Covid-19 made pets more popular than ever – now luxury residences from New York to Singapore are offering pet concierges, grooming services, mud rooms and dog parks

This has been a global phenomenon: in New York, demand for dogs was “totally unprecedented”, according to non-profit Foster Dogs. In Australia, the RSPCA’s phones have been “running off the hook”. And in the United Kingdom, according to one survey, nearly half of all Britons who already own a pet went and got at least one more.

However, as devoted pet parents faced the prospect of returning to the office and their normal social lives outside the home, it prompted the question: who would take care of a pet newly accustomed to so much attention?

Given that pet ownership was on the rise well before the pandemic and flat living has become the norm in cities everywhere, a number of developers have already taken animal welfare into account.

For example, Waterline Square, a two-hectare, three-building residential development designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, Richard Meier & Partners Architects and KPF on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, provides equally for pets and human residents. The Waterline Club – an extraordinary indoor amenity space designed by the renowned Rockwell Group – is home to an indoor playroom where dogs can socialise, a dog washing station and a dog training studio. At the centre of the development, a park provides outdoor space for canines to run around.

Winter can get chilly in New York City. To save frosty paws, 555TEN, Extell Development’s luxury rental by Hudson Yards, has an outdoor dog run on the 12th floor that is both covered and heated. The property’s management has also teamed with partner company Throw Me a Bone to offer in-house dog walking and feeding services, including people who will spend time with pups when residents are away.