Credit: Six Senses

What we’ve created is a space of belonging, culture, sustainability and connection enriched by a robust and advanced wellness offering
– Anna Bjurstam, wellness pioneer and strategic advisor for Six Senses

Six Senses Place, a members’ club, has debuted at the brand’s first major urban hotel – Six Senses London – to provide a space for both social life and serious wellness.

The hotel, which has 109 guestrooms and 14 branded residences, is housed within the historic Whitely building. The site, which used to be a department store dating back to 1883, is undergoing a £1 billion (US$1.4 billion, €1.2 billion) mixed-use redevelopment by Foster + Partners.

Nick Yarnell, Six Senses London’s general manager, describes the way the brand’s resort DNA has been translated into a city context for the first time in the latest edition of Spa Business.

Yarnell said: “Wellness and sustainability are universal values and are perhaps even more vital in the heart of a metropolis. We set out to create a sanctuary that allows Londoners and city visitors alike to disconnect, reset and reconnect.”

Everything wellness-related at the hotel is led by wellness director, Taffryn Kinsey-Ellis, who heads up a team of more than 30 therapists, trainers and specialists.

Six Senses Place

Six Senses Place has been designed to integrate joy, wellness, culture and connection – with the understanding that the lines between work, exercise and socialising have become blurred.

In the latest edition of Spa Business, Anna Bjurstam, wellness pioneer and strategic advisor for Six Senses, discusses the concept and how infrastructure has been created to avoid mistakes made by traditional social clubs that have unsuccessfully tried to bolt on wellness.

Bjurstam said, “At Six Senses, we already had the wellness foundation. So we flipped the model. What we’ve created is a space of belonging, culture, sustainability and connection enriched by a robust and advanced wellness offering. And crucially, it’s voluntary. You can be fully social and never enter Six Senses Spa. Or you can spend your days immersed in biohacking and breathwork, with just the occasional social touchpoint.”

It is a social/work/wellbeing club with a bar and lounge, restaurant, private dining rooms and co-working and meeting spaces. The standout feature is the Longevity Medical Clinic operated by Hum2n, which boasts in-depth diagnostics and personalised protocols. These include IV therapy and hyperbaric oxygen treatments.

Programming will include, among other things,  solstice rituals, story circles and breathwork. 

Annual memberships range from £3,000 (US$4,073, €3,440) to £37,000 (US$50,239, €42,433).

Hotel guests become honorary members of Six Senses Place.

Bjurstam also revealed the next Six Senses Place is expected to open in Tel Aviv, Israel, which she described as a very different city with its own rhythm, needs and culture "that is still discovering what a club culture can be."

It's worth noting that Six Senses Place is an intentionally separate location from the Six Senses Spa.

Six Senses Spa

The 2,300sq m Six Senses Spa stretches across one expansive floor beneath the hotel and is anchored by a 22m lap pool and hydrothermal experiences by Barr+Wray, including a cold plunge and magnesium pool, a steamroom, Finnish sauna and bio sauna. These form the basis of the thermal journey.

Corridors lead past reflecting pools to the Recovery Lounge. Another first for Six Senses, the lounge offers interventions such as a vibroacoustic bed to reset the nervous system, compression boots and a vibration roller for stiff muscles.

A 325sq m fitness centre includes a light-filled studio for aerial yoga as well as a biohacking lounge featuring high-tech devices such as Vasper – the cooling, compression and training system – a HIIT Carol bike, a spine inversion table and a Juvent vibration platform. 

Body and face therapies by UK skincare specialist Annee de Mamiel, Dr Burgener Switzerland and CBD product brand Kloris are offered in one of 13 treatment rooms. A selection of services for children, including ‘foot mapping’ (reflexology) and funky nail art, is offered as part of the Grow with Six Senses programme. 

Lemi has supplied a range of treatment equipment, including its Florence and Spa Dream treatment beds, its Tesera beauty chairs and the chaise longue Harmony Lounge. Myndstream is also a supplier of health and wellness music for the property.

Another area boasts further facilities by Barr+Wray, including a hammam, an infrared sauna and a flotation pod. There is also a red light bed, a cryotherapy chamber and a relaxation room with projections by Louie Schwartzberg.

The experience concludes in the Alchemy Bar, where British seasonal herbs become blends to take home.