Rushcliffe Borough Council awarded the contract for the management of five of the Council’s leisure centres to Parkwood Leisure in August 2007. In 2011, due to the good value being delivered by Parkwood Leisure and a strong performance with regards to KPIs, the contract was converted to a NPDO and extended by 5 years to 2022.

Parkwood Leisure worked in partnership to manage the closure of the old Rushcliffe Leisure Centre, transitioning the customers, staff and programmes as part of the opening of the new Rushcliffe Arena site in January 2017. The contract between Parkwood Leisure and Rushcliffe Borough Council was extended until July 2025.

Contract highlights:
Increasing active participation - in 2007, the contract welcomed 1,137,798 active visits across its five leisure centres. In 2018, visits reached 1,231,845 across four sites; an increase of nearly 100,000 active visits per year.

Boosting revenue opportunities - in 2019, new sensory lighting equipment was installed in the learner pool at Keyworth Leisure Centre to support users with special needs. Since the install, swim 'pay and play' income has increased by 25%, party hire income by 663% and swimming lessons by 10%.

Maximising partnerships to improve community engagement - Supported by Parkwood Leisure, Rushcliffe Borough Council has worked in partnership with a number of sports organisations and associations to help engage its sites' visitors. These include Swim England, Nottingham Rugby, Nottinghamshire FA and Nottinghamshire Cricket Club. Edwalton Golf Centre, also managed by Parkwood, has also previously held taster sessions in partnership with a local dementia charity.

Future investment - Parkwood Leisure are supporting the council with the development of the new Bingham Leisure Centre, due to open in 2022.

Parkwood Leisure commenced the contract to manage Torbay Leisure Centre on 1st December 2017 for 12 years.

As part of the bid, Parkwood identified £1.7m of investment to improve the facility; working in partnership with the Council who funded the capital improvements, significant upgrades were made to the site which included more than doubling the size of the gym, refurbished squash courts and upgraded changing rooms, as well as the installation of an outdoor artificial pitch.

The facility is a large wet/dry site and also includes a 25m pool and training pool, 8-court sports hall with event seating, café and soft play, plus a British Cycling funded 1.5km outdoor closed road cycling circuit.

There is a lease and management agreement in place between Torbay Council and Parkwood Leisure, who manages the contract via a subcontracting arrangement with Lex Leisure. Lex Leisure Ltd is a Community Investment Company, with charitable objectives to deliver activities which benefit the community. This arrangement provides the Council with confidence that the partnership is financially sustainable as it is underpinned by the extensive experience and commercial expertise of Parkwood Leisure, coupled with a local, bespoke community focus through Lex Leisure.

Contract highlights:

More children learning to swim - The conversion of the main pool and introduction of the learner pool has increased the capacity of the Centre's swimming lesson programme to 600 (Oct 2019) - this is an increase of 100 children each week.

Increased participation and customer satisfaction - Following the investment, customer satisfaction grew from 63% in September 2018 to 90% in September 2019. Active memberships also increased by 400+ new customers per week.

Extension of the partnership - Parkwood Leisure has secured a 25-year agreement with the Riviera International Conference Centre (RICC) in Torquay, South Devon. The new contract will start on 01 April 2021 and will see £1.4m investment into site improvements including a full gym refurbishment, high and low ropes adventure course and new reception area, as well as structural upgrades to the building.

Parkwood Leisure is delighted to announce that Andy Farr will be re-joining the business as Strategic Director from September 2022.

Andy is widely recognised as one of the most innovative and forward-thinking leaders in the sector. He will immediately join our Board of Directors, to help develop and shape the future direction of the business.

Glen Hall, Managing Director of Parkwood said, “Andy is someone I hold in the utmost regard and I am absolutely delighted to welcome him back into the Senior Management team."

Andy commented, “I am delighted to have the opportunity to re-join Parkwood at this exciting time, building on the great work they already deliver across England and Wales.

"In particular, I’m looking forward to focusing on our place-based community well-being work. We will be working closely with specialist local partners and wider Parkwood Group companies across health, outdoor and indoor leisure and cultural services. Ensuring our services are inclusive, accessible and relevant to the communities in which we are privileged to work is a key measure for us.”

Andy will help shape the future strategic direction of the company, including seeking new business opportunities, driving innovation, improving third party partnerships and exploring wider Parkwood Leisure services.

