Anouk Darling, CEO of Scape Australia, discusses Scape’s mission to become The Earth’s Best Living Company, keeping ahead of trends in student needs and some of the challenges facing the Australian purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector.
Anouk is renowned as a disruptive thinker, strategically conceptual and highly creative. She has a global outlook and commercial creativity that has seen her transform brands and companies in luxury retail and publishing. Anouk joined Scape Australia as CEO in 2020 at the highly “unprecedented” time, navigating the company through a global pandemic and advocating for the return of international students to Australia. Anouk is also Chair of Australia’s Student Accommodation Council.
Scape launched in Australia in 2014 and has since become the biggest PBSA owner and operator. Today, Scape is home to over 18,500 beds in 38 buildings across Australia’s four key educational precincts – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide – as well as 10 buildings in planning and development, which will bring the portfolio to 23,000 beds by 2025.
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GSL News: Scape’s vision is to be The Earth’s Best Living Company. What does that look like on a day-to-day basis?
Our vision—to be The Earth’s Best Living Company—isn’t just a statement. It’s a decision-making framework that guides everything we do, from the big strategic moves to the smallest day-to-day interactions.
At a big-picture level, it means we make choices that align with our values. Take acquisitions, for example. Right now, we’re looking at existing operational properties. But if an asset doesn’t meet our sustainability pathway—say, if it’s an all-gas building with no way to transition to net zero—we won’t acquire it. That’s because best isn’t just about growth; it’s about responsible growth.
At a human level, it comes down to the people in our buildings every day. Our front-of-house teams are the heartbeat of Scape. They’re the ones making sure our residents feel safe, supported, and at home. Being The Earth’s Best Living Company means creating an environment where students aren’t just tenants—they’re part of a community. And that happens in the little moments: the way our teams greet students, the extra effort they put in to help someone settle in, the care they show when a resident is struggling. I hear the most incredible stories from our teams about the way they go above and beyond—it’s part of Scape’s DNA.
Our vision also shapes how we hire. We’re upfront about what it means to work at Scape—we are a high-performance, in-person culture. There’s no set work-from-home policy here because our teams on the ground are in buildings 24/7, including Christmas Day. If they have to be there, then why should Head Office operate differently? Of course, we’re flexible when it matters—if someone has a sick child or needs to step out for something, that’s just being human. But the core of our culture is about being together, in the room, collaborating in real-time.
I’ve always believed in the Medici effect—the idea that true innovation happens when people with different backgrounds and expertise come together in one space to problem-solve. That’s how the Renaissance was born, and it’s how great ideas still happen today. You can’t replicate that energy on a Teams call. When you’re in the office, surrounded by brilliant, ambitious people, you absorb ideas, you learn faster, and you push each other to be better. That’s why we have strong retention—the people who join Scape know what they’re signing up for, and they thrive in it.
Being The Earth’s Best Living Company isn’t just about our properties—it’s about our people, our culture, and the way we show up every single day. It’s about doing what’s right, even when it’s hard. And that’s something I’m incredibly proud of.
GSL News: How do you keep your finger on the pulse in terms of emerging trends in student accommodation, particularly in terms of student needs and wants?
I keep my finger on the pulse in a few ways, but the biggest one is intuition—I’ve always had this ability to sense where things are heading before they become mainstream. Even when I was running a branding agency and leading strategy planning, I was always just that bit ahead of the curve. And that hasn’t changed.
Right now, we’re designing buildings for four years into the future, and I’m already thinking about things like “un-tech” spaces—rooms that are completely detuned, no power points, no distractions, just a quiet, green space where students can sit and be still. Maybe they choose a soundscape or a visual scape, but that’s it. When I first brought it up, people looked at me like I was crazy—but I know it’s coming. The next generation is going to crave moments of disconnection as much as they crave connectivity, and we need to be ready for that shift.
Beyond intuition, I travel—a lot. You can see trends ripple across industries: from wellbeing to food, from fitness to fashion. Fashion is a great indicator—when you see styles moving from deconstructed to reconstructed, more fluid and unisex, it signals broader cultural shifts in identity, self-expression, and belonging. That’s directly relevant to what we do in student living. We’re constantly watching behaviours, understanding what brands Gen Z gravitates toward, and responding to how they engage with their spaces.
I also make a habit of reading outside my industry. Whenever I’m at an airport, I grab two magazines—one in a category I know well and another I have zero interest in, like cars. The challenge is: how do I take insights from that world and apply them to ours? That cross-industry thinking is where the magic happens.
