Club Vertus is building a virtual community bringing Canary Wharf’s vibrant community into residents’ apartments. Residents at No. 10 George Street have taken part in a number of events so far online with a host of other great activities in the diary.

Humble Grape, a local wine stockist who provide hand-crafted wines for Club Vertus’ automatic wine dispensers, recently hosted an online wine tasting event for residents recently. Around thirteen apartments took part and residents welcomed the thought that had gone into the event.

Ahead of the virtual wine tasting evening, each apartment taking part was sent a contact-free bottle of Quinta de Saes Cloheita Tinto, from Portugal’s Dão region, free of charge. One of Humble Grape’s leading sommeliers talked residents through how to taste the wine from the region known as the Burgundy of Portugal, where red wine gets its colouring from, the specific tasting notes of the wine and the history of the vineyard it’s produced by.

The feedback from residents was positive, with many expressing they felt as though they were transported to the warm, dry region of Dão for an evening. This event was so successful that Club Vertus will be hosting another wine tasting event in partnership with Humble Grape in the coming weeks.

Alastair Mullens, Head of Vertus commented: “The idea of community has always been an important one for us at Vertus and with the current lockdown measures in place, this has never been more prominent. Even though apartment front doors are shut, it doesn’t mean that people should feel lonely or isolated. We’re very happy to be able to work with our suppliers to provide our residents with an excellent online virtual community, offering online events and fitness classes. We hope that this feeling of community brings a little bit of light-hearted fun to their days.”

Antidote, the operators of the gym studio space at 10 George Street are holding a number of online and video classes. Residents have virtual access to different classes and personal training sessions where all they need is a water bottle, a chair and a towel to get involved.

Fitness consultant Errol Richardson, from Antidote commented: “There has never been a more important time to help our residents look after their physical and mental health. Inactivity, stress and social isolation are key factors in the development of chronic disease and acceleration of the ageing process. To help combat this, the team at Vertus’ Antidote studio continue to provide a varied and exciting wellness programme to all residents via video link. Residents have been enjoying one-to-one personal training, yoga, pilates and meditation sessions, as well as a timetable of group classes including HIIT, Metcon and Boxfit”.

In addition to wine tasting and fitness classes, residents at 10 George Street had the opportunity to put their knowledge to the test in a virtual quiz. Answer sheets were delivered to residents’ doors, contact-free, with a number of apartments partaking. The quiz included two picture rounds, multiple-choice questions, general knowledge questions and a link round which the players enjoyed the most.

Residents took the opportunity to get to know one another throughout the quiz and chatted in-between each round. The community spirit of the event is really evident as the lucky winner of the quiz decided they wanted to share their prize, a case of either red or white wine from stockists Humble Grape, with the other residents who took part. In testing times, it’s lovely to see residents coming together (virtually) to raise a glass of Cantina Ronca Pinot Grigio, the case of white wine gifted to the winner by Vertus.

With residents really settling into the virtual Vertus community, more events and classes are being planned for the future. Ensuring events such as these continue to bring people together is paramount to protect community not just at 10 George Street, but across the country; where reports of loneliness and mental health concerns are elevated in the current pandemic.

10 George Street comprises 327 units, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments, with prices starting from £2,002 per calendar month. For more information, visit www.thisisvertus.com.