Galway woman aims to improve nature of living and working in city setting

A native of Ardrahan is behind a new company that aims to improve the nature of living and working in an urban setting.

Lisa Geoghegan had a background in real estate, working in property surveying before being appointed Tenant Relationship Manager in a residential development in Leopardstown, Dublin, where over 6,000 people lived.

Here in Central Park, she set up a programme called Live, Work, Grow where she organised activities such as fitness classes, staged food markets and created events which allowed residents to get to know their neighbours and feel part of a community.

Its success proved there was a gap in the market for large residential and corporate buildings to improve the interaction between tenants and landlords, so she took the plunge of setting up her own business in 2019 called Sonalife.

So far, the company is involved with three different landlords which between them lease two million square feet of real estate in Dublin.

They also have contracts to stage events for several high-profile companies, with the promise of work with a number of clients about to finish large scale developments this year.

“There are a lot of international investment funds which manage buildings in Ireland and they are interested in improving the experience for tenants and in building relationships between tenants in order to create a five-start experience from start to finish,” she explains.

“It’s the future of property as many of these new developments have residents’ lounges, fitness studios, cinemas, areas to hang out and meet the neighbours, so the focus is on creating a vibrant community, not just leasing a building.”

Six months after launching the Dublin-based company came the lockdown and Lisa had to switch to online engagement.

“We set up an online community experience and reached out to people in apartments either by themselves or sharing with people they didn’t know well. Based on the feedback we received, we found it really benefited so many people, which is why I’m so passionate about this.

“When you live in an apartment block, the only interaction you may have with your neighbours is an awkward nod at the lift, which is really different to living in Ardrahan where you know everybody.”

Setting up her own business was not too daunting for Lisa as she had grown up working in her father’s car dealership.

The next step for the company that employs two others is the launch of a community platform by the middle of the year to streamline the user experience and provide more community benefits for people who live and work in high rise buildings.

“I’m very excited about this and we’re hoping to scale up for this aspect of the business. I’m very optimistic. We’re lucky to be working with a number of really good companies and during the lockdown we were inundated with proposals from landlords just by word of mouth,” she explains.

“A lot of these developments have been delayed because of the lockdown but we’re hoping to sign a number of clients this year.”