We also listen to our students. We have over 18,000 students living with us, and that’s a massive learning environment in itself. We look at social listening tools, feedback data, and emerging behaviours. Our offshore sales teams across Northeast and Southeast Asia keep us tapped into regional trends, so we know what’s influencing students before they even arrive in Australia.
A perfect example of this is our Glam Room in Redfern. It’s a space designed specifically for how Gen Z gets ready for a night out—Hollywood mirrors, Dyson hair straighteners, mini-fridges, and countertop space for makeup. Why? Because young people don’t get ready alone. They pile into tiny bedrooms, crowd around one mirror, do their hair and makeup together, hype each other up—then go out. So we created a space where they could do exactly that, but better. And guess what? It’s always in use.
The key is constant curiosity—reading, traveling, listening, and always questioning what’s next. We’re not just designing spaces for today’s students; we’re building for the students of the future.
GSL News: Have you noticed any significant shifts in the PBSA market in Australia during your time at Scape?
The biggest shift? The sector is finally getting the recognition it deserves—but it’s also been a frustrating ride.
We’re still massively undersupplied, even though there’s been rapid growth. A lot of PBSA was built during lockdowns and COVID, but demand is still outpacing supply. What’s changed is that there’s now a stronger awareness of how vital our sector is to Australia’s economy. International education is Australia’s fourth-largest export—right behind iron ore, coal, and gas—and PBSA is a critical part of making that possible.
We’re also part of the solution to the housing crisis. Purpose-built student accommodation takes students out of the residential rental market, freeing up homes that would otherwise be occupied by students looking for shared housing. Instead of recognizing that, we’ve been caught in the crossfire of political debates around immigration, cost of living, and housing supply. The government has been toying with the idea of student caps, which is completely counterproductive. If they pulled the trigger on extreme restrictions—which they won’t, because it would be too big a hit to the economy—it would leave buildings like ours empty while universities struggle with funding shortfalls and businesses lose a key workforce.
And let’s talk about that workforce—international students contribute an average of $4,400 a month to hospitality and retail, which is more than the average Australian household. They also fill critical job gaps, particularly in industries like hospitality and healthcare. On top of that, their visiting friends and family are the biggest contributors to Australian tourism. Yet, despite all this, the sector has been politicized. With an election coming, the government is leaning into a popular narrative of reducing migration and cutting back on international students to address cost-of-living pressures. But that’s not a sustainable solution—and if they push too hard, the impact in 12 months will be brutal.
The Student Accommodation Council has been working hard to present the facts—we’ve commissioned research from Accenture and Mandala to demonstrate just how critical PBSA is to the economy and housing market. But right now, it feels like logic is being drowned out by politics. The reality is, our sector underpins international education, supports economic growth, and provides a solution to housing supply issues—not a problem. And it’s time that was properly acknowledged.
GSL News: Last year we watched with interest the attempts to pass the ESOS Act through the Australian Senate, which would have resulted in a cap on international students. How was this viewed by the PBSA sector?
We were absolutely against the ESOS Act passing because it would have given the government the power to set an arbitrary cap on international students. The bill itself didn’t lock in a specific number—it just created the framework for any future government to impose restrictions at will. And that’s a dangerous precedent.
A cap is not the solution. Any policy that tries to control demand instead of stimulating supply is fundamentally flawed. Instead of shutting the door on international students, we should be asking: Why aren’t we making it easier to build more housing? Where are the planning reforms, tax incentives, and capital flow strategies that would actually speed up development? The housing crisis isn’t new—it’s a structural issue 20 years in the making. It won’t be solved in two years, and capping student numbers is just a short-term political play that ignores the real problem.
For now, the ESOS Bill has been shelved, but the concern is that it could be pulled out of the bottom drawer at any time. What we need is a long-term strategy, not knee-jerk reactions to cost-of-living headlines.
That said, one positive shift has come out of this: the PBSA sector and universities have never been more aligned. Historically, there was a gap between us, but the lobbying efforts around this bill have strengthened those relationships. We’re now working as true partners, because we all recognise that international education is a major economic driver, and PBSA is a critical piece of the puzzle. It’s about moving forward together—not limiting growth through restrictive policies.
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Stay tuned for Part 2 of our inteview with Anouk in GSL’s soon-to-be-launched digital magazine. The residential living sector is evolving rapidly, and our new GSL digital magazine aims to keep you ahead. More than just a publication, it’s an intelligence platform that reflects our mission of unlocking knowledge for the sector. From in-depth analysis and exclusive leadership interviews to sustainability and wellbeing discussions, we are unlocking the insights, opportunities, and people driving change in residential living.
