Take a look inside a $12,500-a-year underground wellness club featuring only the 2nd Tracy Anderson studio in Europe
Polly Thompson
- Surrenne, a luxury wellness and longevity club, has just opened in London's Knightsbridge.
- The four-floor subterranean space features a gold-leaf ceiling, a snow shower, and the UK's only Tracy Anderson studio.
In April a new luxury wellness and longevity club sprung up in London's affluent neighbourhood of Knightsbridge.
Though, sprung up may not be the right choice of word.
Surrenne is a four-floor, 2,000-square-meter gym and spa built underneath The Emory and Berkeley luxury hotels near Hyde Park, right in the heart of one of London's most expensive and exclusive districts.
The space has been designed by Inge Theron, creative director at the Maybourne Hotel group and founder of FaceGym. From temperature to smell to color, she's made every detail of Surrenne almost too perfectly tasteful.
But there's science behind her choices: psychologists were consulted about the colors and lights of each room to enhance the ambiance. Meanwhile, the sound systems have been enhanced with AI to ensure you never hear the same song twice during your stay.
The serene elegance of Surrene is so calming that it's easy to forget you're in the depths of London. Only the subtle waft of what smelled like sewage in a few corners of the club acted as a brief reminder during my visit — a teething issue the staff were covering up with candles.
Besides the beautiful decor, Surrenne has gathered together an all-star line-up of the best health, fitness, and beauty gurus.
"We have curated a group of world-famous thought leaders at a level never seen before in the UK, the people pushing every level of human performance, whether that be through science, diagnostics or fitness," creative director Theron told Business Insider.
Products from Dr. Lara Devgan and Stella McCartney are on offer, as is Theron's own brand FaceGym; nutritionist Rose Ferguson was consulted on the café menu, and Dr. Mark Mikhail from 3 Peaks Health is the club's in-house medical consultant.
And then there's Tracy Anderson.
The celebrity-favoured fitness icon has secured an entire floor at Surrenne for her first-ever studio in the UK — the only other in Europe being in Madrid.
Membership to all of this beauty and expertise will set you back $12,550 a year after the $6,250 joining fee. The club is free to use for guests staying above ground at The Emory or The Berkeley hotels.
However, membership numbers are initially limited to 100 and Theron is looking to fill the club with a like-minded community eager to enhance every aspect of their health and well-being.
She's already selected a few taste-makers to get the community going.
"It's a relatively small number of people who have the same interests, they perhaps travel a lot for work and pleasure but really want that feeling of belonging to the best club in London right now and having their health & fitness journey mapped out for them — all under one roof," said Theron.
If you're unlikely or unable to make the cut, here's a look at what you get as a member of Surrenne.
On the first floor, guests are welcomed to Surrenne by a cafe with a menu curated by nutritionist Rose Ferguson
Surrenne
Books and supplements are on offer for guests while they enjoy a menu curated by model-turned-nutritionist Rose Ferguson.
Green juices and expensive salads are on offer, but as Inge Theron told BI, Surrenne is for those who are serious about their health but may also like to "indulge in a glass of champagne with their friends around the pool."
Next to the cafe, an automatic door filled with water and bubbles slides open to the pool and steam rooms.
Surrenne
A gold-leaf ceiling covers the 22-meter pool, which also enjoys the club's only source of natural light.
Underwater speakers enable members to listen to podcasts of music as they swim.
At the end of the room, guests can use the pink-quartz-lined sauna and steam room. There's also a snow shower, which is exactly what it sounds like — a small space with a shower head out of which it snows, intended as a more gentle approach to cryotherapy.
"You may find other great wellbeing companies or amazing spas but I believe Surrenne is the first of its kind to deliver on both human and space design at this level," said Theron.
Surrenne
The second floor of the wellness retreat features a traditional gym space and yoga studio.
Surrenne
The gym was kitted out with the latest equipment from Technogym and Peloton for members to use with the support of on-hand personal trainers.
The gym equipment trolley could be wheeled to hotel guests' room for those seeking a more private training experience. During the summer months it will be wheeled out to Hyde Park for outside gym sessions.
Next door was a yoga studio big enough for six guests at a time and fitted with a screen covering an entire wall. The hydrogen water tap offered yogis different levels of alkaline or acidic water.
The changing rooms at Surrenne provide guests with everything they might need.
Lockers are fitted with Alice Temperley-designed silk robes, Dyson hair straighteners are available, and a valet service allows guests to leave all their sweaty clothes behind when they leave — next time they return a set of clean clothes will be sitting in their locker.
On joining members will also get a welcome pack with toiletries and Alo-branded gymwear.
Surrenne
Surrenne
On the third floor down, a reception space and retail zone welcome visitors to a floor of treatment rooms and longevity services.
Surrenne
Surrenne
Seven treatment rooms are available for guests at Surrenne, including a couples' room, a hammam, an ashiatsu massage room, and a therapeutic infrared sauna.
Theron told BI that technology-based treatments were an absolute must-have when designing the club.
"LED, RF, EMS, Oxygen, Vitamin Infusions, Ultrasound, non-invasive but really what the clients are looking for now," the creative director said.
The treatment beds have silk sheets — to avoid creases after you've had a facial, of course — and hand-blown glass "artists' palettes" for brushing treatments onto the body.
The walls of treatment rooms are handpainted in soft tones of orange to represent the sunrise and sunset and increase serenity.
Guests get four body treatments or facials included in their annual membership as well as a full-body medical consultation.
Surrenne
The longevity suite features a hyperbaric chamber and Dr. Mark's office — where medical consultations and blood tests take place.
"The idea is that having a GP offering on-site, with an open door policy will in the log run help our members with knowledge of their own bodies and promote preventative care, so that you don't have to get to the GP," Theron told BI.
"Our medical practitioners are not a replacement for your own GP - but a more convenient way to be on top of your own health and wellbeing."
Finally, the fourth floor of Surrenne is dedicated to fitness pioneer Tracy Anderson.
Surrenne
Members get access to the UK-exclusive Tracy Anderson studio at Surrenne, though only 12 times a year. If they want more regular classes, they'll come at an additional cost of $50 a class. Hotel guests pay around $65 per class.
The room itself is heated to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, a little cooler than a hot yoga class. With bouncy floors and resistance bands hanging from the ceiling, it's easy to see why so many obsess over the Anderson "method."
"I believe so much in this. I've been doing it for 10 years," said Kelly, one of the enthusiastic Anderson-coached instructors at Surrenne.
But while pop music plays and guests come to sweat it out for 50-minute classes, like all things at Surrenne, the club's members must take it seriously.
"We don't talk during the method," said Kelly earnestly. "It's a mind-body connection"
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