Sanjai Dhar is the Founder of Domi Coliving. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge where he studied Engineering. He worked in finance for 25 years, specialising in Japanese equities . His love for property design was inspired by the simplicity of the Japanese sense of aesthetics. Ten years ago Sanjai diversified into the property development.
In the words of Sanjai:
“I find creating value by investing in distressed buildings very rewarding. Two years ago I stumbled upon these three Victorian/ Edwardian buildings that were falling apart. I could see the potential of what one could do with this site. At the same time I realized that there is dearth of decent living space for young professionals.
Coliving is not a new concept. People have lived together forever. However sharing homes no longer is driven by economics. It is bringing like minded people together. This is especially true for big cities where young people come to chase their dreams.
Technology is crucial to most businesses. We are quite keen to incorporate technology to make life easy for our co-livers. All rooms are fitted with Klevio locks operable from your smart phone.
Loneliness and mental health issues are also driving young people to seek out shared spaces. Building communities based on common interests and lifestyle is one way of tackling loneliness. We have an in-house yoga teacher who is on call to provide individual or group classes.
Environmental issues are crucial to us so we are green at Domi. Our NIBE airsource heat pumps provide hot water and heating by utilizing energy from the atmosphere thereby reducing our carbon foot print.
Finally the most important aspect of our coliving space is the size of our bedrooms. Whilst the shared spaces like kitchen, living room work area are great to meet and hang out in, but the your bedroom is your sanctuary. All our bedrooms are large enough to accommodate a queen/ king sized beds and a desk and chair. If you cant comfortably walk around your bed then it is not a sanctuary. Each one is an ottoman bed so storage is not a problem.
They all have an en-suite shower and toilet and a built in wardrobe. Every single person who came to see Domi were taken aback by the size of the bedrooms. I am relieved that the space I have provided is a sanctuary for our colivers".