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It’s been a pleasure to be interviewed by Youtube channel called” The Wealth Hub Channel”

Hong Kong’s property sector was ranked amongst the most expensive in the world. More and more people realised the benefits of shared space, such as more interaction and diversity leading to the emergence of co-living. Many investors has seen the potential in the co-living sector but how has the co-living sector developed? The WealthHub Channel has invited Miss Chan, the co-founder and Executive Director of Contented Living, to share her thoughts on being one of the industry’s first movers in this sector.

A Co-living Space with Style by Contented Living

It is well known that Hong Kong is one of the world’s least affordable places to live. Just talking, no, thinking about rent can be a big challenge for the local youths, let alone the young overseas students and expats trying to settle down in Hong Kong. As the housing demand remains quite strong in recent years, there is a new industry and trend popping up, namely “co-living”, and perhaps it could be a way out.


The co-living concept started from zero

Founded in 2012, Contented Living is the first operator of youth hostels run by the co-living mode in Hong Kong. Not only it has been evaluated highly amongst the overseas students, but it also gains recognitions from local universities as one of the recommended off-campus student hostels. Recently Contented Living has listed more than 1,500 high-quality accommodations, becoming the biggest matching platform for co-living accommodations in Hong Kong.

“The idea of starting a co-living hostel comes from the horrible stories of those new students who just settled in Hong Kong,” Venny Chan, the co-founder of Contented Living Limited, shared an interesting brand story, “As my two partners and I were all graduates from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), we first discovered the struggles of overseas students in settling down off-campus in a casual conversation at a school event of CUHK where the new students would share their difficulties or questions with the alumni students. We found that the newcomers facing not just the fuss of setting up the house or utilities but also finding reliable flatmates and trustworthy landlords. The most bizarre case we heard was that a student eventually placed her newly-bought double bed at the sitting room after finding out her reserved bedroom was too small for a double bed.” With the intention of helping the fellow overseas students to settle down, Venny and her partners founded Contented Living, hoping to provide a cool co-living space with convenient location, comfortable and furnished living condition, comprehensive management service; and most importantly, reasonable price. 


“Contented Living aims to provide warm and comfortable co-living apartment for those who just arrive in Hong Kong for study or work so they can enjoy the fun of staying in Hong Kong.” said Venny.

At times, the concept of co-living was relatively new to Hong Kong and it was certainly not as popular as studios and serviced apartments in the rental market; nonetheless, Venny was pretty determined to position Contented Living as shared-flats accommodations with a strong belief that co-living is the way out for the youth generation. “Our initial intention is to provide a solution for those overseas students who did not manage to secure a room inside the campus, so our product would be quite similar to that in a student hall; it is not until later we expand our client base to the expats and local youths as we noticed that the traditional housing options could not really fit the needs of this particular group.“ Venny further explained, “First it is all about cost. Accommodation is always the biggest burden for those youngsters. The primary objective of co-living is to reduce the housing cost by sharing the living space without giving up the living conditions, so our hostels were designed to provide a shared sitting room, bathroom and kitchen, with our guests could still enjoy their privacy in a room space of around 50 to 80 sf. at a reasonable cost of HK$4,000 to HK$7,000 per month. Second it is the housing provision. Our hostels are fully furnished with management service, which is very important because our target clients are mostly very occupied with their daily lives and they would not need extra worries on setting-up or managing their new homes. Third it is the social needs. As most of our guests are new to Hong Kong, it would be nice to meet someone with similar background and support each other during their journey in Hong Kong. Therefore, when assigning rooms for our guests, we also consider their backgrounds and try to match. All in all, based on the particular needs of our target clients, we decided to position our residences as a serviced co-living space with the best value to money.” 

From minimalist design to colourful expression

Contrary to the usual plain style of the housings of Contented Living, the new project 29-31 Battery Street at Jordan is quite a breakthrough considering it is a total different style designed by a designer. Though this is the first time that a designer has been invited in a project of Contented Living, Venny has met the interior designer, Nico Yeung, a few years back. “We were both members in a co-working space designed by Nico back then.“ Venny shared, “And I was quite impressed by the simple but delicate design of Nico that I told her perhaps she could help design our co-living space in the future. And here we are!”

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The previous “Neighbours” in a co-working space are now working together to create a refreshing co-living space.

In the design of Battery Street project, Nico has replaced the plain tones used in the previous projects of Contented Living with the vivid colours of blue and yellow. “To me, Contented Living is a dynamic company and its target clients are mainly young people.” Nico explained her choice of colour tones, “So I would like to pick some bold colours like yellow and blue which makes the place more energetic and refreshing; and these colours are quite popular amongst both male or female as well.”

