London’s Most Exclusive New Spa Boasts Stella McCartney Facials and a Hyperbaric Chamber
The definition of wellness is ever-evolving, but at Surrenne, it encompasses both well-being and longevity. Located in the Maybourne Hotel Group’s recently-debuted all-suite hotel The Emory, Surrenne is an expansive, four-floor spa destination open exclusively to guests of the London hotel, as well as members. The treatment menu is vast, and includes the first-ever facial from Stella McCartney’s sustainable skincare line.
The space was designed by Rémi Tessier and conceptualized by Inge Theron, creative director of spa and wellness for Maybourne and the founder of FaceGym. The Maybourne Hotel Group, which also owns Claridge’s and The Connaught, approached Theron during the coronavirus lockdown, hoping to bring a forward-thinking spa concept to life. Theron first wanted to ensure the brand wouldn’t just be a box-ticking exercise, which she says has “historically been a big issue for the hospitality industry.”
“You can’t just put a wellbeing spa underground, with no natural light, with a sauna, a steam room and some Technogym equipment,” Theron tells Observer. “With that, you’ll never create a sustainable, profitable business. And they agreed. They wanted it to be a really important vertical. We started working on the brand three years ago, but Rémi Tessier had [already] been working on the design for two years before [that].”
Surrenne is, in fact, situated underground, and connected to both The Emory and the adjacent Berkeley hotel. The four-level space includes the first U.K. Tracy Anderson Studio, a gym and fitness studio, seven treatment rooms, a café curated by nutritionist Rose Ferguson, a serene indoor pool and a sensory steam room. Although the pool is subterranean, it’s illuminated by a skylight, which brings much-needed sunlight into the space.
Initially, the spa was planned to be three levels, with a private cinema on the lower floor, but Theron pushed back because she wanted to bring Anderson to London.
“It’s a big get to have Tracy here,” Theron says. “Many other brands have tried to bring her here for years, and for various reasons, it wasn’t the right time. It was really serendipitous. It was something she’d been wanting to do for so long, [and] she had a waitlist of people wanting to join. For us, it was really good to anchor the project with a big name, and certainly, in the early stages of the membership, she was really driving a lot of that. It’s been a very viable, very good relationship so far.”
Anderson isn’t the only big name involved in Surrenne. Several facial treatments incorporate products from plastic surgeon Dr. Lara Devgan, and the brand tapped neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, epigenetics expert Dr. David Sinclair and clinical psychologist Dr. Shauna Shapiro for the scientific advisory board. Rose Ferguson also joined the team as the resident nutritionist. The idea was to make Surrenne more than a spa and gym, and to bring in concepts of holistic wellness and longevity to treat members in a continuous way.
“The holistic approach to wellness at Surrenne resonated with my own philosophy–focusing on the whole person, not just the symptoms,” Ferguson tells Observer. “I offer personalized nutrition and functional medicine consultations. One of the initiatives I’m most excited about at Surrenne is the integration of cutting-edge nutrition science and medical care with traditional wellness practices.”
Beyond facials and massages, members and guests can take advantage of offerings from 3 Peaks Health, helmed by Dr. Mark Mikhail and Dr. Missagh Fini, who are always on call for consultations, bloodwork, functional and diagnostic testing and medical treatments.
“The power of the diagnostics and the availability of a doctor is amazing,” Theron says. “We’re creating a destination that’s actually preventing people from getting ill, preventing people from [needing to constantly go to] the doctor, getting people to adopt a healthy lifestyle or make small behavior changes that will have a huge impact on their lifespan. I really wanted to bring together all of the incredible advancements that my industry is doing, and make it accessible in a place that doesn’t feel like a medical clinic.”
She adds that while some elements can seem New Age-y, everything at Surrenne is based on fact, not supposition. “Everything is science-based, evidence-backed protocols,” Theron says. “It was important to me to bring that data-driven rigor into the space.”
The more traditional spa treatments span from Theron’s signature FaceGym offerings to couples rituals to a bodywork session inspired by ballet movement. Theron wanted to create a balance between the members, who expect more intense treatments, and the hotel guests, who may just want to unwind after a long flight. Surrenne has actually seen travelers booking rooms at The Emory and The Berkeley just for the chance to use the spa.
“I think it’s a massive opportunity for brands like Maybourne, who I now believe will change booking mentality [in hotels],” she says. “Because everybody’s got a great bed, everybody can make a good martini, everyone’s got a farm-to-table steak. But then you add something like a Surrenne, where a traveler like me can come have a workout, I can have my tests, I can do Tracy Anderson, I can go and have a protein drink and spike it with collagen. Offering that is definitely going to give us an edge over our competitors.”
The Stella by Stella McCartney facial is a big draw for Surrenne. The 60-minute treatment incorporates several beauty products created by the British designer, made with 99 percent organic ingredients. The £220 (about $285) facial is exclusive to Surrenne, though the products used are available online. It came about thanks to Theron’s relationship with McCartney and her husband, Alasdhair Willis, the former creative director of FaceGym. Theron wanted McCartney to be involved with Surrenne in part because she admires the designer’s “relentless pursuit of sustainability.”
“I wanted us to celebrate a British brand, but what Stella also does is she speaks to that younger generation,” Theron says. “We’re seeing more and more mums and daughters come to the spa as the younger generation embraces beauty much earlier on. Stella comes to FaceGym with her daughter all the time, so it was obvious that we needed to bring her into Surrenne, as well.”
For Theron, who is currently working on additional spa concepts for the Maybourne Group, Surrenne is special thanks to the attention to detail. The pool has underwater speakers, while the musical soundscapes throughout the spa were created by Theron with AI. Artwork by Damien Hirst and Helle Mardahl adorns the walls, and Theron says she kept “neuroscience concepts” in mind when designing the overall light, sound and smell of the space.
“You don’t know why you feel really good, but all of a sudden, when you enter, you feel really calm,” she says. “We can all do good stuff, but if you want to do great stuff you have to get into the really intuitive detail. Maybourne invented modern-day hospitality with Claridge’s, and the attention to detail there is second to none. For us, it’s very important that we bring all that intuitive nurturing down into the spa, where we can truly nurture you.”
Currently, Surrenne is one of the most exclusive members clubs in London, a city known for its high-end members-only spaces. If the application is accepted, an annual membership costs £10,000, plus a £5,000 joining fee. The club will be capped at 100 members.
“We wanted to offer a very bespoke service,” Theron says. “It’s a bespoke program created for every person, and we really want to get that right for now. That’s our priority. But what’s really exciting for us in the future is to potentially offer retreats. Not necessarily just opening to the public, but someone from Chicago or Asia could come, and we could curate a seven-day or 14-day plan. That’s a really amazing opportunity to woo people away from the more sterile Swiss-based med spas when, when you go there, you are really just stuck. You can go to Harrods or the theater, all while on your plan.”