We’ve seen a 112 per cent growth in membership and our social value is in excess of £12.5m

You joined Sandwell Leisure Trust (now Kore Sandwell) as CEO three years ago, what was the situation at the time?
The relationship between the trust and the council was very strained. Staff had even been striking outside the leisure centres.

The council – which was in special measures at the time – had terminated the management contract and was planning to set up a local authority trading company (LATCO).

Part of the reason for the termination of the contract was that the parties were unable to agree on a business plan, coupled with the fact that there was inconsistent reporting by the trust at the time.

There was a lot to untangle but I knew I was going into a challenging environment and I’ve always liked a challenge.

How did you go about making changes?
The council had a change of mind about the LATCO when they realised they’d have to renegotiate all the utility rates when they were at their highest, which would have cost circa an extra £2.5m. So the contract was extended from May 2023 to 2027 which is when the utility contracts ran to, which helped to steady the ship.

We’ve noticed people who’ve had an induction on the EGYM equipment have an improved retention rate are engaging more regularly

I did a leadership team restructure and brought in a new head of commercial and head of HR and managed to establish a good relationship with the council and the board quite quickly – I think everybody recognised the value of having a middleman to facilitate the relationship. There hadn't been an employee satisfaction survey for about 15 years and I think there was a feeling from the team that they thought nobody cared about their opinion.

It’s encouraging to see from our surveys over the last two years that satisfaction rates have gone up and we're just about to launch the third survey now. We’re still working on the culture piece but we've introduced a range of new benefits for the team that have built more trust in the organisation.

What’s the area like?
We run eight facilities in the 12th most deprived borough in England, which has the highest obesity rates for 10- and 11-year-olds in the country. It’s very diverse culturally – 45 per cent are people of colour – which means complexities around programming and operations.   

Policies to tackle inequalities include offering free swimming to under-18s and over-60s during non-term time. The Portway pass allows free or heavily discounted membership to a range of users, including those who receive PIP, income support, disability benefit, or school pupils with SEN needs.

We offer women-only sessions across all the sites and work closely with adult services to provide a range of programmes for adults with mental and physical disabilities.

The trust’s rebrand to Kore will ensure we’re well positioned to bid for other contracts or diversify, for example, by offering Kore Padel as a standalone

We've got a really good relationship with the faith network. We reached out to them and asked what we need to do differently to help people within their community who may find the gym intimidating or feel it isn't necessary for them. Our team has completed ethnic diversity training to understand the things that might make people self-conscious and we’re definitely seeing increased levels of participation across the board. 

You won the UK Active digital transformation award. Tell us more
We took the decision to do a full review of our digital ecosystem and identify where we had gaps and/or opportunities. We’re going heavily down the technology data side and are six months into a new system which allows us to clearly report back to the council on our various demographic groups and the financial benefit. In the next few months we’ll be adding AI agents, firstly a service agent, followed by sales and retention agents.

EGYM equipment has been introduced to one of our sites and the idea is that in the future data is shared back into our core management system, meaning that health outcomes can be tracked. We've noticed people who’ve had an induction on the equipment have an improved retention rate are engaging with the equipment more regularly than our standard visits and this is therefore driving an improved ROI based on a longer length of stay, supporting the business case which was approved by the board.

People love the EGYM kit – they get a personalised genius induction, they know exactly what they’re doing, they get feedback while they’re doing it, there’s a gamification element, it’s non-intimidating and confidence building. It’s appealing to 20-somethings up to 70-year-olds, we’re seeing people use it four times a week, where typical usage is 2.3 per week average.

What other investments are underway?
We’re opening Sandwell’s first reformer Pilates studio at Wednesbury Leisure Centre in early 2026, through a partnership with Tribute Brands for its Pilat3S brand (www.tribute-brands.com). We’ll pay a monthly license fee as part of a franchise arrangement and they’ll provide updated training programmes quarterly which will ensure customers are getting new and innovative content.

Part of the reason why this is so appealing is that we don’t need to find a load of level four reformer Pilates teachers, which can be one of the biggest barriers to opening a studio. Screens are used for content and we can use level two instructors to facilitate the classes. We can have eight existing instructors trained up within 12 weeks, which gives a lot of flexibility. The lights and music are choreographed with the workout so it creates a really good atmosphere within the classes.

Tell us about the rebrand to Kore
This new modern identity has been designed in partnership with consultancy Ice Blue to have a broader appeal and also to open up the opportunity for us to bid for contracts outside the borough, as well as offer sub-brands, such as Kore Padel and Kore Tennis.

We’re opening Sandwell’s first reformer Pilates studio in early 2026, through a partnership with Tribute Brands for its Pilat3S brand

This evolution reflects who we are today and who we are becoming. Kore symbolises the belief that wellbeing starts at the centre, at the core of every person, every family and every community. It captures our commitment to placing people, connection and purpose right at the heart of everything we do.

The needs of our communities are changing. People are looking for more than fitness facilities. They are looking for connection, confidence and support for their physical and mental wellbeing. Kore Sandwell is our response to that, a renewed promise to be a partner in every individual journey.

What else is new?
After opening the first padel courts in the Black Country in April, we’re looking for further venues. We were one of the first public leisure operators to make the investment ourselves and they have done incredibly well, achieving ROI in less than five months.

The Haden Hill Leisure Centre is currently undergoing a rebuild and will open in summer 2027, offering a 100-station gym, two or three studios, a community room, swimming pool and learner pool. The Levelling-Up Fund is providing £20m, while £2m is coming from Sandwell Council and the remaining £2m from Sport England.

Are you working with the NHS?
We’re now at the point where we’ve started to move into the health piece which is clearly where our industry is going and we’re being more effective when it comes to how we support people with conditions such as diabetes and Long COVID, as well as how we tackle falls prevention and MSK issues.

We’re now starting to talk about how we can support the NHS around frailty and falls prevention programmes. EGYM are able to help us evidence results, so we're in the early stages of talks around that.

We are just about to commence a partnership with Public Health in Sandwell where we will be taking over their Weight Management Programme, this will provide efficiencies for the local authority and will create future funding opportunities for the trust.

How do you feel about the future? What are the challenges and opportunities?
We’re really positive about the future, especially with the trust’s recent rebrand to Kore that will ensure we’re well positioned to appeal to a wide range of customers.

Challenges will remain mainly around energy and staffing, which are our two biggest costs. Anything the government can do to support in these two areas will have a massive impact going forward.

The UK population is now more aware of health and with strong growth in our sector over the last few years, we should only see more people reaching out to improve their general wellbeing.

The introduction of GLP-1 weight loss drugs has given many people a lifeline in their weight loss journey and will no doubt reduce immediate pressure on the NHS, but support is needed from our industry to ensure the wraparound services are provided. l

• At this year’s UK Active Awards, Sandwell Leisure Trust won the UK Active Outstanding Leadership Team award