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Club refurbishment: That's what gets results
As 80s pop group Bananarama once sang: ‘It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it’.
Abigail Harris takes a look at a number of fitness facilities living by the lyrics and responding to the diverse needs of their existing members and potential customers. From remodelled spaces to fully functional flooring, these refurbishments are actively driving participation...
Boxing clever
Leisure design and build specialist Createability was tasked with redeveloping the old snooker and squash club in Lewsey Park, Luton, to provide a new complex with much-needed fitness, squash and boxing facilities.
The £1.5m project followed a feasibility study – including discussions with Sport England, as well as part-funders the Amateur Boxing Association for England and English Squash & Racketball – which revealed a lack of accessible facilities in the area.
Lewsey Sports Park, managed by Active Luton, opened early in 2012 and is now the base for Lewsey Boxing Club. Luton and Dunstable Squash and Rackets Club is also using the centre.
Four original squash courts remain, but the former two-floor snooker room has been converted into a heavy weights room on the ground floor and boxing facilities above. Two studios, changing rooms and a 70-station health and fitness suite with glazed wall overlooking the parkland have been created.
Helen Barnett, Active Luton’s chief executive, says: “Lewsey has had inadequate sports facilities for far too long, leading to worryingly low participation levels, so this has been a massive boost for the local community. We’ve seen a rise in participation, plus increased use of the adjacent swimming pool, driven up by customers taking joint gym/swim memberships. Boxing participation is increasing too.”
The centre required major remodelling, according to Createability MD Ian Cotgrave, who says: “This was a challenging project as is always the case with older buildings, but the end result has delivered a community hub, which has seen large numbers with ‘roaming’ memberships migrating to Lewsey.”
Zoned for perfection
According to Lincoln locals, Yarborough Leisure Centre – once home to two of Britain’s Olympic swimmers, Mark Foster and Lizzie Simmonds – is one of the town’s best kept secrets. But that’s about to change following a £150,000 refurbishment of its 3,000sq m gym.
Sport and exercise charity Active Nation, which manages the centre, has launched an Exercise Experience encouraging ‘supporters’ (its term for members) to focus on short, 30-minute exercise sessions on a regular basis, rather than lengthy workouts.
The overhaul includes all new Precor cardiovascular equipment – showcasing Precor’s new AMT with Open Stride as well as treadmills, bikes and elliptical cross-trainers – with the aim of providing as much choice as possible to assist motivation. The gym also includes a new layout for free weights and an improved zone for core workouts, featuring pieces from Precor’s compact S-Line strength range.
Programme cards have been designed for specific goals and experience levels, and sections of the gym zoned to create areas for small group training and core/strength or circuit-style workouts.
Active Nation’s group commercial manager Stuart Martin says: “We’re undergoing refurbishments to make our gyms look ‘best in class’. Precor understood exactly what we were aiming for and showed us visuals of how we could make that happen. Our Precor account manager is an integral part of our team and has been key in laying this out, stretching our thinking and imagination regarding what we could do.
“The refurbishments are focused around the delivery of our Exercise Experience and the result is like the pick ’n’ mix sweet counter. Supporters can pick and choose the areas and the exercises they want to do. The gym layout is key to this, and is helping supporters make a longer-term habitual commitment to sport and exercise.”
Getting back to fitness
As part of a plan to bring physiotherapy provision in-house, David Lloyd Leisure upgraded existing facilities at six of its sites last spring, creating dedicated physiotherapy treatment rooms which already get around 40 bookings a week.
The three key sites – Basildon, Gidea Park and Southampton – required major work to convert existing shop areas into professional physiotherapy suites. The six-week redevelopment programme was broadly similar across each location, including the installation of new lighting, power data, flooring and ceilings.
However, as PE Contracts MD Dominic Evans explains, his company faced a number of unexpected challenges in completing the refurbishment project: “The external condenser units for one HVAC [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system] had to be housed within an outsourced nursery playground inside the club. However – with the team well-versed in the highest standards of health and safety, as well as with the demands of working within an operational leisure environment – we effectively phased and segregated the work area to minimise disruption and ensure a smooth path to completion.”
Elsewhere an existing shop had a large glazed front, which needed to be removed. PE Contracts worked out of hours to ensure the club was ready to welcome members the next morning.
John Mullen, director of construction at David Lloyd Leisure, says: “PE Contracts was able to be responsive to a moving brief, limited budget and tight programme, with an ability to react.”
9–5 becomes six3nine
SIX3NINE in London’s Covent Garden is a unique space where the floor is designed to act as a piece of fitness equipment.
“From the 10-metre track and clock face to the agility ladder and TRX grading lines, the markings enable our trainers to use the club in ways our clients least expect,” explains James Conci-Mitchell, the ex-army officer, personal trainer and visionary behind SIX3NINE, which opened in May 2012.
Looking for high quality flooring and equipment, backed up with the knowledge and expertise needed to offer the right solution for the former office space, Conci-Mitchell contacted Escape Fitness.
The existing floor was not equipped to cope with the rigours of a fully-functioning gym, so the area had to be levelled and screeded before any flooring was installed. The floor colours were then matched with the gym’s branding and designed to include specific floor markings, including a sprint track and the gym’s logo, which had to be superimposed. The sprint track also had to be hand-painted with polyurethane paints, rather than printed on – all of which created a totally bespoke installation.
Paul Lipscombe, international flooring projects manager for Escape Fitness, says: “Working on the SIX3NINE studio was incredibly challenging as James wanted to create perfection for the facility, which is exactly what was achieved. The floor is amazing – no longer just a space to put the equipment on, but a visual masterpiece with cool functional training markings.”
Private standards on a public purse
The £2.8m redevelopment of Llantrisant Leisure Centre in Mid Glamorgan, Wales, is a good example of the effectiveness of public-private partnerships, demonstrating how new leisure facilities can be created at a low cost and within council budgets.
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council appointed development partner Alliance Leisure to carry out the refurbishment and manage the three-stage project, while leisure, design and build contractor Createability was brought in to execute the building work, which started in September 2012.
Phase one, which opened in December, includes a 90-station, 450sq m family fitness suite with interactive bikes, dance mats and the first Life Fitness SYNRGY functional equipment in South Wales. There is also a new studio and refurbished changing rooms.
Opened in January, phase two saw 394sq m conference facilities created on a mezzanine floor above the fitness suite, which will double as a multi-purpose studio and bar/meeting room.
The third phase of the project, which includes a new swimming pool changing village, reception and cafe area, completes next month.
Paul Cluett, Alliance Leisure’s commercial director, says: “The first phase has been very well received by customers, with 150 memberships sold in the first two weeks. We hope this will inspire more people to become active, reaping the physical and social benefits.”
Work is underway in Madrid on one of Europe’s most significant multi-functional complexes, ...