It was a night to remember at the 2022 ukactive Awards for Parkwood Leisure, as the leisure facilities operator picked up four awards.

As the biggest awards to serve the sector, the ukactive Awards recognise and celebrate excellence and innovation across health, wellbeing, and fitness in the UK. Taking place in person for the first time since 2019, the awards ceremony was held last night (Thursday 30th June) at Birmingham’s ICC.

In recognition of its post-COVID-19 recovery, Towcester Centre for Leisure was named Regional Club/Centre of the Year for the Midlands, and also won the coveted National Club/Centre of the Year. All regional winners were entered into the national award, with the club or centre with the highest score from the judging process named the national winner.

Commended for its focus on customers, staff, and community engagement, the centre also underwent extensive refurbishments working in partnership with West Northamptonshire Council during closures as a result of the pandemic, to include a new yoga studio, increased gym space, and upgraded shower and changing facilities.

The Digital Transformation Award recognised organisations who have successfully adopted a digital approach to create a positive and long-lasting impact. The award win celebrates the work of the business over the past 18 months, which has seen Parkwood Leisure transform its digital strategy and technologies to deliver a data-driven customer-centric experience, improving engagement across all touchpoints.

In recognition of its achievements from across the business, Parkwood was also named Outstanding Organisation of the Year. Decided by the judging panel, the award is given to the organisation that demonstrates the highest level of performance, impact and sustainability across the categories entered.

In addition to the four award wins, Parkwood Leisure’s Learn to Swim programme was highly commended in the Business Continuity, Recovery & Success following on from COVID-19 category.

Commenting on the awards, Glen Hall, Managing Director for Parkwood Leisure, said: “Last night’s ukactive Awards was a fantastic celebration for Parkwood Leisure. I’m incredibly proud of what we do, and these achievements represent the importance we place on developing all areas of our business.

“These awards are testament to the hard work and dedication of all staff at our sites, and the work that we’re doing centrally to support our facilities in positively impacting our local communities.”

North Devon’s new state-of-the-art facility, Tarka Leisure Centre, opened in Barnstaple last week (Friday 24th June), combining the town’s leisure facilities into one site.

Following a £15 million investment, the new facility was officially opened by British Winter Olympic Hero Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards, celebrating the new additions including a brand new endless ski slope, which provides residents with the unique opportunity to try out skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing in North Devon.

The new centre is owned by North Devon Council and forms part of a longstanding partnership with Parkwood Leisure, which dates back almost 20 years. The site is part grant-funded and received £1.5 million from the Coastal Communities Fund and £1.8 million from the National Lottery via Sport England.

As part of the development, the existing tennis centre, which already offered six indoor tennis courts, four outdoor courts and a full-size artificial grass football pitch, was upgraded. The new site is now also home to a 25m eight-lane competition swimming pool with a movable floor, a 20m four-lane learner pool, a large 110-station gym with equipment supplied by Life Fitness, two multi-purpose group exercise studios plus indoor cycling studio, as well as a four badminton court-size sports hall. A large indoor soft play, outdoor play area and cafe complete the multi-million pound leisure facility.

Commenting on the new leisure centre, North Devon Council Leader, David Worden, said: "It's been designed and built with customers in mind, who've helped to shape the facilities such as movable floors in the swimming pools, improved access for people with disabilities and skiing too."

Glen Hall, Parkwood Leisure’s Managing Director, said: “This is a fantastic new facility, built through a longstanding relationship with North Devon Council. Parkwood Leisure is focused on the health and wellbeing of the communities we operate in and the new Tarka facility will give the opportunity for everyone in the area to get active, try something new, and offers something truly unique to the area”.

Architects Watson Batty and contractors Speller Metcalfe have delivered the £15 million project, whilst keeping the existing Tarka Tennis Facility and Falcons Gymnastics Academy fully open and operational for the duration of the build.

Tarka Leisure Centre is now open and welcoming visitors.

For more information visit: www.leisurecentre.com/tarka-leisure-centre.

Parkwood Leisure, one of the UK’s leading leisure operators, has reached the milestone of teaching 100,000 children to swim through its Learn To Swim Programme.

Based on the seven-stage national teaching syllabus devised by Swim England, Parkwood Leisure’s Learn To Swim Programme also incorporates dedicated safety outcomes endorsed by the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS).

