In the recent years, co-living has become an increasingly popular sector and many business has seen this business opportunity in Hong Kong. In order to stand out, Contented Living has incorporated the French pastoral style the tenement building, to create a more comfortable and relaxing co-living environment. Miss Venny Chan, the founder of Contented Living has been interviewed by Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET) and she has shared her views on her distinct design touches to the property to create a stylish and affordable co-living space for the millennials.
With ordinary people struggling to find affordable accommodation, co-living have grown into popularity as it lowers living costs but able to provide a more comfortable home. Contented Living has recently renovated 29-31 Battery Street, Jordan, adding more practicality and artistic elements into an old building.
Miss Venny Chan, the co-founder of Contented Living and our designer, Nico Yeung, has been invited to a television programme called Property Outlook from i-Cable TV, to share their views on implementation of designs to a co-living space on a limited budget.
Sharing a home, also known as co-living is a first step to independence for many young millennials. So, how does the concept of co-living work?
In co-living spaces, tenants usually have their own bedroom but they share the communal area like living room, kitchen and bathroom with other tenants. To have a real life experience of living in a co-living space, we are privileged to have Ivan from Apple Daily to stay in one of our 700 feet room at 29-31 Battery Street, Jordan for two days and a night. He did several activities with his housemates like playing video games, going to nearby market for daily supplies and cooked his hometown cuisine to share. He had fun living in the room and exchanging cultural differences with his housemates. Check out the video to learn more about co-living!
With the property prices in Hong Kong skyrocketing, co-living has redefined the concept of home. The younger generation who are not able to afford a property of their own are gradually seeking for alternative options, for more affordable, high-quality rental rooms that provide better flexibility and also a better quality of life.
The co-founder of Contented Living, Miss Venny Chan, has recently been interviewed in a television programme known as “A Property A Day” by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). She shares her knowledge and ideas on the concept of co-living.
One of our tenants by the name of Hei has also joined us in the interview to share his feelings about our services at Contented Living.
It has been almost a year since the Covid-19 pandemic came to light and began surging worldwide; social distancing, self-isolation and home quarantine have become our new normal. Since some of you would be planning to travel under this circumstance for necessary reasons, here is a peek into how the compulsory quarantine would be like in Hong Kong.
We have invited a few guests staying in a co-living space to share their experiences as they decided to come to Hong Kong. They are Ding from Beijing, studying Master of Translation and Interpretation at Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Guo from Hangzhou, studying Master of Language Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University; and Zhang from Zhejiang, studying Master of Information Engineering at the City University of Hong Kong.
The vibrant lifestyle of Hong Kong is always an attraction to students and expats from all around the world.
The dilemma for students – Online classes or face-to-face classes
If you are coming for your study, you have probably heard that most of the universities have launched online learning programs, if not dual-mode study programs. So it really depends on the students’ decision whether or not to travel to Hong Kong.
Our interviewee Guo admitted that she was quite struggling at first about the decision to travel to Hong Kong, yet she decided to come anyway considering the third wave of the pandemic situation has been suppressed quite efficiently. “Actually I really wish to come for the face-to-face learning as my academic major in language and communications so it involves interactions with professors and peers. And I am so glad that I did come, as face-to-face learning is so much more efficient than online learning and I enjoy the learning atmosphere a lot.”
Ding agreed with Guo and added, “I myself also study a language. And my institute also arranged face-to-face classes as many as they could manage in view of the pandemic situation is calming down. Almost 70%-80% of my classmates have joined the classes in person and it was really nice to exchange ideas with them and get to know them. I believe it really enhances my learning experience.”
Ding said she is looking forward to meeting her other fellows from the mainland to join her in class in the next semester.
Zhang also agreed that the online program is insufficient in a certain way, “My academic major involves conducting experiments and it is just impossible to do it online,” he explained, “On the other hand, most of my fellow students and I want to facilitate our study by utilizing the resources in campus whenever we could so most of us decided to come before October.”
Zhang brought out that the face-to-face learning is essential for some of the subjects.
Shop around, here is the best – picking the best off-campus student hostel
After deciding to come to Hong Kong, our three interviewees had to decide on a place to settle. After some comparisons on residences available on different rental platforms, they picked the rooms managed by Contented Living.
Guo was pretty decisive in her decision to book through Contented Living, she explained, “I found this place on the HKBU’s official website and I thought it is definitely more trust-worthy because it is recommended by a bunch of educational institutions as well. So it did not take me so long to make a reservation after learning about the details of the place and here I am, a happy resident!”
All flats managed by Contented Livings are fully furnished and well managed.
Unlike Guo, Ding has done some research about the accommodation options in Hong Kong. “I was searching on WeChat as well as some student forums, and after comparing a few residences managed by either some corporations or individual landlords, I found that Contented Living has the best reputation amongst all.” She shared. “It is not just the flats look good, but also come with comprehensive provisions and reasonable prices. Furthermore, Contented Living has a great flatmates-matching system by which I am able to share the flat with those who are studying similar subjects as I do and we soon become friends.”
As compared to other student accommodations, Contented Living offers a spacious living room that allows guests to chill and mingle.
“I am actually booking my place to stay with a group of fellow students who are also studying the same subject as I do,” Zhang and his peers have booked a complete flat of 5 rooms at Contented Living based on friends’ recommendation, “Basically we were looking for a flat which could accommodate five of us with each of us enjoy a single room, but it is not easy to find one with good space for every room and common area; and also comes with proper management and convenient location. Luckily we got this recommendation from a senior student of our faculty and we were very satisfied with the flat.”
All residences managed by Contented Living are situated in great locations which not just close to the MTR stations but also come with vibrant neighborhoods where shops and restaurants are just a step away.
