Premium amenity spaces for a high-end BTR project in West London

Apo, the innovative build-to-rent brand by real estate developer EcoWorld London, chose Clippings to source design-led furniture for their state-of-the-art, community-centric Kew Bridge building. Located in the centre of the Brentford East regeneration area, the building houses 487 rental homes consisting of studio flats, and one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, whose occupants will have access to stunning amenity areas that include co-working spaces, inviting lounge areas, a wellness studio and multiple roof terraces. 

Irina Listovskaya​, Product Director at EcoWorld for Apo Kew Bridge, and her colleagues worked on the FF&E for Apo Kew Bridge project at the height of the Covid pandemic, adding challenges at every level. By choosing Clippings as the procurement partner, EcoWorld minimised the complexity of finding, specifying and installing hundreds of products from over 60 brands to create space where tenants can come together as a community. The unique combination of a powerful platform and a knowledgeable team would prove to be a game-changer for the team working on Apo Kew Bridge. 

The design brief

‘Apo is about bringing people together, so we needed nice, collaborative spaces that would feel equally elevated and homey. That’s why we created distinct areas to cater to different functions. At the same time, we wanted to allow people to move things around, to have some fun in these social spaces. So we included furniture pieces made for interaction, for example, larger sofa groups you can sit on multiple sides’, says Irina.

‍Speedy product research with Clippings

At this stage, Irina started researching products on Clippings: “What I loved about the experience is the digital platform that enables searching and makes it very, very easy to figure out what you need. And with the price listed on the platform, you can tell right away what might or might not fit into the budget. You can’t always get that info on various brand websites, which slows you down.”

Clippings team as the extra colleague 

However, there was no interior designer in the team working on Apo Kew Bridge – so the Clippings team stepped up. ‘Creating the furniture spec was a real collaboration with Clippings’, says Irina. ‘We had an idea of the style we wanted, but we developed that together with your team. Through the process, Clippings made so many good suggestions. And you even organised all the fabric samples.’

‘You also produce some of the floor plans, including placing the furniture. That was super a helpful service for us as we were working with real products on the plans – that’s not always the case at this stage – and that means the dimensions are right the first time.’

Clippings specification manager Ana Maria would work on the same project and price the products or add alternatives to the board, which Apo team could review quickly in one place. ‘Sometimes I added products that matched the desired style to the project board, and Ana would go away and actually add more things to the project in line with that. That was really helpful and a great reference point for when I was doing some accessory orders later down the line as I could see all products in one place.'

Clippings handled logistics

Once the specification was signed off, Clippings placed all orders with the suppliers. Clippings collated the deliveries at the warehouse until the site in Brentford was ready. We also sent our project manager Anna to oversee the installation of all furniture procured through Clippings on site.  

The Clippings difference 

‘The main difference between Clippings and other procurement companies I've worked with is definitely the platform. The ability to specify as much yourself effectively as you want to is very handy. It's also a great tool for the initial phase when you’re researching products as it’s so easy to make a brief as you can share images so easily. And beyond the platform, Clippings offered additional services making our life so much easier. The Clippings team is super friendly, easy to work with and so accommodating. And fun too!’

‍