A HEALTHY RETURN

Client: London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, UK
Supplier: Dalesauna

The luxury thermal spa at the £14m Abbey Leisure Centre in east London is a new public sector spa created by sauna and steamroom expert Dalesauna, as yet another local authority recognises the valuable contribution wellness facilities can make to people’s health – in addition to a facility’s bottom line.

Designed by AFLS+P Architects for the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, the new leisure centre in Barking town centre replaces the existing Abbey Sports Centre.
Known as The Abbey, the facility is Barking & Dagenham’s first luxury spa. Available to those over the age of 16, it has been designed to promote wellbeing and to provide a welcome retreat from the pressures of everyday life.

Dalesauna partnered again with architects AFLS+P and contractors Willmott Dixon on the project following successful collaborations on the likes of the £1m Verulamium Spa, the first public spa offering from St Albans City and District Council.

Dalesauna designed a range of heat experiences for the 100sq m thermal spa area situated at The Abbey. These include a large sauna with luxury benches, LED lighting and two hidden heaters; an aromatherapy steamroom; crystal steamroom; and salt inhalation room. Other facilities on offer in the new spa include a tiled deck level hydrotherapy pool with massage jets, an ice feature, a tiled heated bench and two feature showers, which were also supplied by Dalesauna.

The project is the latest in a string of luxury spa facilities with sophisticated thermal offerings developed by Dalesauna for the public sector, which include Wimbledon Leisure Centre, Ramsgate Sports Centre and Poulton Leisure Centre in Poulton-le-Fylde.

“We’re delighted to have worked on this project with AFLS+P. Both companies are highly experienced in this sector and having such an enlightened client as Barking & Dagenham Council has allowed us to create a thermal suite which boasts the same quality of design, facilities and finishes that you would expect to find in five-star hotel or destination spa,” says Dean Edwards, sales manager at Dalesauna.

“The council has been very innovative in its choice of facilities, ensuring that the new spa will act as a great additional revenue stream and also attract people who may not have considered using a local authority centre previously. It’s a great facility for local residents.”

The new £14m centre also includes a 25m x 12.5m main swimming pool as well as a separate teaching pool, a 140-station gym, three large exercise studios, and a soft play facility designed by Turner Prize-nominated artist Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, which received a £100,000 investment from the Arts Council England.

Details: www.dalesauna.co.uk

The high specification spa features a hydrotherapy pool with massage jets and a large sauna with luxury benches

The high specification spa features a hydrotherapy pool with massage jets and a large sauna with luxury benches

The high specification spa features a hydrotherapy pool with massage jets and a large sauna with luxury benches

INTO THE DIGITAL AGE

Client: Shrewsbury School, UK
Supplier: Xn Leisure

Shrewsbury School – an independent school in Shropshire for boys aged 13-18 years – is home to an impressive array of sports facilities, which include a boating club, swimming pool, health and fitness centre, racquet club, squash courts, national indoor cricket centre and indoor rowing. And now these extensive facilities have been enhanced with new management software.

The site required a more comprehensive system to improve the management of the facilities: storing and monitoring records, reservations and reporting, and catering for the extensive range of facilities and growing number of members – the facilities cater not only for pupils but also for the public. Prior to this, reservations, records and reporting were paper-based.

Following a detailed tender drawn up by sports facilities manager Ed Moore, Xn Leisure was selected as the software supplier. Xn Leisure worked closely with the client, installing a tailor-made system to improve communications via text and email alerts, save time with the introduction of online booking, and reduce staff costs with automated access control.

Xn Leisure’s Dimension solution was installed – an intelligent piece of software that enables staff to manage new and existing customers, and identify off-peak periods to assist with future staff planning and marketing strategies. “All members of staff working within the sports facility were informed of the software improvements and Xn Leisure provided comprehensive training for members of staff on the new system,” says Moore.

“The enhanced features and functionality of the new system has improved relations between staff and customers, with the addition of a user-friendly interface for online bookings and access to the home portal, where members of staff and customers can leave comments and feedback.”

He continues: “An example of where the Xn Leisure system has been particularly successful has been in keeping records for the new learn to swim programme. We now have over 1,000 children taking part each week. All participants receive a membership card with which parents can track progress via the home portal.

“The system is very straightforward. Paper trails have been reduced significantly, as all swimming instructors enter information at the poolside via iPads. Information is up to date and time-consuming end-of-term paperwork a thing of the past.

“Benefits can be seen throughout the club, and the system has benefited me directly as a manager, giving me easy access to financial performance and staffing rotas. I wouldn’t have been able to make the differences I’ve made to customer service and operational efficiency without the Xn system.”

Details: www.xnleisure.com

School swim instructors can now enter progress data at the poolside using an iPad

The private school also welcomes public leisure users

SEAMLESS SYSTEM

Client: Active Northumberland, UK
Supplier: Gladstone

Active Northumberland uses a wide range of Gladstone products across its 18 sites, from dual-use leisure facilities to a disabled riding centre.

“We first moved to the Plus2 membership management system in 2004, and since then we’ve added the Gladstone Management Console (GMC), self-service kiosks, Connect online booking and Learn2 for course management,” says Colin Winfield, Active Northumberland’s area manager for south-east Northumberland. “Most recently we’ve introduced Join@Home, Gladstone’s online joining system, and its new query builder and business intelligence tool, eyeQ.”

He continues: “In November/December 2013, we also worked with Gladstone to rebuild our database. The aim was to amalgamate two databases and simultaneously do some housekeeping – to remove out-of-date products, subscriptions and members, and harmonise current ones. Gladstone appointed a project manager to lead the process, in addition to a trainer/builder, and the same team first guided us through the rebuild then helped solve the teething problems after going live. The end result was a much more efficient and flexible system.

“We also launched a new version of Connect, which offered more options and a greater degree of flexibility. Aside from relieving pressure on our reception team, the main benefit is convenience for customers, which is so important with today’s busy lifestyles. What’s more, the update has had a significant impact on the number of bookings: from 2013 to 2014, we’ve seen an increase of nearly 40 per cent, from 41,000 to 57,000.

“Another product we’ve been impressed with is Learn2. We brought this in last September as part of a complete overhaul of our swim development programme, including the introduction of 46 weeks of lessons, continuous assessment and direct debit payments, and it’s already helped make the process much more efficient. The fact that Learn2 is linked to Plus2 has made it much easier to migrate people onto direct debit, and the system has been specifically designed to support continuous assessment.

“It’s also resulted in significant time- and cost-savings. Thanks to features such as the active waiting list and the automated movement alerts, it’s now much simpler to move participants around. This means we no longer need to hold re-enrolment days at reception, which included putting an extra receptionist on shift and the swim co-ordinator working extra hours.”

He concludes: “We decided to invest in eyeQ after we had some issues with third-party reporting tools. We aim to create centralised corporate reports to be distributed to managers to ensure greater consistency. Hopefully this will help us avoid a situation where one person creates a report on usage, for example, which is not comparable with someone else’s report on the same thing.”

Details: www.gladstonemrm.com 

Gladstone’s Learn2 product was brought in as part of a complete overhaul of the centre’s swim development programme

The main benefit has been greater convenience for users