Going through the quarantine with the thoughtful service from the residence
To facilitate the guests going through their compulsory quarantine, Contented Living has prepared beddings in every room and sanitary supplies at every flat. The arrangement helps reduce the baggage burden of the guests and resolve their problem of lacking time to get the groceries needed before going into quarantine.
Our interviewees, like many of the other guests at Contented Living, checked in at the residence directly upon their arrival in Hong Kong. Though all of them have just booked their rooms online and never have really been to the place in person, they all agreed that the residence is just what they expected from the online tour and they were quite amused by the provisions and tidiness of the place.
The pleasant condition of the accommodation provides a comfy place for the guests to rest and go through their quarantine.
“My first impression of my place was it is really clean and fully furnished with study desk, cabinet and even the beddings and cleaning supplies. I was really impressed. The Wi-Fi network is working fine with good speed and the utilities all set up and ready which makes my life a lot easier.” Guo said. “And the best part is, thanks to the flatmate matching, my flatmates and I became friends real soon and even help with each other’s needs during the quarantine. We do enjoy staying together.”
Gao is using the beddings provided and she said the best enjoyment during her quarantine was to play her phone in her cozy room.
Ding was at first quite concerned about the pest control in the accommodation which could be important due to the weather in Hong Kong. “As I am aware that the weather in Hong Kong is a lot hotter and more humid from where I come from, and I am terrified of bugs and mosquitos. But to my relief, as I checked into my flat, it was just clean and tidy with no sight of bugs or mosquitoes. Phew!” Ding giggled.
“Moreover, I got well-informed about the quarantine measures and tips from Contented Living before I checked in so the process of my quarantine was pretty smooth.” Ding added, “Even so, I must say I am also grateful to help from Kenneth, the property management officer. He is very responsive and helpful, especially there was a time I accidentally locked myself in the kitchen and Kenneth just “rescued” me real fast after he got my message.”
Like many others, Ding likes enjoying food very much and food has cheered her days up during her quarantine. “The location of my accommodation is really convenient and I got lots of options for food delivery during my quarantine. As I heard from my fellows who have booked another accommodation in Hung Hom, they didn’t even get food delivery service and they had to be fed on instant noodles during their quarantine.” Ding shared, “I felt really sorry for them.”
Ding enjoys her clean and bug-free room a lot.
Booking the rooms together with his fellows, Zhang is the last one checked-in amongst his flatmates and he had great support from them. “I am well prepared with my quarantine experience as my guys told everything I needed to know before my arrival.” Zhang said. “I think the beddings and sanitary supplies provided by Contented Living were very considerate and practical. Moreover, since the location of my residence is within the delivery service of the online order platforms so it just took me a day or two for all my necessities to be delivered at my doorstep. This reduced my baggage burden a great deal.”
Zhang had a smooth quarantine thanks to the support from his flatmates and the delivery service of the online platforms.
Surviving Quarantine in Hong Kong
Lastly, our interviewees have shared their two cents on how to survive the quarantine period and we have summed it up into sever key points as follows:
Food
During quarantine, you are not allowed to leave your apartment under any circumstances so it is important to prepare your shopping list and plan in advance.
There are many shops offering grocery delivery services such as ParknShop, CitySuper, or Wellcome. In addition, if you feel like wanting some special treat, you can always order food from restaurants via FoodPanda, Deliveroo, or UberEats.
Stay connected
Upon arrival in Hong Kong, it is recommended that you get a local mobile phone number with mobile data. Besides allowing you to stay connected to your family, you will need mobile data to attend classes, research for your assignments, or for entertainment purposes. It is also important to have a phone number as you are required to provide your phone number to the local authorities before entering Hong Kong.
Keep your spirits up!
Move your body and exercise as it helps to release endorphin hormones that make us feel good. With added stress during the quarantine, self-care is very important. Make it a priority to commit 30 minutes of exercise a day.
Create a routine
Having a routine to keep your feet firmly to the ground is important because, on normal days, we organize our routine around school, work, sports, or in communities that we are active in. During quarantine, you can maintain a stable routine such as:
Getting up or going to bed at the appropriate time.
Structure your academic time to complete your readings, focus on assignments, and connect with your peers.
Set some time for self-care such as exercising.
Plan your meals and eat on time.
According to Ding and Guo, they mentioned that passing time during quarantine was really quick. “Our daily life involves attending classes online, working on our assignments, watching dramas, and playing online games. Time flies with a blink of an eye!”, said Ding and Guo. They also provided some tips for people who will arrive in Hong Kong in the near future. They recommended students who will come to Hong Kong buy a telephone card with mobile data as they are required to provide their phone numbers for immigration clearance upon entering Hong Kong. They do not advise students to use their phone numbers from the mainland as roaming services are very costly. In addition to that, a stable internet connection in the property is also very important to follow on-going online classes. It is advisable that students need to confirm with the landlord before they move in as setting up an internet connection at home might take about one to two weeks. In cases when landlords do not provide internet connection, it is recommended that students opt for an unlimited data plan on their mobile phone network so that they can attend their classes virtually without any issues.
In summary, arrivals have to make sure that the accommodation that they have chosen complies with the home quarantine requirements stated by the government. One of our interviewees brought up a case, “My friends booked a quarantined hotel that only allows one person per room but there were two of them. Therefore, she needed to rebook a new room and the whole process was frustrating and cost her extra money.” On the other hand, it is a requirement that new arrivals have to get into quarantine within 2 hours upon passing through the immigration clearance. Therefore, do familiarise yourselves with the supermarkets, restaurants, transportations, and shops around your accommodation so you would know where to go and what to buy before going into quarantine. Last but not least, as all the interviewees shared, do consider downloading food delivery and online grocery shopping apps before traveling to Hong Kong as they might be “life-saving” during your quarantine.
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.
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!”
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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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