The programme aims to teach children to swim ‘Safer, Smarter, and Stronger’, with sites also encouraged to tailor their programming to educate children on specific local dangers and hazards. Parkwood Leisure operates 45 swimming pools across England and Wales.

With pools closed for extended periods as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, research by Swim England found that more than two million children missed out on swimming lessons. Since the reopening of facilities in April 2021, Parkwood Leisure has seen a 30% increase in children on its swim programme compared to pre-pandemic levels, with over 47,850 currently enrolled.

During this time, 285 new swim lesson instructors have been recruited in-line with customer demand, with more than 250 of these completing their Level 1 and Level 2 Swimming Teacher qualifications funded by Parkwood Leisure.

The success of the swim programme has been recognised by ukactive, who have named Parkwood Leisure as a finalist in the ‘Business Continuity, Recovery and Success following on from the COVID-19 Pandemic’ category at the upcoming ukactive Awards, with this year’s winners to be announced on 30th June.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Suzanne Gabb, Head of Aquatics at Parkwood Leisure, said: “To reach 100,000 learners is a fantastic achievement for our swim programme. What we offer at Parkwood is truly unique, and to know that we’ve been able to not only teach 100,000 children to swim, but also give them the broader knowledge, skills and understanding of the importance of water safety through our enhanced programme is something we are very proud of.”

This week also marks Drowning Prevention Week, an annual campaign led by the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) to raise awareness of the importance of water safety. The campaign is being promoted across Parkwood Leisure’s facilities.

For more information about Parkwood Leisure’s Learn To Swim Programme, click here.

For more information about Drowning Prevention Week, click here.

Parkwood Leisure, one of the UK’s leading leisure operators, has partnered with boditrax to launch its body composition analysis and activity tracking platform to a selection of its Leisure Centres.

The introduction of the new technology is part of Parkwood Leisure’s strategy to provide personalised experiences for its members and facility users, through access to information to help inform health and wellbeing activities both in-centre and in the community.

Boditrax’s cloud-based health application provides medical-grade body composition analysis, giving users a comprehensive understanding of physical composition, allowing them to set goals and track progress, either through the device in the gym, or remotely via the boditrax app.

The new partnership will see boditrax devices installed at an initial 15 sites, with more facilities to introduce the platform over the coming months as part of Parkwood Leisure’s centre investment plans.

“This is an exciting development for our centres and one that we believe will really enhance our members’ experiences,” says Alex Godfrey, Parkwood Leisure’s Operations Director.

“Boditrax will not only improve engagement with new and existing customers, but it will also support our local initiatives as part of our commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of our communities. We can see our customers are really enjoying using the technology purely from the number of scans and targets that are being completed.”

“Since introducing boditrax, it’s become a key part of our member journey,” says Gary Sheppard, General Manager at Parkwood Health and Fitness Salisbury.

“Not only is it supporting inductions, but existing members are also engaging with it to develop or change their training programmes in-line with fitness goals. It’s easy to use and provides us with another way to personalise and enhance the experience for our members.”

Parkwood Leisure – one of the UK’s leading leisure operators – is offering free access to its Leisure Centres to support talented athletes with the provision of training facilities.

The Promising Athletes Programme is aimed at those competing at national or regional levels in sports recognised by the Sports Councils of England and Wales.

The initiative will provide individuals with free access to fitness facilities, swimming pools and group exercise, as well as off-peak racket sports, for a 12-month period.

After this time, applicants who continue to meet the eligibility criteria can extend their membership for another 12 months.

With more than 80 sport and leisure facilities across England and Wales, including over 60 gyms and 44 swimming pools, Parkwood Leisure is one of the UK’s largest leisure operators.

As part of the programme, members will also receive guest passes to use their local Leisure Centre with friends and family.

Commenting on the new initiative, Glen Hall, MD of Parkwood Leisure, said: “We know that one of the biggest challenges for up-and-coming athletes is not only the availability of facilities but also the cost associated with using them.

"In launching the Promising Athletes Programme, we hope to support local talented athletes enabling them to pursue sporting excellence. We also believe the programme will help nurture future budding athletes to realise their sporting potential."

The Promising Athletes Programme will open for applications on 1 September.

For more information including full eligibility criteria and the online application form, please visit this webpage.