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A bedroom with a bed and desk in a small roomDescription automatically generated
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The furniture is designed to be durable and easy-to-clean but still comes with style.

Beside the unique choice of tones, Nico also create an ambience by the use of soft lightings. She explained her intention, “According to the human psychology, soft and dim lighting would help release the tensions and relax people.” Nico hopes to create a more inviting common area where guests could relax and share their days with each other. 

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With the soft and dim lightings at the common area, it brings in a relax and homey vibe.

In addition to the vivid design and pleasant vibe, it is also important to be pragmatic when designing a co-living space. One of the catches of staying in a co-living space is to enjoy a fuss-free home. By Nico’s design, furniture has clean lines with smooth, sleek surfaces which is easy to maintain, guaranteed to reduce the stress and cleaning efforts of the guests in their bustling city life.

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A bedroom with a bed and desk in a roomDescription automatically generated
The furniture is designed to be durable and easy-to-clean but still comes with style.

Finally, when it comes to the hardest part of designing the project of Battery Street, Nico has no hesitation, “Cost control!” she replied. Venny also explained that lots of co-living spaces in Hong Kong have invested a huge sum in interior renovation work which in turns leads to expensive rent rates; yet this contradicts to the primary intention of co-living spaces which is to lower accommodation cost. Thus, when designing the project of Battery Street, Nico had to consider the material cost, as well as to avoid complicated and costly renovation work procedures. 

“To achieve a good design with controlled cost, we would need to be thoughtful on the construction materials and decorations.” Nico shared some of her insights in the project. “For example, I have designed a feature wall to each unit with budget-wise wooden boards as a background. This helps with the layering visual effect and gives a touch of nature to the house.”

Some of the decorations on the feature wall are the original works of Nico. She welcomes guests staying here would replace the decorations with their own photos or drawings to make this place more personalised with their own characters.

“I have designed a sloping ceiling for some of the flats, it not just bears great aesthetic but also helps hide the ceiling beams in the original setting of the house. Yet, in some flats I have designed wooden ceiling beams and created a special visual effect with the lightings.”

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With the sloping ceiling with warm lightings, the ceiling beams are well-hidden and the house feels very homey.

On the other hand, Nico also made an effort on the decorations. “Those paintings and photos are all delicately chosen, and some of them are my personal works.” Nico welcomes guests staying here would replace the decorations with their own photos or drawings to make this place more personalised with their own characters and flatmates could share their stories through the decorations. “I also picked some Van Gogh’s paintings for decoration. Not just because he is my favourite and most admired painter but also his brilliant pick of colours echo with the bold colour selections of this project.”

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Both Venny and Nico love the Van Gogh’s paintings.

Coincidentally, Venny happens to like Van Gogh’s paintings very much as well. “Nico and I never really discussed about the exact decorations she would use at this project;” she added. “And I was quite surprised that what she picked are actually my all-time favourites.” Those paintings of Van Gogh recalled her memories when she studied her Master degree in France. They also give an exotic feeling to the co-living place. All in all, Venny is impressed with the work of Nico in this project. 

Innovate with creativity, Execute with caution

After the project Battery Street, both Venny and Nico are hoping to have further collaborations in the upcoming projects. The co-living spaces of Contented Living were very standardised in minimalist style for easy management in the past; as the demands and expectations of living spaces have become higher through times, Contented Living would catch up and be ready to make changes to meet the requirements of the target clients.

When comes to the design ideas for the upcoming projects, Venny and Nico have their own interesting preferences. Venny is hoping to create a co-living space in an industrial style with the use of raw, unfinished, and almost factory-like material; while Nico would like to design a living space with the touch of “old Hong Kong” with the decorations from the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Besides of design ideas, Venny would also expect diversity over the locations of the co-living spaces in the future. Instead of the busy districts, Venny hopes to cover more distant locations as she explained, “In my opinion, co-living in distant places could offer a more attractive rate and spacious living condition.” Venny further elaborated, “To me, I do believe that the accommodation cost should be less than 1/4 of the income to ensure a certain living standard on other aspects of life; yet, even with a lower accommodation cost, the living space per capita should be remained a certain level, for this, I think co-living at a distant location could achieve both.” Nonetheless, with the COVID situation unsettled, Venny is still taking a wait-and-see attitude for any expansion plan in the future. 

Currently the co-living spaces at Battery Street are fully booked, and the next batch would be opened for reservation by November. 

Please stay in touch by the Facebook, Instagram and Official Website of Contented Living for updates.

Special Thanks: Nico Yeung / www.metaltree.hk

“Tenant Privilege” MMR Vaccine Injection Booking for Current Tenant


“Tenant Privilege” MMR Vaccine Injection Booking for Current Tenant

2018 Contented Living Orientation Day

Hi there CLL buddies!
 Welcome to join our community and here we have all interesting people coming from all over the world!

