate in full change and highlights the importance of talking with consulting agencies about these new ecosystems whose development is just beginning.

Hybridization, mix use, co-living or reversibility... The dimensions are multiple but the reality is quite simple: our living and working worlds are in the process of permanently mutating. The phenomenon has taken on a whole new dimension since Covid and more globally, through our changes in lifestyles and generational evolutions promoting more nomadic work. Thus, the empowerment of talents has multiplied their ways of expression, creating in the process a growing porosity between the worlds of office and housing.

ROKA, through its expertise in real estate investment and asset management, is at the heart of these developments. And our role is primarily to observe and understand the ramifications of these new models. The challenge is clear: to aim for the potential of a property more than its pre-established use, to connect it to its immediate environment, and to do so, to increasingly anticipate the way in which we live and work. It is no longer possible today to design an office building without including the local ecosystem, without integrating into each space the diversity of our uses, the plurality of our expectations and especially the possible reversibility of these environments.

The first mix to be planned is that of the types of users. Because by promoting the cohabitation of different profiles within the same real estate complex or the same urban plot, we create social ties and this makes it possible to counter the silo effects inherent in each neighborhood. As such, the most emblematic and recent political illustration lies in the establishment of the PLU-B, which is taking shape in Paris before probably being extended to other municipalities. By integrating mixed easements within Parisian buildings, it aims to create complexes where tertiary premises, housing and social housing will coexist. As a major player in sustainable urban rehabilitation, we are naturally attached to these logics of local activations, because they create coherence at the scale of micro-neighborhoods, self-sufficient and resolutely living urban islands. Beyond the fact that this stimulates the local entrepreneurial fabric, it has obvious eco-responsible virtues, in particular by giving priority to short circuits. Finally, these possible hybridizations represent a rare opportunity to integrate art and culture into the heart of places that generate links and pluralism. The principle is to develop thematic islands hosting, for example, art galleries at the foot of buildings, and on the floors, workshops or ancillary offices, as well as housing for these same artists. An example that can be applied to other entities such as the hotel industry, with housing dedicated to employees, within the same land unit.
These are our jobs that are being reinvented before our eyes. At ROKA, we develop transversality, we cross fields of expertise to identify the most promising trends to be integrated into our future programming. In this respect, the point of view of communication consulting agencies is essential for us, in order to combine our feelings and design the most relevant strategies, particularly pre-commercial ones. TERRE DE SIENNE accompanies us, among other experts, in this constant quest for relevance. With Marie Allwright, Director of the agency's Real Estate division, we regularly discuss these themes and their specific impacts on the development of our future operations.

“You can see it well indeed. All tertiary and residential real estate has become an ultra-vast area of experimentation and has led us to deeply rethink our established models, in order to bring out new synergies and new alignments. Based on our knowledge of the office world, we support our partners, such as ROKA, in their reflections on mix use, nourished by regular monitoring of what is being done, in France or abroad. Great ideas, inspiring models are everywhere, including in related sectors. This significant work allows us, supported by specialized firms, to advise our clients not only at an early stage in analyzing the potential of an asset but also of course in the concrete deployment of their commercial strategy, through the most appropriate language elements and communication devices. It's a bit different and definitely exciting.” ‍

Marie Allwright CEO of the Real Estate division at TERRE DE SIENNE.

Tomorrow is all that's left to write. Social spaces, reversible car parks, innovative mobility, portability of services... The future of these innumerable developments depends largely on our ability to invent models and systems that will guarantee the relevance but also the profitability of these approaches. With a clear conviction: mixing worlds, connecting possibilities and going as short as possible to meet the daily needs of users, it is now a matter of common sense.