Relaxation — with a helping of exercise and biohacking
An intelligent skin scanner, holistic exercise treatments, and a social space with its own doctors
The spa world might seem a slow-paced, zen sort of place, infused with relaxing scents, but there are some exciting advances afoot. Here the Luxury editors bring you all the news from the cutting edge of wellness. There a sci-fi mole-mapping machine, a bold reinvention of the hotel gym, and — the ultimate — Carole Bamford’s new spa. You may now relax.
The mole mapper
I’m in my smalls for work . . . again. This time I’m trialling the UK’s first AI whole-body 3D imaging system (officially titled VECTRA WB360). The spot for my near-nudity is OneWelbeck, a new diagnostics and day-case surgery facility in Marylebone, central London, where velvet-seated waiting rooms make it feel more chic hotel lobby than somewhere to hang about for, say, bladder-function tests.
Dr Rachael Morris-Jones, a consultant dermatologist, goes through my sun-damage history (a lot) and my family cancer history (quite a lot) before circling with a pen certain moles for further dermatoscopy imaging. The good bit is that instead of going through the old-school mole-mapping drill — hours having every inch of my body documented with a camera and a tape measure — I have to stand still, arms out, for only ten seconds.
Like magic, the new machine, which costs half a million quid and looks like two slices of a giant, grey, plastic bagel, produces 90 images and a 3D avatar of my body, showing my skin surface in terrifying macro detail. When the nurse announces, “You have 639 moles” it’s a bit like “How many Smarties in the jar?” — there are always more than you think.
The machine has been plumbed with the details of thousands of lesions, then, thanks to AI, searches for familiarities and delivers a rating for each mole, from hallelujah-you’re-clear 1 to very-dodgy 10. (For now, phew, I’m fine.) And each time the process is repeated (ideally every year), any changes, abnormalities or new moles will be flagged. Pesky lesions on the cusp, which could evade even the beadiest-eyed specialist, can be removed before becoming malignant.
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There’s much to question about the ethics of AI, but given that Cancer Research UK reports an average of 16,744 new cases of melanoma and 155,985 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer each year, this machine gets a solid thumbs-up from me.
From £495, onewelbeck.com
Alice B-B
Carole’s club
The missing piece in the Chipping Norton set’s lifestyle puzzle has arrived. It’s the Club by Bamford, a members’ social wellness space delivered by the Cotswolds’ fairy godmother, Carole Bamford.
It follows pubs, restaurants, cosy cottages for rent, an organic farm shop and a spa tending to fragrant visitors in a crystal-twinkling and fountain-tinkling space. But this new club takes wellbeing to the next level. Set in 3,500 acres of Daylesford’s organic farmland, it’s enough to make even the most spoilt jaws drop: a 25m recycled-steel indoor pool, a Spin and Pilates studio and a 340 sq m workout space filled with Technogym gear and natural light from vast windows overlooking the fields. Then comes the newfangled biohacking stuff: a cryotherapy chamber, red-light bed, infrared sauna, and six outdoor ice baths overlooking an orchard, for group breathwork and cold-immersion sessions.
Beyond the fruit trees are two padel courts and an outdoor fitness circuit complete with Lord Bamford’s cast-off JCB digger tyres for alternative weightlifting. The restaurant has a roaring fire for chilly days and a sun-baked terrace for clement days, with views over the cots (sheep enclosures) and wolds (hills).
However, the feature that propels the club from just another swanky gym to a seriously impressive wellbeing facility is the appointment of Effect Doctors: a group of practitioners led by the medical director William Turner. Every member is offered a package that includes blood screening and blood pressure, weight and metabolic tests, followed by appropriate specialist referrals and IV infusions. Effect Doctors says it wants members to swap a reactive approach to health (waiting for a red flag) for a proactive approach (regular screening to deal with warnings before they become issues).
Don’t expect the team at the Club by Bamford to rest on their laurels: they’re sure to be at the vanguard as wellbeing technology and trends develop. There are already whispers of outdoor meditation pods . . .
From £3,500 a year, bamfordclub.com
Alice B-B
A gym with spa benefits
Rarely is the most exciting place in a luxury hotel the gym — typically a dispiriting basement in which exercise balls roll about like tumbleweed. Which is why, should we be in search of “wellness”, we are more likely to head to the spa to wallow like happy hippos in marble-clad pools, imagining that we are somehow doing something healthy.
Stephen Price is hoping to change things with Movementum, “a bridge between the treatment room and the gym”, combining the pleasures of the spa with the benefits of movement. His flagship space in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge, central London, overlooks the pool and is packed with up-to-the-minute fitness devices — not a dusty exercise ball in sight.
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Here, the Movementum team offers active massage treatments using a luxury range of balms and oils, plus small, 25-minute classes — including Pilates, yoga, breath work and assisted stretching — which together act as a preparation for a more intense workout or aid recovery after one. They also help people to understand better how their bodies work. “Confidence, motivation and physical capability — that is the point,” says Price.
A former professional cricketer turned physiotherapist, Price was the personal trainer to Alexander (Lee) McQueen. The designer invested in Price’s first gym, SP&Co, an exclusive space in Chelsea where only one person is trained at any time. It still exists and offers its personalised health package to Hollywood actors, Saudi princes and business titans, the experience and discretion of Price’s team appealing to an elite crowd.
Movementum was born when Price became involved with oncology care and the recovery of cancer patients. The brand is testament to his dedication to the idea that movement — “physical literacy” — really is the key to mental and physical health. He created the system in consultation with academics and sports and medical professionals, and plans to expand it into hotels, spas and gyms globally. He is also working on growing other parts of his SP&Co group, including a training academy.
“Lee [McQueen] always wanted me to create the LVMH of health and fitness — that’s what he said when he invested,” says Price. “And I’ve got an obligation, with all my experience in the premium end, to use that experience to create something wider, something with a positive impact.” movementumuk.com
Gavanndra Hodge