Every year while most of you have settled with your new home, we always organise an Orientation Day to welcome all of you to this one big community. We think that it would be nice to get along with new neighbours, meet interesting people and we do hope you could feel safe and warm with this community, after all, this is your new home!

For this year, we are very pleased to announce that we have a generous mystery sponsor for the event, so the Orientation Day will be FREE OF CHARGE for all guests with delicious snacks and drinks provided and every one of you can even take home with a piece of Chinese traditional mooncake as the souvenir of the event as well as the goodwill from our sponsor on the Mid-Autumn Festival. So what are we going to do on the Orientation Day? Besides of some super fun games, we have also invited some Expats to share their adventure in Hong Kong and they are all ready to give you the best advices you could possibly get at the very beginning of your journey.
2018 Mong Kok Orientation Party
Date: 23-Sep (Sun)
Time: 15:00 – 18:00
Place: The Wave, 25/F., Ginza Plaza, 2A Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mong Kok
Map:https://goo.gl/maps/BJvR5pZFsD22 *FREE of Charge | Complimentary Snacks and Drinks | Mooncake Souvenir

*If you are not staying at Mong Kok or Sai Ying Pun Districts, please feel free to select one of those Orientation Day to join in

*Every guest can only attend one of the Orientation Days but not both
*Registration Deadline: 16-Sep (Sun) 23:59 Due to limited space, the party is available on a first-come-first-served basis, so why wait? Register now by filling the form below:
ttp://contentedlivings.mikecrm.com/2svedHh

Should you have any queries, please feel free to let us know by call at +852 3619 4662 or email to info@contentedlivings.com

Contented Living x GoGoVan HK$20 Discount on the First Ride of Delivery Van Service

During these time of the year, guess many of you would be really busy on packing things either to getting on with your home return trip, coming over Hong Kong and start the year of adventure here, relocating to different places or travelling to other countries for fun, yet, no matter what you are up to, it seems to be unavoidable that you will be moving your luggage around with you.

Contented Living is caring enough for you, and we would very much want you to be hassle-free to start on your trip, so for the very first time, we partner with GoGoVan to offer service for you, you just have to sit at your home and place the order on your mobile, your van will then come shortly to pick you up with your heavy luggage and drive you to your destination right away! And we are very pleased to tell you that GoGoVan would offer an exclusive discount to our guests, just input the promotion code “TRY20” when you place your order, you will enjoy an HK$20 discount on your first ride, which makes it more budget-wise than taking a taxi.

The most amazing thing is, you may still have to worry about the taxi charging going very high when there is heavy road traffic, GoGoVan can ensure you that the charges would remain as the quoted amount regardless of the road condition! 

Cultural Activity Round One – Salted Fish Market Adventure x Funky Fusion Cuisine

Contented Living X Taitong Co-Housing X Sai Wan Concern presents: 

First Round Activity: Explore the community – Salted fish market x funky fusion cuisine

LAST CALL!

What’s the history of salted fish manufacturing in the past 80 years? Why the industry can pass on for several generations? What is the secret formula to make the famous Hong Kong salted fish? 

Taitong Co-housing and Sai Wan Concern (both are social enterprises) will bring to the adventure of salted fish 

market in Sai Ying Pun. Then follow by cooking funky fusion cuisine in the dormitory of Contented Living with your co-housing buddies 

**

Date:25/9 (Sun)

Time:3:45pm-6pm

Maximum no. of participants:12(limited places available)

Meeting point:Sai Ying Pun MTR Station exit B1

Fee:HK$50 [cooking utensils, basic food ingredients and salted fish are provided]

*The cost of the activity is HK$150 per person

Sign up by submitting the form at https://goo.gl/6g4TUj 

We will reply in email on further details and payment methods.

Organiser:Taitong Cohousing

Co-organiser:Sai Wan Concern

Venue supporter:Contented Livings

**

For any enquiries please PM at the fanpage of Taitong Cohousing  https://goo.gl/l1UzKV

Or email us at taitung.cohousing@gmail.com

2017 CLL Orientation Party

Welcome to join our community and here we have all interesting people coming from all over the world!

No matter you are new in town and still struggling to fit in; or have been hanging around long enough to be a tour guide in Hong Kong, we would like to invite you to join our 2017 CLL Orientation Party, where you could meet us, the Contented Living team providing assistance in your coming stay; get some smart tips to start with your adventure in Hong Kong; and of course, meet some new neighbours / friends around who might not just be helpful for your study / daily lives, but also a support for you at times and bring you joy and warmth during your stay here! So come and build this place together and find yourself at your new “home” here with us!