In a world where use is replacing ownership, the collaborative economy is developing at breakneck speed. Citizens are becoming aware and seeking out alternative solutions to prevent waste. Communities are getting organised. Smiile, the first local French platform, offers a simple, collaborative tool to allow everyone to act at their own level. Whether for recreating social links, communicating or even pooling services, purchases or journeys, the Smiile solution involves all players in local life (residents, local authorities, shops, associations, etc.) on a single sharing platform. The start-up already has over 400,000 connected neighbours and 3000 connected apartment blocks.

A positive communication tool for refurbishment

Sharing, solidarity, innovation, trust, transparency and proximity are the values that sum up Smiile the best. They rang true with Bouygues Construction, which now offers this solution to its clients as part of the Group’s combined renovation offer, Wizom Réhabilitation. It is a better way to live together: all players involved in design, renovation, operation and maintenance have a key role via the Smiile interface. The constructor, the tenant relations manager, the lessor, the custodian and, first and foremost, the tenant, are associated before, during and after the realisation. Jacques Crolle, Sales Director at Bouygues Construction, talked to us about it. “We created the WIZOM Réhabilitation offer jointly with our clients in 2018. As constructors, and sometimes designers, we wanted to incorporate usage in order to make projects meaningful. Refurbishing means we can continue to address a major social issue: how can we get residents involved in the life of their neighbourhood, to make sure this refurbishment marks a new departure? This question is of interest to our clients.  One of their aims is to provide spaces that are pleasant to live in. We want to contribute to letting people live together better, by turning their project into a moment of sharing and conviviality that continues even after the construction is complete. To lay this foundation for a more sustainable and inclusive society, Smiile, a communication tool aimed at residents during that crucial period when their homes are being refurbished, struck us as a high-value-added partner. ” A win-win partnership: Smiile gives Bouygues Construction its solutions, innovations and services. In return, being incorporated into the WIZOM Réhabilitation offer not only lets this dynamic start-up extend its portfolio and reputation but also to improve its offer continuously based on feedback from the field.

A permanent communication tool for lessors

During collaborations with Bouygues Construction, Smiile is used as an accompanying tool when refurbishing occupied sites. Thanks to the application, the tenants and local residents are informed of upcoming work in their building or in the surrounding ones, and receive information from their lessor. Over and above the refurbishment aspect, however, Smiile is a powerful real-time communication tool for lessors. The start-up gives them a way of strengthening the social fabric, collaborative services and sharing within their own estate. This genuine added value survives well beyond the end of refurbishment. Over the past six months, Smiile has already been proposed, during the commercial phase, in around fifty Bouygues Construction refurbishment projects. Around twenty of these proposals were accepted and 3400 homes will soon be able to benefit from this new service.The solution is also available for lessors of new accommodation.