features
Changing rooms: Changing places
Abigail Harris talks to a number of operators about how they are wowing customers with their changing rooms, from low budget local authority sites to high-end luxury boutiques
INDUSTRIAL LUXE
Giles Dean, co-founder, 1Rebel
Site: 1Rebel St Mary Axe, London
Supplier: Craftsman Lockers
“The copper and silver surfacing sets a shining tone to the changing room lockers at our vibrant gym, which opened in the shadow of the gherkin in the City of London in January this year.
“Our boutiques are built with a balance of beauty and function, with engineered layouts designed to inspire and motivate. Intrinsic to that vision are the changing rooms – we’re in no doubt about their importance. Their quality and size represent a major selling point. They’re fully stocked with top-end grooming and skincare products and feature vintage barbers’ chairs, unlimited towels, hair straighteners and charging sockets for mobile phones – not to mention the suspended glass panels in the showers and the hand shower attachments made from fire hoses. The club is designed to create an industrial luxe ambience, so we didn’t want our lockers to have a typical veneer-type finish. The metals suit and complement the overall feel we’re seeking to achieve.”
LOW COST, HIGH QUALITY
Winston Higham, Head of Leisure, Sports Direct Fitness
Site: Sports Direct Fitness Aintree
Supplier: Fit Interiors, distributed by Gymkit UK
“We don’t believe low-cost should mean low quality. There are key areas of our club design and fit-out where we were not prepared to compromise – touchpoints where we believe members will notice extra attention to detail and investment. We wanted to make a statement in our changing rooms, offering high quality facilities in spite of low membership fees.
“We chose Italian locker manufacturer Fit Interiors. Quality and durability are as important to us as the design, as we want our clubs to stand up to the high usage levels and still look good five years on.
“We chose the Fit Interiors padlock locking system for maintenance-free locking, and a large number of lockers are full-length ‘L’ shape in design. There’s feature lighting and plenty of space to create a feeling of luxury and quality.”
SEAMLESS TRANSITION
Mike Baden, CEO, Impulse Leisure
Site: Chanctonbury Leisure Centre, West Sussex
Suppliers: Central, Cubicle Systems, Horne, Dalesauna
“The brief at our Chanctonbury centre was to create a high-end changing experience, with the feel of an exclusive private club, as part of a £740,000 redevelopment of the leisure centre. The whole project was completed in December 2014.
“We opted for premium finishes in order to meet the expectations of our local demographic and to ensure that the 63sq m (679sq ft) changing rooms were in keeping with the rest of the centre, which has been redeveloped to provide a first-class customer experience. This includes an adjacent health suite, featuring a sauna and a steamroom, which also acts as an interchangeable salt room.
“Gone are the days when basic, functional changing rooms were enough to meet members’ needs. Customer expectations have risen and members now expect – and deserve – much more for their money. We worked closely with design company Central to create a clean, open, spacious and welcoming changing environment – a seamless transition from reception to changing to health suite, and a place where our members would want to spend time.”
MODERN STYLE
Dominic Stow, CEO, Limehouse Marina Elite
Site: Limehouse Marina Elite Fitness Health Club, London
Supplier: Safe Space Lockers
“Our luxury fitness centre, based in London’s tranquil Limehouse Marina with the iconic Canary Wharf as its backdrop, opened in December 2014 and has been designed with an urban chic feel.
“We’ve created a stunning environment from the fitness areas through to the changing rooms, where the white, high-gloss two-tier bespoke lockers from Safe Space Lockers have been fitted with the Ojmar OCS digital lock for ease and extra security.
“We wanted to create a fresh, modern and stylish look and this continues with the vanity units, used towel cabinet, cubicles and wardrobes, which are all finished in high-gloss white.
“The quality finish of every detail helps reinforce the club’s high-end status, from the Corian surfaces to the clever use of uplighting, giving a soft edge.”
FAMILY FRIENDLY
Keith Nicholls, Leisure Operations Manager, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council
Site: Llantrisant Leisure Centre
Supplier: Createability
“The transformation of the changing rooms at Llantrisant Leisure Centre – from old and tired to modern and fresh – is astonishing, particularly when you factor in the tight budget. Createability won a Federation of Master Builders Award (FMB) for the recent £3m redevelopment.
“A new open, airy family changing village – with disabled, family, double and single cubicles – has replaced the outmoded single-sex changing, with additional space created by removing the tired health suite as well as a series of corridors that weren’t needed.
“This enabled us to include a bank of private shower cubicles, unusual for a leisure centre. Water-saving measures include taps that switch off automatically, showers that reduce water output by 50 per cent, and toilet cisterns that require less water. Underfloor heating keeps tiles drier and easier to clean. Finishes mirror the new dry-side changing and are robust enough to meet the rigours of public use.”
