Spa industry expert Berni Hawkins has teamed up with Alliance Leisure to launch a new spa partnership intended to bring affordable but luxury spa services to the local authority market in the UK.

Called Alliance Spa, the partnership’s first project will be a £250,000 spa project for Pendle Leisure Trust, to compliment the existing Pendle Wavelengths centre in Nelson, East Lancashire.

The Pendle spa will be styled around a holistic wellness centre and offer a complete spa experience incorporating therapeutic and revitalising treatments such as a saunarium, a hydrotherapy pool, salt inhalation steam rooms and a rasul mud bath.

Alliance Spa will also advise the local trust on both the design and operation of the new Pendle spa.

According to Hawkins, the public sector remains unsure of the relevance of spa. She said: “Spa is in its infancy, just as the fitness market was 10 years ago. This has lead many local authorities to see spas as something that’s glamorous and expensive, and not for their client base, but this doesn’t have to be the case.”

The spa is part of a £3m development at the centre, which is being managed by Alliance Leisure.